CROZ, as a technology oriented company, always tries to find better ways for development of solutions which some of you use. That search often takes us in the right direction so we find a new technology, tool or a method which significantly aid our work, but sometimes we hit a wall. The mentioned search represents to us a constant process of improvement.
A world-renowned and recognized method of information presentation, Technology radar, is used to present conclusions and opinions on technologies, tools, platforms, programming languages, approaches and development methodologies, which presents all the trends in the mentioned areas in one place. The pioneers of this kind of the technology trend presentation come from a well known IT company, ThoughtWorks – they conceived the concept and made it available for use to others. For us at CROZ, the technology radar is a byproduct of the aforementioned process of research and a quest for new and better ways of doing business, several guidelines we take into account when starting up any new project, and entertainment to some of us since it gives people an opportunity to read about new and interesting technological novelties.
Reading the radar
Even though it is very clearly presented and coherent, we will say a few words on how to read the radar. The radar is subdivided into three categories in order to easier group and present each entry of certain category. It is important to note that all the three categories carry same weight or importance. All the projects whose goal is to deliver a good quality software product will equally take into account methodologies (and work experience), programming guidelines (and programming languages) and tools (and platforms), so we have decided to give proportionate part of the radar to each of those components. Each of the categories has four different levels which by it’s color and position on the radar mark how much a certain item is momentarily in focus, do we consider it to be applicable to projects we are working on or would we recommend it to our clients and partners, making sure that it would bring them a positive shift. Let’s take a closer look at the levels of the radar: “Adopt”, “Trial”, “Assess”, “Hold”.
ADOPT
The central level of the radar, called “Adopt”, clearly marks what the CROZ team loves and uses, but also those things which would be useful to include in the projects immediately. In all the categories, the most green level includes things which are no longer a passing trend, a hot new novelty which won’t let you sleep. There, in the center of the radar, you will find things which have stepped into the everyday IT world and each in it’s own way will help with making our projects better.
TRIAL
Next level, a bit more distant from the center, is called “Trial”. Just by it’s name you can guess that it hosts things which are really close to full affirmation and are usually just missing some time and a chance to run a pilot to show their full potential in order for it to “jump” to a higher, greener, level. Yes, novelties dwell here, but they are high quality novelties which need to be taken seriously during the next six months.
ASSESS
On the next level, further from the center, we come a category called “Assess”. That level hosts things which have just appeared – technologies and methodologies which need to be approached carefully, in a lab environment. Most frequently they are not widely applicable or they don’t have a clear place in the context of our projects where they could help us. Sometimes here you will find very new things which need more time to develop, a better documentation or that some IT guru starts writing glorying tweets about it. This level can also have technologies and methodologies which may have been in the “Trial” level, maybe they are used in a narrow number of projects, but they still need to be additional assessed and see in which direction they will go.
HOLD
Furthest from the center, you will find a level called “Hold”. We will use it to consult to move away from a certain technology or methodology – try to show that there is a better way which is on a higher level and closer to the center. “In the red“ are things which are rarely used and for which we are pursuing alternatives. You can also find technologies which may have come to the “Assess” phase or even “Trial”, but because of different reasons never reached the “Adopt” level.
