mrc's Cup of Joe Blog

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Weekly Recap: 15 worst programmer productivity killers, top tech trends, and more…

EducationEvery week, I share the most interesting and useful tech articles that I’ve found over the past week. This week’s top articles focus on the worst programmer productivity killers, Forrester’s top tech trends, and more. I hope you find them useful:

When and why to develop a responsive application
The term “mobile app” is generally associated with the native app approach–apps that are built for a single platform and installed on the device itself. However, while native apps are popular now, they’re not always the best choice for business. If you’d like to read more on the topic, here’s a free paper you might want to check out.

Weekly Recap: 8 developer shortcuts that will cost you, the IT talent shortage, and more…

EducationEvery week, I share the most interesting and useful tech articles that I’ve found over the past week. This week’s top articles focus on the growing skills gap, development mistakes, and more. I hope you find them useful:

Tech leaders warn IT talent shortage could curb hiring plans
As technology advances at an ever-increasing pace, we’re seeing the skills gap widen. Companies are having trouble finding IT professionals with modern skills. The bad news: This isn’t getting any better.

Weekly Recap: 6 tips to help CIOs manage Shadow IT, software-defined infrastructures, and more…

EducationEvery week, I share the most interesting and useful tech articles that I’ve found over the past week. This week’s top articles focus on the growing importance of the CIO position, Shadow IT, and more. I hope you find them useful:

Why the CIO’s Time to Lead Is Now
Gartner estimates that 80 percent of IT resources are currently consumed with supporting and scaling existing systems, leaving a very small pool of resources to invest in the new, innovative capabilities that will drive the business forward. In a time when a CIO must drive innovation, what are their options? Here’s one option that solves a number of different problems: Adopt a company-wide application development platform.

Weekly recap: Why big IT projects fail, a wake-up call for CIOs, and more…

EducationEvery week, I share the most interesting and useful tech articles that I’ve found over the past week. This week’s top articles focus on why big IT projects fail so often, a new look at the “native vs. mobile web” debate, and more. I hope you find them useful:

Smartphones: Business Risk or Opportunity
Business owners, CIOs, and IT leaders face a dilemma: How to harness the efficiencies of mobile devices while defusing the security risks. The fact is, many end users just don’t practice safe security habits. Those end users could very well compromise your company, unless you approach mobile the right way. My advice: The same thing I’ve said for the last couple of years. Treat the device like a thin client and use mobile web apps. This approach doesn’t store data on the device itself, and lets you keep your data safe behind your own firewall.

Weekly Recap: 10 old-school IT principles that still rule, how to leverage BI for executive reporting, and more…

EducationEvery week, I share the most interesting and useful tech articles that I’ve found over the past week. This week’s top articles focus on how old-school IT principles have adapted with the times, how to leverage BI, and more. I hope you find them useful:

Four ways to leverage BI for executive-level reporting
While data is growing at a rapid rate, many don’t know how to turn this data into actionable insights. Why? It boils down to a lack of appropriate tools and processes.

Weekly recap: 9 hottest mobile development skills, strategic tech trends for 2014, and more…

EducationEvery week, I share the most interesting and useful tech articles that I’ve found over the past week. This week’s top articles focus on the hottest mobile development skills, Gartner’s strategic tech for 2014, and more. I hope you find them useful:

Combatting the information deluge
Information is exploding at an unprecedented rate. The burden falls on companies to not only turn that data into actionable metrics (like this user-defined dashboard, for example), but also secure and store that data.

Weekly Recap: 5 mobile app questions to ask the CIO, IT’s failing reputation, and more…

EducationEvery week, I share the most interesting and useful tech articles that I’ve found over the past week. This week’s top articles focus on mobile questions to ask the CIO, why IT’s reputation is so poor, and more. I hope you find them useful:

Why everyone wants a private cloud
Concerns over security and control in the “public” could make the “private” cloud model tempting to many companies. But, is this a solid strategy? Perhaps a better question: Do your applications give you the flexibility to deploy anywhere–private or public?

Weekly Recap: Stupid security mistakes developers keep making, mobile BI strategies, and more…

EducationEvery week, I share the most interesting and useful tech articles that I’ve found over the past week. This week’s top articles focus on stupid security mistakes developers keep making, the new age of real-time architecture, and more. I hope you find them useful:

Data, Legacy Systems, and the New Age of Real-Time Architecture
In a world of instant data–where we can access data from across the world at any given moment–why do businesses have so much trouble with data access? Why are reports so difficult to access in many companies? Why do we still have disparate systems in companies that still can’t communicate with each other? The fact is, these legacy applications were never designed for the world we live in now. They weren’t built for integration. If you’re in this situation, how can you bring flexibility and integration to these legacy systems? My advice: Explore your modernization options.

Weekly Recap: Hot IT skills for 2014, Blackberry’s demise, and more…

EducationEvery week, I share the most interesting and useful tech articles that I’ve found over the past week. This week’s top articles focus on hot IT skills for 2014, the demise of Blackberry, and more. I hope you find them useful:

Blackberry agrees to sell itself for a measly $5 billion
In a bit of sad news this week, Blackberry agreed to sell itself for $4.7 billion (at press time, though there’s rumblings the deal might fall through), ending the company’s rapid decline over the past few years. If $4.7 billion sounds like a lot of money (which it is), consider that the company was worth $77 billion just 5 years ago.

Weekly recap: Survival strategies for IT chaos, why your development process is broken, and more…

EducationEvery week, I share the most interesting and useful tech articles that I’ve found over the past week. This week’s top articles focus on survival strategies for IT chaos, why your software development process is broken, and more. I hope you find them useful:

Why your software development process is broken
As businesses push for increased flexibility, many discover that one of the biggest problems lies in their development process. Despite their best efforts, they just can’t turn development projects around in time. What’s the answer?