The personal and professional website of Daniel Lemire.

Technology Practices

The practices that we use in accomplishing our goals are incredibly vital to being successful. We know as IT practicioners that the practices we adopt are important, but sometimes it's not completely clear how a system can make the difference between success and failure.

When I started off as an independent developer/consultant during my college years, I knew enough about technology to be able to provide help and value to small businesses. This is actually how I was able to survive in the days after the internet bubble.

Since then, I've been on a continuous journey to add value.

5 Practices to being Effective

As an Information Technology Professional, I have experienced many different roles, from systems administrator to independent consultant, to infrastructure engineer helping an enterprise to meet incredible goals at scale to innovation management identifying how to solve problems with emerging technology. Throughout my career, I have found certain practices to be of valuable in helping me to be successful. I will discuss what these practices are and how they have helped me excel.

Keeping Current Skills

In order to stay current with existing technology, I make sure to keep up with the latest developments in the industry by reading the latest news and blogs, attending conferences and seminars, and networking with other professionals. I also make sure to stay up-to-date with emerging technologies by experimenting with new tools and techniques and reading the latest research papers and whitepapers. Keeping up-to-date with existing and emerging technology ensures that I am always prepared to meet the challenges of the future.

Documenting How Things are Done

Keeping accurate and up-to-date documentation is essential. Documentation helps to ensure that all team members are on the same page with processes, and it can be used as a reference guide for future use. From documenting project plans to creating high-level diagrams, documenting all aspects of an IT project is an invaluable practice.

Identifying and Tracking Metrics

Some of the fundamental metrics of IT operations include availability, latency, throughput, and reliability. Availability is a measure of the system's ability to respond to requests. Latency measures the time taken for a request to be fulfilled. Throughput is a measure of the rate at which a system can process requests. Finally, reliability measures a system's ability to maintain service levels in the face of potential failure. By tracking these metrics, IT Professionals can get a better idea of how their systems are performing and take the necessary steps to improve them.

Automation

Automation is an incredibly powerful tool for any IT Professional. Automation can help to save time, reduce errors, and increase overall efficiency. By automating mundane tasks, IT Professionals can focus their time and energy on more complex challenges. The difficulty with automation is that you need a way to identify what’s worth spending your time on. I typically use the rule of three before even starting this process. If I see myself doing a task 3 times in a single day, I know it’s something that should get consideration, but that’s only part of it. There has be enough value in spending the time in automating the task. Sometimes, it really just comes down to tedium. If I hate doing it (or I just don’t get to it quickly enough and it’s highly repetetive), and I have to do it 3 times in a week, it’s a typically a great candidate.

Doing Effective Research and Proposing Solutions

Effective research for solving problems involves a thorough understanding of the problem and the current technologies being used. I use a variety of research methods such as reading whitepapers, attending conferences and seminars, and networking with other professionals. I also experiment with different technologies to gain a better understanding of their capabilities and limitations. Once I have a good understanding of the problem and the current technologies, I can then propose a solution that is tailored to the specific needs and requirements of the project.

I’m reading all the time. Audible is an incredible hack for me. It avoids wasting time and gives me new ideas to consider. I also really appreciate the value that is put into writing a book. If I’m highly confident I’ll use the books ideas frequently, I’ll go ahead and buy the physical or kindle version so I can easily refer back it to later. Other times, if I know I just need to get the ideas quickly, I find that Audible enable me to finish a book much more rapidly than I do in picking up and reading it. I’ve also found that having the kindle app on my phone helps me to pick up a book more often. Just like the camera, it proves that having it with me means that I am much more likely to finish it.

Another great way to enable effective research is keeping a regular flow of education content. Whether it’s Youtube, Skillshare or one of the many education programming sources like LinkedIn Learning, Pluralsight, acloudguru or udemy, these subscriptions are worth their price. My personal favorite is the O’reilly subscription that includes events, books and video content, it’s hefty in terms of price, but it enables me to understand the solutions well enough to provide great recommendations for the people and teams that rely upon my knowledge and skills.