Lab Zero

03/06/2024

Chris Greacen responds to an article about technical debt in the WSJ:

Happy to see Christopher Mims's piece in the The Wall Street Journal highlighting the impact of . If you dig into the 'cost of poor ' report cited in the article you'll see some shocking estimates of the impact Technical Debt has on team productivity across the software industry.

https://www.wsj.com/tech/personal-tech/the-invisible-1-52-trillion-problem-clunky-old-software-f5cbba27

As our reliance on software increases in our banking, healthcare, voting, education, this productivity killer will make people's lives worse. It's just a matter of time until the systems we depend on will let us down (and I'm not talking about facebook & instagram).

It doesn't have to be this way though - as professionals in software product development, we owe it to everyone to embrace the practices that keep our work outside of the red-zone in debt. If you or your team need help with this, you know Lab Zero Innovations Inc. walks the walk here.

Do you know how to recognize the two biggest sources of Technical Debt on your team? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SY2scsOby9k

PS - Will help this problem? Unlikely. I'll share some thoughts about this can of worms later.

From the Consortium for Information & Software Quality (CISQ) 2022 report: The growing impact of Technical Debt (TD) has become the biggest obstacle to making any changes to existing code bases
* TD principle increased to ~$1.52 trillion (because deficiencies are not getting fixed).
* In spite of a projected rate of 15% growth in computer/IT positions created over the next decade, the number unfilled US IT jobs sat at about 300,000 at the end of August
* In late 2019 it was predicted that by 2025,40 % of IT budgets will be spent simply maintaining TD, and it’s a primary reason that many modernization projects fail.
* The number of weekly hours an average developer at a company spends on addressing “TD” is 13.5 out of 41.1, or 33% of their time.

Old code piles up and raises the risk of hacks and other breaches.

11/06/2023

Much of the in flight right now taps our team's in the effort to modernize large applications. Often we need to help our clients formulate an approach to breaking apart their . Our CTO, Matthew Wilson writes about this in his most recent blog post:
https://labzero.com/blog/deconstructing-the-monolith

So, you are ready to deconstruct your monolith

09/01/2023

Hope everyone is all set for a good Labor Day weekend. Our CEO, Chris Greacen wanted to share some updates from the Lab Zero Innovations Inc. team. A couple new posts on the blog hint at some of the recent work that the team has focused on: application modernization, performance improvements, managing technical debt. Take a peek:

Chris shares some thoughts about the two most common sources of technical debt:
https://labzero.com/blog/two-most-common-sources-of-technical-debt

Jeffrey Faden shares his experience in modernizing a React.js application:
https://labzero.com/blog/upgrading-an-ancient-react-application

Travis Gaff shares a great way to get server performance data into your browser's developer tools:
https://labzero.com/blog/server-timings-rails-performance-metrics-in-your-dev-tools

Let's stay in touch!

07/27/2023

Jeffrey Faden upgraded a React Application from 2016. Here's the play-by-play.

Read what it took to bring an early React app into the modern ecosystem.

03/13/2023

Turbo Streams, Turbo Frames and Stimulus are powerful components of the Rails7 Hotwire framework: but how do you know when to use each one? Travis Goff shares an intuitive framework for deciding what works where.

Give your Rails app the zippiness of a SPA using the Hotwire framework. But beware it’s more than a toggle: the varied components are each good for solving different problems. Learn what fits where in our rundown of Turbo Frames, Streams, and Stimulus.

03/08/2023

The Lab Zero team has seen plenty of the good, the bad, and the ugly in the years we've been working in the software development world.

In this and the next couple videos, I'll talk about the 'bad' highlighting some of the lies we tell ourselves. First on my list is the 10x engineer/developer - a mythical being sought by many.

Have you worked with a 10x engineer/developer? What was your experience?

02/13/2023

One of our first big engagements still serves as a model for all of Lab Zero 's highest impact work. Our client was able to unlock a huge victory by bringing in a small capable of and a high quality . Great things can happen when you pair a high team with a huge opportunity and a solid rationale.

02/08/2023

Lab Zero Innovations Inc. started in 2008 with a of our small team making a big impact for our . We've been able to bring our own vision to life by assembling an extremely talented and capable team and connecting them with our clients toughest challenges.

Over the next few weeks I'll share a few insights and anecdotes from the things we've seen and learned along the way.

If you visited us in the early days, what are your enduring memories? What challenges are you and your teams facing today?

12/21/2022

Happy Solstice 2022 from Lab Zero!

12/19/2022

Who's been mixing up the Agile Kool-Aid at Lab Zero? Rik Dryfoos.
https://labzero.com/blog/why-organize-around-value-streams

If your team wants to improve cash flow, increase predictability, bolster customer satisfaction or limit costs then understanding and organizing around value streams will help.

12/16/2022

Building a Developer Portal? A little Discovery goes a long way.
https://labzero.com/blog/top-10-requirements-for-a-developer-portal

We don't just start with the requirements, we ask 'What do developers want?'

12/13/2022

Got the Lift-and-Shift Blues? Unlocking the true benefits is as much Art as Science.
https://labzero.com/blog/the-art-of-the-lift-and-shift

In a Lift and Shift, product management with extreme attention to detail will save you money in the long run.