It’s that time of year. Set some new goals. Make some changes that will have 2010 run smoother than last year and accomplish more than ever before.
Two key parts to this post:
- Performance Testing Frequency
- 8 Principles to Succeeding in Your New Year’s Resolution
I’ll get to the performance testing frequency next, but let me first say that the 8 principles come from a great business coach – Mike Hawkins – that has a new book out. All the details are at the bottom of this post. I highly recommend checking out his book and site on leadership development.
As web developers, we may think about implementing Agile or modifying our style of coding. Why not testing too?
My suggestion is to add this resolution to your list:
I will make performance testing an integral part of my projects, and I will confirm that each of my new builds didn’t harm system performance.
Why don’t web developers test the performance of our applications or sites more often? Cost and hassle. Traditionally, it has been too expensive to run big load tests except for major releases.
It is surprisingly common for web apps to be deployed without any performance consideration at all. “We will find out when it breaks from too much traffic – it will be a good problem to have.” Ever heard a manager say something like that?
What you don’t know CAN hurt you!
Not know your site’s performance metrics can cost you your job. It can cost your company money.
I’ve seen some very unpredictable hits to performance after a simple change in the code. Today’s web apps have lots of moving parts involving database access, caching, thread pools, configuration settings, and plenty more that probably will be sensitive to code modifications.
That’s why I advocate running a regression performance test on each build. As long as you have the test automated, and your tool is inexpensive to run, then the ROI on this practice is huge.
Just ask your Marketing Manager. They invest money into campaigns resulting in traffic. If they are successful, you may be unsuccessful. Don’t let them break your system with heavy load because they will not protect you from the CEO when you hear the knock on your door.
Performance test early and performance test often in 2010
The job you save could be your own! 🙂
8 Principles That Enable People to Develop the Mindset to Change
The following principles were written by Mike Hawkins, author of Activating Your Ambition: A Guide to Coaching the Best Out of Yourself and Others (www.activatingyourambition.com), and president of Alpine Link Corporation (www.alpinelink.com), a consulting firm specializing in leadership development and sales performance improvement.
These eight principles extend your ability to change. They will make achieving your goals in the coming year a straightforward process.
- Awareness
– Get beyond your symptoms and uncover the root of that which has prevented you from achieving your objective before. Move past your self-deceptions, biases, and blind-spots by seeking feedback from others and building your self-awareness. Become accurately aware of what it is you need to do in order to reach your goal.
- Motivation
– Build an unyielding internal motivation to change. Convert your broad desires or external incentives into specific benefits that have real and near term meaning to you.
- Belief
– Remove any doubt that you can achieve your goal. Study past failed attempts for lessons learned. Visualize yourself succeeding. Plan around your anticipated obstacles and have contingency plans in place that can be easily deployed.
- Incremental Steps
– Analyze the legitimate approaches to reaching your goal and select the best approach available. Devise a plan of action using small steps that circumvent your brain’s built-in resistance to change. Embed elements of fun to make your actions something you look forward to. Create realistic milestones by which you can measure progress.
- Time & Energy
– Determine how much time and energy your plan will require. Determine how you will free up that time and energy to ensure the top excuses to change, “I don’t have the time” and “I’m just too tired” are taken care of.
- Initiation
– Ensure the circumstances are optimal when starting your self-improvement journey. Don’t start a diet just before going on a family vacation. Don’t sign-up for night classes when a large and time sensitive project kicks-off at work.
- Others
– Solicit the help of others. Build your own support group. Find people that will offer you wise counsel, hold you accountable, and celebrate milestone achievements with you.
- Normalcy
– Follow your plan. Stay focused. Take it one day at a time. Apply your new behavior every day. Don’t let a trip or special circumstance prevent you from following your plan. Apply yourself until your new behavior becomes as unconscious as brushing your teeth with your dominate hand.
Follow these eight principles to coaching yourself and your ambition will quickly become your reality.