AKF Partners Logo Technology ConsultingScalability - We wrote the book on it ℠

AKF Blog

Scalability and Technology Consulting Advice for SaaS and Technology Companies

Why story points and velocity really matter

Recently, we have come across many teams that are not using story points and team velocity to track progress through the sprint.When asked why, we hear things like: "It doesn't…

Curtis Nielsen

· 5 min read

Defining Platform

Platforms for software have multiple meanings for different departments. A holistic definition is needed with and across departments. Engineers need to think of components directly used by customers. Product owners should think of components that can be bundled for different markets. Sales and marketing should think of target markets and personas for tailored solutions. CFOs and investors should think of the value of an entire ecosystem.

Marty Abbott

· 5 min read

It's Good Housekeeping, not Tech Debt!

Do software initiatives such maintenance, upgrades and refactoring fall under the umbrella of Technical Debt? Perhaps a trick question, but when this body of work is planned proactively…

Heather Abbott

· 6 min read

The Danger Zone with Large Groups

Large teams lead to poor morale. They also lead to wasted time. Dunbar numbers and graph theory explain the overhead and risks of large teams. Special forces tend to win over large armies. Small autonomous fighting units also tend to fend off larger forces. Apply these lessons for your organization to operate small while appearing large.

Phillip Seawright

· 6 min read

Single Page Applications - Fault Isolation and Recovery

Single Page Applications (SPA) when implemented in concert with a stateless and fault tolerant server application architecture can self-heal issues which arise due to application, server and even regional outages. See how to implement this capability in your application.

David Blatherwick

· 5 min read

Single Page Applications – A New Dimension of Scale

Browsers have not been considered as a compute resource to aid in scalability and fault tolerance. Through the use of modern Java Script frameworks, the browser is now an integral part to be considered when building applications. In this article, we will discuss the evolution in the delivery of applications to users with a focus on user experience, reliability, and the value of Single Page Applications (SPA).

David Blatherwick

· 12 min read

WTF are your employees doing all day? Are you really ready to move to Agile?

To change they way they work tomorrow, you need to know their work patterns today. White collar employees spend the majority of time in front of their computer. It is not easy to know what types of work they are doing today. We have identified 5 work patterns that most teams and organizations need to master. Agile Products is one of the 5 work patterns. Projects are another one. We recommend mastery of the 5 at an organization level. We do not recommend mastery of all 5 at an individual or team level.

Phillip Seawright

· 5 min read

What is not tech debt

Recently we updated our definition of tech debt tech debt. As a follow on to that article, this post goes into areas that are not tech debt, but often confused or confounded with…

Heather Abbott

· 6 min read

What is Tech Debt and How to Think About It

Technical debt is a frequent topic we cover with clients. Technology products are never ‘done'. The art of keeping a platform optimized for product outcomes is a journey.…

Eric Arrington

· 5 min read

How to Prepare for a Technical Due Diligence

How to Prepare for a Technical Due Diligence

Greg Fennewald

· 5 min read

Whole Product Concept for SaaS

Whole Product Concept for SaaS - Updated for SaaS Shift

Marty Abbott

· 3 min read

Leadership Anti-Patterns

Article discusses three anti-patterns of leadership to avoid including the Rockstar, The Third Person Leader and The Big Brain

Marty Abbott

· 7 min read

Leadership Principles for Engineering and Product Leaders - Part 3

This is the final post in a three-part series presenting leadership principles for product and tech executives. This week’s entry covers principles of team dynamics and behaviors…

Marty Abbott

· 6 min read

A Microservices Saga Choreography Example

In a recent blog post we wrote about the Saga Pattern. Saga attempts to coordinate or manage the notion of transactional consistency across multiple services when a transaction…

Dave Berardi

· 3 min read
...

Contact Us

Categories

Most Popular