wigblog

When drawn into technology discussions, I can sometimes appear to be “religious” toward particular products and/or brands of items I happen to like. And I have no qualms about making derogatory statements about products and technologies I don’t like… which are 99.9% honest statements. I had to explain this to some folks recently, so I wanted to share for those who are interested in how my thinking works in regards to technology, and why I feel I can say some of the things I do.

First of all, let me assure everyone that I am a committed team player, and will continue to be more than willing to offer as much objective assistance as I can in troubleshooting problems, regardless of the implementation or underlying technologies, and what my personal opinion of them might be. I don’t think anyone can refute my record of assistance in this respect. (I went on the rest of the paragraph to state specific cases where I demonstrated this assistance.)

Now to explain my approach… as a systems architect, developer (does everyone here know that I write code?), and general technologist, it’s my job to be as knowledgeable as possible of any and all technologies that might be applicable to business needs and to recommend best-of-breed technologies as solutions for a given problem. I doubt many of you will buy the following statement initially, but I am in all honesty technology agnostic. I am not religious about or loyal to any particular vendor strictly for the sake of being loyal. I am a believer in the “best tool for the job” metaphor. I believe those making technology related decisions should have a solid understanding of all the tools in the technology toolbox, and their intended purpose (what job they were designed to do). Then from that knowledge along with any related experiences with the tools, whether from personal experience, or learning from the experience of others, making sound decisions/recommendations on what tools should be used to achieve a particular goal.

With this in mind, also know that I will not be shy, reserved or even politically correct about what technologies I might suggest or recommend based on what might be currently deployed in a given environment, what “the standard” might be (new standards can always be written and approved), what the support model behind a given technology might be (stated example of current unsupported products that are already relied on, like Apache), or what the knowledge base of our current talent pool might be (it’s my opinion that everyone here is remarkably intelligent, and as such, should be willing and able to learn something new). It’s this stance I take that probably rubs some the wrong way, but bear in mind that we have been charged with delivering continuous improvement, and increasing operational effectiveness. It’s my intention to continue to adhere to the charge of delivering on those goals, and it’s that intention that drives me to say the things I do.

As for context, some of you may not be aware that I have direct, first-hand experience in the development and deployment of multiple web applications of similar and more extensive complexity and functionality as the applications (currently deployed by the group this was originally addressed to). These include systems with shopping carts backed by catalogs with more than 30,000 products, and systems that handle transaction volumes of 3-5 million on a daily basis.

So with these points laid out on the table, I hope everyone can be more comfortable hearing me say the things I do, knowing that I do have the experience behind me and a solid understanding of the complexity involved with what we do. That said, I want to invite anyone who has any questions for me, about my experience, about things I’ve said, why I say the things I do…. PLEASE engage me in a constructive discussion about it. I don’t say things “off the cuff” and want to make sure everyone knows I want to be very open, approachable, and transparent about the reasoning behind my decisions/suggestions.