Weekly Top 10: Continuous Improvement, Collaboration and Innovation

This week’s top 10 reminds us that there is always room to be continually improving and adapting. For example, the CIO role is becoming more involved with the digital transformations of organizations. CIOs should be focusing their teams on collaboration to breed innovation and implementing a service-centered approach to design to keep business booming and customers satisfied. Our weekly round-up covers several other areas to be thinking about to keep your company on top of the game – like how to keep your software testing relevant and why employees need to be Agile now more than ever.
As always, stay tuned to all the news coming from @ElectricCloud on DevOps and Continuous Delivery throughout the week and retweet/favorite to get your favorite pieces featured in our weekly recap!

1How CIOs Can Drive Digital Innovation Through Collaboration

By @pweinzimer | Published on @CIOonline
http://www.cio.com/article/3043186/cio-role/how-cios-can-drive-digital-innovation-through-collaboration.html
CIOs drive innovation by building digital awareness, forming digital innovation teams, and creating innovative opportunities in the form of new products and services. This three step approach accelerates the innovation cycle and optimizes the leveraging of information and technology for competitive advantage.

How CIOs can drive digital innovation through collaboration https://t.co/k2O9wum7vB @CIOonline @pweinzimer #IT #CXO pic.twitter.com/n5GCadEtja

— CloudBees (@electriccloud) March 14, 2016

2Why the CIO Needs to Become the Continuous Design Officer

By @jeffsussna | Published on @Medium https://medium.com/@jeffsussna/why-the-cio-needs-to-become-the-continuous-design-officer-6b43e76f4224
I recently participated in an episode of the #c9d9 podcast hosted by CloudBees. The topic of discussion was the relationship between ITIL and DevOps. At one point, I made a comment to the effect that IT organizations should approach everything they do from the perspective of user-centered design. You might wonder why I thought design thinking was relevant in this context. ITIL and DevOps would appear to address technical concerns such as managing data centers, server hardware, information security, and software builds and deployment. The fact is, though, that we are all service providers, at every level of the organization. We all need to center our work around service design and delivery.

Why the CIO Needs to Become the Continuous Design Officer by @jeffsussna https://t.co/G5F2I83YSC #c9d9 #devops

— CloudBees (@electriccloud) March 14, 2016

38 Ways DevOps and Automation Bolster Security

@anders_wallgren | Published on @ITProPortal http://www.itproportal.com/2016/03/11/8-ways-devops-and-automation-bolster-security/
DevOps bridges the gap between Development and Operations to accelerate software delivery and increase business agility and time-to-market. With its roots in the Agile movement, DevOps fosters collaboration between teams and streamlines processes, with the goal of breaking silos in order to ‘go fast’. It also provides a huge opportunity for better security. Many of the practices that come with DevOps, such as automation, emphasis on testing, fast feedback loops, improved visibility, collaboration, consistent release practices, and more, are fertile ground for integrating security and auditability as a built-in component of your DevOps processes.

8 ways #DevOps and #automation bolster #security - per @anders_wallgren https://t.co/rs2RmiA95A @ITProPortal pic.twitter.com/wxj7qubWdC

— CloudBees (@electriccloud) March 12, 2016

4March Madness Apps for iOS Could Put Corporate Data at Risk

By @BSnyderSF | Published on @CIOonline http://www.huffingtonpost.com/vala-afshar/2016-state-of-it-20-cio-b_b_9342192.html
College basketball's popular March Madness tournament begins this week, and fans have access to more related mobile apps than ever before. However, people who use such apps on corporate-owned of BYOD devices should beware; many of these apps can burrow into corporate networks and present real security risks. Some of the most popular sports-related iOS apps for iPhone and iPad can access users' calendars, share data with social networking sites, send texts, and make repeat calls to premium-priced phone numbers, according to a new study conducted by Flexera Software, which makes software that helps developers license apps and ensure compliance..

March Madness apps for iOS could put corporate data at risk https://t.co/UZ0T78c28L @BSnyderSF @CIOonline #security pic.twitter.com/ORXl5gSJvB

— Steve Brodie (@stbrodie) March 14, 2016

5Webby DevOps? We're Not in Kansas Anymore, Dorothy

By @ABridgwater | Published on @TheRegister
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2016/03/14/web_scale_devops/
Software applications and their development, management, orchestration, administration, maintenance and general wellbeing have moved to the web. Okay don’t write in just yet, those are just the opening credits. Obviously then, we have started to apply web-centric technologies to these applications in order to push them towards a performance, scalability and interoperability status that we now call “web-scale” – which basically just means big and flexible. Does this reality therefore mean there is some specifically web-centric version of DevOps to consider? A webby DevOps, even?

Webby DevOps? We're not in Kansas any more, Dorothy https://t.co/rxcJKNTRtw @TheRegister @ABridgwater #devops pic.twitter.com/cG2I9tOAu6

— DevOps Enterprise (@DOESsummit) March 14, 2016

6In The Digital Age, Employees Must Be More Agile Than Ever

By @danielnewmanUV | Published by @Forbes http://www.forbes.com/sites/danielnewman/2016/03/15/in-the-digital-age-employees-must-be-more-agile-than-ever/
It’s not enough to just “do your job.” It simply doesn’t work that way anymore. If you learn a programming language, a year or two later, that language will cease to exist or be in a rapid decline. As soon as you embrace a new digital platform or app, you can count on it changing, or an even better and more innovative program quickly taking its place. For employees, this means the ability to adapt—to be more agile—will be more important than the ability to controller a job or skill.

In The #Digital Age, Employees Must Be More #Agile Than Ever https://t.co/SUHQYBfJVw @Forbes @danielnewmanUV

— CloudBees (@electriccloud) March 15, 2016

7Spread the DevOps Virus in Your Organization By @TheEbizWizard | @DevOpsSummit #DevOps

By @TheEbizWizard | Published on @SYSCONmedia
http://news.sys-con.com/node/3721485
Finally, the conclusion: part two of my Cortex newsletter, Spread the DevOps Virus in Your Organization. In part one, I called for expanding the hard-fought organizational lessons of DevOps to the rest of the enterprise. Allow people to choose their own teams, and to allow teams to choose their own goals, I exhorted - self-organization being the key to driving agility at the organizational level.

Spread the DevOps Virus in Your Organization By @TheEbizWizard | @DevOpsSummit #DevOps https://t.co/fPYbO4LDMC

— CloudBees (@electriccloud) March 14, 2016

8The Future of Software Testing: How to Adapt and Remain Relevant

By @mheusser | @TechBeaconCom http://techbeacon.com/future-software-testing-how-adapt-remain-relevant
While the IEEE article claimed that having traditional testers is detrimental to team performance, you need to understand the full context. While traditional software testing roles in QA teams may be going away in some organizations, the work testers do isn't. If you understand what changes are coming, why it's happening, and how to hone your skills and adapt, you'll not only survive but thrive in this new environment.

The future of #softwaretesting : How to adapt and remain relevant https://t.co/D6WqUyKIPj @TechBeaconCom @mheusser pic.twitter.com/xT7FC6RC2x

— CloudBees (@electriccloud) March 16, 2016

9Government Websites Best Amazon, Google in User Satisfaction

By @kecorb | Published on @CIOonline http://www.cio.com/article/3043200/internet/government-websites-best-amazon-google-in-user-satisfaction.html
CEOs are seeking to generate more revenues from their emerging digital businesses, forcing CIOs to become more familiar with their company's customers. Digital agendas are devouring CIOs' attention and forcing them to partner with the CEO and the CMO. The trend represents a sea change of sorts for the CIO, whose role evolved sharply from that of a custodian of back-office systems to a curator of customers. Three CIOs who manage technology for global businesses discussed what that evolution means in the context of their businesses at the Forbes CIO Summit in Half Moon Bay on Monday.

Government websites best Amazon, Google in user satisfaction https://t.co/tf1aBv4sNf @kecorb @CIOonline #tech pic.twitter.com/lDSoN5nT8d

— Steve Brodie (@stbrodie) March 11, 2016

10Can DevOps and ITIL Co-Exist? A Story of Two IT Service Philosophies

By @joemckendrick | Published on @ZDNet http://www.zdnet.com/article/can-devops-and-itil-co-exist-a-story-of-two-it-service-philosophies/
That's the question recently put forth by Gareth Daine, who quizzed some 25 industry experts and observers on whether the two methodologies clash, or are compatible. ITIL, originally known as Information Technology Infrastructure Library, is a set of best practices which recognize and certify that IT functions are delivered as tangible services to organizations. DevOps seeks to align the output of development shops with the teams charged with putting software into production, thereby assuring continuous releases as businesses need them.

Can #DevOps & #ITIL co-exist? A story of two #IT service philosophies per @joemckendrick https://t.co/19dpPUBQa2 @ZDNet

— CloudBees (@electriccloud) March 15, 2016