I rarely bother to post books I read for pleasure on the blog, but I thought that a lot of the people that I know professionally may be interested in this one. I started reading it in November when we were just starting to be able to think about what a post-Trump America might look […]
Author Archives: Jonathan Cavell
Book Review: Ahead in the Cloud by Stephen Orban
I found a lot of great nuggets in this book, but I’m not sure I’d recommend it to everyone. If you’re trying to sell your boss on a move to AWS, definitely give her this book. If you’re trying to figure out what your IT priorities are, I’d recommend Leading the Transformation or The Pheonix […]
2021 New Years Resolutions
2020 was a year where I expected to just entrench and work on establishing myself at IBM. It was a really good year for that, and (thanks to a lack of travel and a bit of a COVID slow period) also allowed me to set some pretty ambitious fitness goals. That leaves me feeling pretty […]
Book Review: Leading the Transformation by Gruver & Mouser
If you’ve read much of Gene Kim’s work you’ve heard of the transformation that HP Printers made to their firmware development process. Kim cites it so frequently because it is an example of one of the oldest software development groups around making software that’s some of the hardest software to test (printer emulators anyone?) transforming […]
Book Review: Value Stream Mapping: How to Visualize Work by Karen Martin
I confess, Value Stream Mapping as a technique is something I already do with clients and I was reading this book mostly to make sure that I could say that I did (and now it’s on the Internet!). I will say that after being taught value stream mapping primarily as it relates to the DevOps […]
Book Review: Unicorn Project
I actually finished the Unicorn Project a couple weeks ago and didn’t take great notes on it, so this won’t be as extensive of a review as I often provide. I did enjoy the book, and like it’s predecessor (the Pheonix Project) it does a great job of showing how some of the best processes […]
Book Review: Prediction Machines
If you’re going to be working in technology for more than 10 years, you should read this book. It’s written by a set of economists associated with the Creative Destruction Lab at the University of Toronto. As you might imagine from an incubator with that name, they have made many investments in Machine Learning companies. […]
“Book” Review: Beyond the Phoenix Project
This “book” is actually a set of conversations recorded by John Willis and Gene Kim. The main thing I can offer by way of advice is; absolutely do NOT buy a printed version, this isn’t really a book. The book is apparently a inspired by a similar “Beyond the Goal” lecture done by Eliyahu Goldratt […]
My Next Move: IBM “Journey to the Cloud”
I’m really excited to announce that I’ve taken a job with IBM, in their advisory cloud consulting service. The team I’ll be leading will be looking at how organizations can architect internal and external cloud solutions on both IBM/RedHat products/clouds as well as on other external providers like AWS/Azure/GCP. I will be based out of […]
Clever Idea: Leave The House Out of It (my app)
One of my favorite experiences has always been going to Las Vegas on an NFL Sunday. Looking at all of the potential wagers, reading up on all of the games, talking with my friends about what they see, and placing a few bets while drinking that stale coffee at an abandoned Blackjack table is a […]