Proudly Serving North Dakota

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North Dakota Agile 4 = Modernization

Build high performing technology ecosystems.

During the transformation stage we should have been defining the tool set to make us nimble and pushing for modernization of software, hardware and procedures for a competitive edge.  This is where we discussed re-platforming, utilizing new tech in software language rewrites, hardware, etc.  By this phase you should have a good idea of people saying 'We cannot get rid of that tool'.  Just remember, if you compromise it could come at the price of having a negative impact on the transformation itself.  So, have management's support and answers around those responses.

North Dakota Customers

Some information I know about North Dakota is I believe the state was admitted or ratified to the United States around or about 'November 2, 1889'.  North Dakota is located around latitude '47.650589' and longitude of '-100.437012' and has a population of roughly '779,094 million'.  If I remember correctly the capital is 'Bismarck' and the largest city is 'Fargo'. 

Major Effort Modernization

This is the hard stuff.  Managing application rewrites and inclusion of virtual machines, cloned workloads, middle-wear, github projects, azure, AWS workloads etc.  All difficult stuff.  Oh, don't let me forget about automated code, work instructions and how DevOps is intertwined.

Agile Modernization Restructuring Plan

You bet at this stage you should have a plan.  It should be detailed around oversight and hopefully by this point the knowledge transfers and reverse shadowing has happened if you are handing these services to an external vendor.  If not pack your bags.  Failure is knocking.

Manage the Risks

With a few or a lot of moving pieces either way you have to manage success and failures.  Take note of the risks, make sure everyone understands the risks and have mitigation plans to roll back.  Hey, don't break software used for feedback loops or customer role-based control panels or communication methods.

If at any point you decide to reach to me just know the area code I work within for North Dakota is '701'.  For Agile 4 = Modernization assistance you will find my rates very reasonable for North Dakota.  Now just keep in mind my time zone is 'Eastern Standard Time (EST)' and I know the time zones in North Dakota are 'Most of the state: Central Standard Time (CST) / Western North Dakota: Mountain Standard Time (MST)' in case you wish to call me.  Anyway let me continue.

Cybersecurity

Hopefully you planned for threat risks and you had worked in a security audit with remediation.  Have you run Varonis to see your security vulnerabilities?  Are you decommissioning systems and oh don't forget about AD legacy domains, orphans, IAM (Identity Access Management), WAS8, ISAM 9 and consolidations of physical to virtual.  Well if you are geeky you knew what all of that meant.

System Dependencies

If you have a Disaster Recovery Plan that is up to date this can often be the baseline around dependencies with systems etc.  If it does not include key stakeholders for the business and IT make sure you have it now and put it in the Agile Registry or some system of record.

You know, I don't make it out to North Dakota much but I would like to see the 'Western Meadowlark' state bird.  I am a little familiar with the North Dakota 'Wild prairie rose' state flower as well.  However, I do not know much about North Dakota's state tree the 'American Elm'.  Fishing is fun to me perhaps I would like reeling in the North Dakota 'Northern pike' state fish.  Anyway, sorry I went off topic.  Let me continue.

Business Continuity Planning

Between Technical Advisory Boards, change Advisory Boards, Weekly Governance Boards someone has to determine risks, their mitigation plan and assist in Business Continuity Plans (BCP).  There is a lot to keep up with and to update management on.  Again if you need help in these areas contact me.

Ok, let's move on...

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