Greg Leib on Software

As a new technology executive, my biggest worry is whether I am focusing on the right issues. My prior roles primarily required technical work, but they mostly involved small problems and small teams. For my first executive position, I expected to focus on organizational issues more than technical ones. Two months in, I think my expectations and role reset strategy were about right. Here are some of the challenges I've been working on so far: Hiring. I'm shifting the organization from being mostly outsourced offshore to a more even onshore/offshore model. Sourcing and assessing engineers for senior roles has been challenging. I'm committed to building a great team. This is my top priority, and so far we've filled two of the four most senior roles. Our offshore people are solid, and I'm really excited about the new people we're hiring. Process.  We need a simple and unambiguous approach for software development. I've been pushing the team to use Jira a...

This morning my newsfeed came up with an interesting read from Gizmodo, an article interpreting cybersecurity as a war against haunted objects. The idea of securing the "internet of things" as an exorcism is rich, nuanced and perhaps even poetic. I'd encourage you to read it, as it is unusual to consider technology through a spiritual lens. While reading the article, I was reminded of another lens through which I view software development, the cargo cult . These spiritual movements originate during and shortly after World War II, in Melanesia. In their initial contact with western technology, the first people of that region saw spiritual significance and, through imitation, sought to gain the material wealth and social place possessed by occupiers. Their rituals sometimes involved building (non-functioning) radios, airports and vehicles from wood. They believed such tokens would enable their ancestors to send cargo (material goods) to them from the afterlife. I think on...