A Businessman's View

I'm actually welcoming myself back to my own blog.  (Yes, I guess I'm making that "a thing.")  It's been over 3 years since my last post, and I've experienced much since then, global pandemic notwithstanding. During this time, my wife (an Executive Director at her place of employment) and I have spent countless hours analyzing, dissecting, and generally discussing such diverse topics as... Leadership, Mentoring, How to overcome Imposter Syndrome , How to navigate difficult situations, How to manage difficult employees, ...and others. But it wasn't until I was driving back from the airport early yesterday morning after dropping her off for her latest business trip that I realized these topics may interest someone who chances across this blog while traipsing through the dandelion fields of the Internet. So "buckle up buttercup" - during the next several blog posts I expect to wax philosophical on these and other topics that will hopefully be of int

 In my last post , I discussed how no-code/low-code platforms fulfill rapid development of business applications - addressing the needs of the Citizen Developer (a Gartner term  first used around 2009).  I also commented on how this specific objective limits their ability to provide true integration capabilities, which require the flexibility to adapt to the myriad variations of infrastructure.  This is a concern because companies often have acquired legacy systems via M&A activity while simultaneously investing in new technology solutions, resulting in a mishmash of systems with multiple ways of accessing them. In this post, I'd like to examine how the needs of the latter group are met by describing some key capabilities that are "must-haves" for any company looking to execute on a digital transformation strategy.  In order to do this, let's define who the target user base is for such a technology platform. Disclaimer:   I work for MuleSoft (a division of Salesfo

 Unless you've had your head in the sand for the past year or so, you've seen the phrases low-code  and no-code  bandied about quite frequently everywhere you look.  You've probably wondered if this is something new that's here to stay or just a "flash in the pan."  Although the terms have been in the fore of the IT trade publications recently, Low Code Development Platforms (LCDP) (and the corresponding No Code Development Platforms) have been in existence since 2011.  Their roots can be traced to the 90's with 4th generation programming languages and GUI-assisted programming paradigms, e.g. IBM VisualAge for Basic, which was discontinued in 1998. For those of you who aren't familiar with either, the premise is that these platforms allow someone to quickly build applications using a WYSIWYG interface and a "click and configure" paradigm to Isn't this the source code to Roblox? rapidly build full applications with little or no coding requ

It was everywhere in the news on Monday, August 24:  Salesforce was replacing Exxon on the Dow Jones Industrial Average .  (To be completely accurate, Salesforce, Amgen and Honeywell are replacing Exxon, Pfizer and Raytheon.) "Wait," my wife said.  "Isn't the Dow Jones Industrial Average meant for companies that produce physical products?" "I think I have a typo in my Excel formula..." That's a great observation, I thought, especially considering that Exxon has been a part of the DJIA in some form since 1928 and Salesforce has "only" been around since 1999 and produces software exclusively.  Ignoring the word "Industrial," however, the DJIA has been the most recognizable, the most frequently reported, and the most easily "understood" (using that term loosely) measure of America's economic health.  And since Salesforce, which is the industry leader in Customer Relationship Management (CRM) and related solutions fo

If you're not a gaming enthusiast or you've been living under a rock this week, you may have missed the Technology Demonstration of Unreal Engine 5 (UE5) on a PS5 preview system.  It's an incredible piece of work packaged in a fully playable demo that showcases the advancements that UE5 has made over the years. A bit of history:  back when Quake was the epitome of first person shooter (FPS) games a company out of Cary, NC called Epic MegaGames (now just Epic Games ) developed this original, futuristic FPS game called Unreal that ran on an original graphics engine simply dubbed The Unreal Engine.  I was a huge Quake fan at the time, and when Unreal was released everyone at the office that were also gamers rushed to see who could finish the game first.  Along the way, we were all awed at how amazing the scenery looked in spite of our relatively low-level graphics cards. (I won the contest, by the way.  It went down via a phone call to my boss on a Saturday: Me [leaving

I promised on LinkedIn that I would document my process of finding a new job, which took me four months and was complicated significantly by the global COVID-19 pandemic.  This is that blog entry. The Context "I want to rip my hair out! Oh, wait..." In mid-December, I received a phone call from my manager at the time.  The call, if I summarize it in a humorous light, went something like this:  "you got a nice end-of-year commission check, yes?  Great because you don't have a job after the end of this month.  Merry Christmas." The Strategy I was given two weeks before my position was eliminated, and I was told that if I could find another position elsewhere within the company I would remain employed there.  "Great!" I thought.  "I'll just reach out to the numerous people in senior positions to get transferred to another group."  Unfortunately, it wasn't this easy - either there was no headcount available or it was in a d