Strategy

23 March 2016

API gateways and the dangers of creeping middleware scope

An API gateway can solve many generic problems in an API infrastructure, but you do need to define a clear remit and protect against creeping scope.

2 July 2015

Comparing Gartner’s cloud integration leaders: Informatica, Dell Boomi and Mulesoft

Gartner’s definition of enterprise integration as a service is so wide that it can be difficult to draw any meaningful comparisons between the platforms in the “leaders” space.

5 May 2015

Refactoring large monoliths to microservices: strategies, risks and pragmatic reality

Large scale rewrites of systems are loaded with risk. You can address this by preparing the ground in advance and adopting an incremental approach, but a willingness to be pragmatic is essential.

19 October 2013

Can APX help in developing usable and accessible APIs?

Given how important APIs have become in driving the reach of applications and services, it’s surprising how little investment is made in the usability of APIs as opposed to UIs. Perhaps the principals and techniques used by UX should be applied to developing more effective APIs…

16 July 2013

Managing change and version control for service interfaces

Change is an inevitable and even desirable part of distributed development. Managing the impact of that change is the difficult part, particularly when change affects the service interfaces that bind a distributed platform together.

4 June 2013

Sharing APIs in an organisation: challenges and pitfalls

Sharing services and APIs can appeal to a desire to reduce duplication and improve development efficiency. It’s a worthy ambition though the journey there can be littered with costly traps for the unwary.

15 January 2013

Sharing code between geographically distributed development teams

Large-scale development increasingly involves distributed teams as organizations seek to manage costs and leverage resources on a global scale. However, sharing code between distant development teams gives rise to problems that can only be addressed in part by processes and tools. You also need teams to communicate directly and build trust.

8 January 2013

Build vs Buy decisions and the importance of context

Technology decisions should not be made in isolation, particularly when you are trying to weigh up building a solution or buying a third party platform.

3 September 2012

How to manage down the payments on your technical debt

Technical debt may be a great metaphor to describe the corrosive effect of quick and dirty design decisions, but it can be difficult to identify, measure and manage.

19 June 2012

The Umbraco 5 debacle proves that even a free CMS needs effective governance

Having to pull the plug on a new version of your product is unfortunate. Scrapping it months after it’s been released is just plain careless.

11 April 2012

The code reuse myth: why internal software reuse initiatives tend to fail

Despite all the best intentions, software reuse tends to be confined to third party frameworks and tools rather than being an integral part of the development process. Are we expecting too much from software reuse and should we learn to set our sights a little lower?

18 March 2012