In the digital age, effective communication and information management are pivotal for any team’s success. With inboxes flooding with emails and teams juggling multiple platforms for communication, it’s easy to miss out on critical updates.This is where automation comes into play, offering a seamless solution to streamline communication and ensure no important information slips through the cracks.

The Power of Automation

Automating the flow of information from emails to a team’s communication channel like Slack not only saves time but also ensures that everyone is on the same page. By leveraging Zapier to connect Gmail, OpenAI, and Slack, you can create a system that:

• Automatically detects new emails in Gmail.
• Summarizes the content using OpenAI’s advanced natural language processing models.
• Posts the summaries directly to a Slack channel.

This process eliminates the need for manual email checks and summaries, freeing up time for more critical tasks and reducing the risk of overlooking important information.

Setting Up the Automation: A General Overview

Setting up this automation involves a few general steps:

1. Integration of Services: Start by linking your Gmail, OpenAI (ChatGPT), and Slack accounts to Zapier. This foundational step ensures that Zapier can access and orchestrate actions between these platforms.
2. Creating the Zap: A Zap is an automated workflow that defines how these services interact. You’ll create a Zap that triggers on new Gmail messages, processes these messages through OpenAI to generate summaries, and then posts these summaries to a specified Slack channel.
3. Customization and Activation: Customize your Zap by specifying criteria for the emails to be summarized and selecting the Slack channel for posting summaries. Once configured, activate your Zap to run automatically.

Zapier flow: Gmail → OpenAI → Slack

Let’s test the Zapier flow to see how it works

Step 1: Gmail Trigger

The process begins with a test message arriving in a Gmail inbox. This message serves as the trigger for the Zap. In Zapier, a trigger is an event that starts a Zap. When you set up a Gmail trigger in Zapier, you specify certain criteria for the emails that should initiate the workflow. For example, you might choose to trigger the Zap for every new email arriving in your inbox or only those that match specific labels or search criteria. Once the criteria are met, Zapier detects the new email as the trigger event, marking the first step in the automated workflow. This step is crucial as it sets the stage for the subsequent actions by capturing the data (such as the email’s subject, sender, body, etc.) that will be used in the next steps.

Tested e-mail message

Step 2: OpenAI Analysis

After the email is detected by the Gmail trigger, the next step involves analyzing the content of the email using OpenAI (ChatGPT). In this step, Zapier passes the email’s data (such as the subject and body text) to an OpenAI action. This action utilizes OpenAI’s powerful language models to analyze the email’s content. The analysis can vary based on the specific needs of the workflow; for instance, it might involve summarizing the email, extracting specific information, or even assessing the sentiment of the message. This step is automated and occurs in real-time, providing immediate insights or processed data from the email content. The outcome of this analysis will determine the nature of the data or insights that are then passed on to the final step in the workflow.

Step 3: Slack Notification

The final step in this automated workflow involves taking the analyzed data or insights from the OpenAI step and posting it to Slack. Based on the results of the OpenAI analysis, a custom message is crafted. This message might include a summary of the email, key points extracted by the AI, or any other relevant information determined in the previous step.

Then, using a Slack action in Zapier, this message is automatically posted to a specified Slack channel or sent as a direct message to a team member. This step ensures that the team is promptly informed about the important aspects of the email, leveraging the analysis done by OpenAI, without having to manually check their emails.

It streamlines communication and ensures that actionable insights derived from email communications are efficiently shared among team members.

Conclusion

Incorporating automation into your team’s workflow can transform how information is managed and shared. By leveraging Zapier, Gmail, OpenAI (ChatGPT), and Slack, you can create a streamlined process that ensures important email content is quickly summarized and accessible to all team members.

Artykuł Boost Your Team: Gmail to Slack Email Summaries pochodzi z serwisu LEOCODE.

I’m going to start with quite not politically correct, yet very much true statement. We, the developers, get sick and tired, as soon as we hear “accessibility”. There is a simple reason behind it. Often times the word “accessibility” is used very wrong. Many people think that accessibility equals aria labels and making you app usable by the blind. But this is only a small fraction of accessibility.

So what “accessibility” is?

Let’s start the other way round and explain disability. We all know disability as a permanent state where a body doesn’t have all motor skills, but that’s again, just part truth.

Looking at the picture above you probably already are aware that at some point of our lives we’ve all experienced some sort of disability. Either temporary (broken arm) or situational (occupied hands). Cambridge dictionary defines disability as “an illness, injury, or condition that makes it difficult for someone to do some things that other people do”. Taking this one step farther, physical disabilities are not the only ones that exist. Any learning impairment, like dyslexia, is also a disability, but again this one in a permanent one. Taking it a step back to temporary / situational mental disabilities as well as definition “difficult for someone to do things that other people do” even not knowing a language well, regardless if it’s due to some learning impairment or that language not being one’s native tongue.

For all this, I want to introduce a better way of saying “accessibility” namely, as the title of this article states, “universality”. To me this is a better term, as we all do want our apps, documentations, articles be universally accessible by as many people as possible, regardless of their physical location and their own ability to access your content.

What “accessibility” really is, is an answer to a question “Can I get access to information?”

Here, I don’t want to focus on good HTML structures or aria labels, there is plenty great articles about that. I want you to improve your way of thinking about accessibility. I want you to make information as much accessible as possible.

Touch

We’ve all seen people, usually older, using styluses to navigate their phone. Some of us might even laught, but have you ever wondered why they do it? It’s simply because they have hard time taping on items they’d like to navigate to. This happens because, as you get older your motor skills worsen, but to be completely honest with you, I sometimes struggle to tap on the thing I’d like to. Why? Mostly because of bad UX. See it for yourself.

Looking at this map, at the first glance you realize that, tapping on the correct map pin is nearly impossible. A very simple fix for this may be grouping some nearly located pins into one that would cause the map be zoomed in to that area with nicely spread pins.

Generally with any touchable / clickable area a great rule of thumb is “could I tap it”. The more touchable area the better, but the minimum should be 48dp (or 48px / ~3rem) [what is a dp?] .

Contrast

Here I won’t say a word about colorblindness, nor any other permanent disability. Just look at the picture below.

Screens get better and better in terms of brightness, but if you never had an issue with sun making your screen unreadable, you probably live in the dungeon. This one is a struggle for every single person in the world every single day. When you create your app with bad contrast or some unusual fonts, you make it a lot worse for your users to get the information they need from you website.

An excerpt from “Refactoring UI” by Adam Wathan & Steve Shoger says:

By designing in grayscale, you’re forced to use spacing, contrast and size to do the heavy lifting. It’s little more challenging, but you’ll end up with a clearer interface with a strong hierarchy that’s easy to enhance with color later.

Leave handwritten fonts for logos, leave weird colors schemes and just make it simple. Simple is better.

Language

Simple is better, but what’s even more better, especially with language, is plain. I left this one to the end on purpose. This is a point relevant not only to copy writers or developers, but honestly to everyone. Ever written documentation? Procedure? Email to employees? A Slack message? You need to understand that plain is better. And now plain language is also an ISO standard.

I said earlier that accessibility is the answer to “Can I get access to the information?” question. What is better for that than a language. A language is the key to get out message across. Regardless of what that message is.

If English is your native language, you are in a better position, as majority of the web is in English, but keep in mind that there are millions of users that either know English as a second language, or don’t know it at all. Think what is easier to translate. I personally worked with an app where where you could have peers instead of friends, principals instead of leaders and articles could be appreciated, not liked. People sometimes think if they do things different, they will be better, but in communication this is not the way.

If you’re happy and you know it, clap your hands.
If you’re happy and you know it, clap your hands.
If you’re happy and you know it, and you really want to show it.
If you’re happy and you know it, clap your hands.

We all know this nursery rhyme, it’s one of the most popular ones that is used in English as Second Language teaching as well. If you look at it again, what do you see? There’s a lot of repetition and simple words.

This brings me back down the memory lane when I was studing English teaching. We were to create a children Christmas story, but the goal was to use no more than 30 different words. Tough challange, but has its point. Same as the nursery rhyme. That’s how we learn and understand language the best. With simple words and repetition.

An average 5–6 year old child knows 2500–5000 different words, by the age they’re 9 their primary set of words is around 5000, and secondary around 10000. If you think it’s more when you’re an adult you’d be wrong. It is basically this for the rest of our lives. We tend to use same words over and over again, and you know what? It is good! Using complex and unusual words does not make us sound smarter. It’s just making us less understandable.

Keep it simple!

Look at the examples below, they both mean exactly the same, but which one is actually understandable?

The recently implemented categorical standardisation procedure on waste oil should not be applied before 1 January 2015.

or

Do not use the new waste oil standards before 1 January 2015.

What is more, when we use longer words (8 or 9 letters), users are more likely to skip shorter words (3, 4, or 5 letters) that follow it. People just don’t read one word at a time. They bounce around, especially online, and anticipate words, subconsciously filling them in. You don’t need to read every word to understand what is written. It is estimated that people can drop around 30% of text and still understand it perfectly. An exception from that rule are people with learning disabilities who read letter for letter, and do not bounce around like other users. However, keep in mind that they cannot understand a sentence if it’s too long!

THIS IS MEGA IMPORTANT

Capital letters are harder to read. By around 13 to 18%.

Capital letters were great when you started learning to read. At first, you might sound out every letter, but you did not understood the concept of lower and upper case by the age of 6. At this point instead of letters, you start recognising the shape of words. This speeds up comprehension and speed of reading.

People do not read words, people recognise the shape of a word and understand it. It is a lot faster that way, and we all value our time greatly.

Online vs Paper

Users read very differently online to paper. They do not read top to bottom or even from word to word. Instead, users only read about 20 to 28% of a web page. Think of a letter F, that is a shape in which users browse content of a web page. they want to complete their task as quickly as possible, so they skim across the top, then down the side, reading further across when they find what they need. So, Keep it Simple. Give access to the information as quickly as possible.

Learnings?

• be concise — simple and shorter is better. Be understood, especially when you write procedures.
• address the user — use active voice
• DO NOT CAPITALIZE — unless it’s logo
• use text version of signs — and is easier to read and understand than &, same with dates use to instead of —
• Be gender neutral — use plural “they”

And make sure you use plain language, see https://www.gov.uk/guidance/style-guide/a-to-z-of-gov-uk-style for full list of words that can be easily replaced. But to give you a few to avoid that I’ve seen use quite extensively:

• collaborate, use ‘work with’
• empower, use ‘allow’ or ‘give permission’
• key (unless it unlocks something), usually not needed but can use ‘important’ or ‘significant’
• streamline, use ‘simplify’ or ‘remove unnecessary administration’

I hope that now you understand better what is the goal of accessibility. It’s simply to allow as many users access the information you want to provide in a way they can understand it as you intended. I believe you want that too.

Artykuł Universality, because accessibility is not about disability pochodzi z serwisu LEOCODE.

Metaverse is a virtual world that offers a wide range of immersive experiences to its users. It is a platform where people can interact with each other and engage in various activities, all while in a virtual setting.

One of the most popular offerings of the Metaverse is gaming, where users can enjoy games in a VR experience, collaborate with others or challenge them. The platform offers a variety of games, from simple ones to complex, multiplayer games.

Another feature of the Metaverse is virtual meetings and virtual offices. Horizons Workrooms enables users to meet and collaborate with their team, regardless of where they are in the world. The virtual reality experience creates a more immersive and empathetic environment for remote work and communication.

Virtual events are also popular in the Metaverse, with Horizon Venues offering a platform for hosting and attending events in a virtual setting. This feature is especially useful for businesses and organizations that want to reach a global audience and provide a unique and interactive experience for their attendees.

Additionally, users can create and customize their own virtual worlds in the Metaverse, offering them a space to express themselves and their creativity. This feature allows users to build their own world and share it with others.

Overall, Metaverse offers a vast array of experiences, from gaming to virtual meetings, events, and personal creativity, all in an immersive and interactive virtual world.

Viverse is a virtual world that offers a wide range of immersive experiences to its users. The platform provides users with their very own personal space where they can work, relax, and escape from their daily routine. With a collection of private VR spaces to choose from, users can customize their experience to meet their specific needs.

For art lovers, Viverse offers access to the Louvre and other notable exhibits in a virtual setting. Users can attend exhibitions with their family and friends or take themselves on a date and immerse themselves in the world of art. With HTC VIVE’s commitment to integrating art with technology, users can witness the masterpieces of great artists brought to life right before their eyes.

Music enthusiasts can enjoy virtual concerts with a premium view and a highly interactive experience. With holographic imaging and a 360-degree viewing angle, Beatday ensures that users have an unforgettable experience.

Viverse also offers a unique space for social gatherings. For example, users can participate in a virtual wine tasting with their friends and see the wine’s details displayed before their very eyes. With the platform’s immersive experience, users can relax and enjoy wine with their friends as if they were right beside them.

Remote work and collaboration are made more immersive and empathetic in Viverse’s virtual reality environment. The platform enables users to meet and collaborate with their team, regardless of their location in the world. Viverse provides an avenue for businesses and organizations to unite and connect with their team, even when they are halfway across the world.

Gamers can enjoy a variety of games in a VR experience, collaborate with others or challenge them. With the platform’s unique approach to gaming, users can enjoy simple to complex multiplayer games in a highly interactive and immersive environment.

Viverse also enables users to orchestrate or participate in trade shows and expos in a virtual setting. With VR, users can showcase their product or service in the most interesting way possible, ensuring a more nuanced experience for their clients.

Finally, Viverse offers a low latency live-streaming experience through its new 5G solution, Reign Core. Designed for large crowds, Reign Core enables high-speed connectivity and is highly portable, making it an ideal choice for events such as the Super Bowl or Coachella.

Which technologies will be developed in Metaversum?

• Blockchain – is a type of distributed ledger technology (DLT) that consists of growing lists of records, called blocks, that are securely linked together using cryptography. Each block contains a cryptographic hash of the previous block, a timestamp, and transaction data (generally represented as a Merkle tree, where data nodes are represented by leaves). The timestamp proves that the transaction data existed when the block was created. Since each block contains information about the previous block, they effectively form a chain (compare linked list data structure), with each additional block linking to the ones before it. Consequently, blockchain transactions are irreversible in that, once they are recorded, the data in any given block cannot be altered retroactively without altering all subsequent blocks.

• Cryptocurrency – is a digital currency designed to work as a medium of exchange through a computer network that is not reliant on any central authority, such as a government or bank, to uphold or maintain it. It is a decentralized system for verifying that the parties to a transaction have the money they claim to have, eliminating the need for traditional intermediaries, such as banks, when funds are being transferred between two entities.

• Augmented Reality – is an interactive experience that combines the real world and computer-generated content. The content can span multiple sensory modalities, including visual, auditory, haptic, somatosensory and olfactory.AR can be defined as a system that incorporates three basic features: a combination of real and virtual worlds, real-time interaction, and accurate 3D registration of virtual and real objects.The overlaid sensory information can be constructive (i.e. additive to the natural environment), or destructive (i.e. masking of the natural environment).This experience is seamlessly interwoven with the physical world such that it is perceived as an immersive aspect of the real environment.In this way, augmented reality alters one’s ongoing perception of a real-world environment, whereas virtual reality completely replaces the user’s real-world environment with a simulated one.

• Virtual Reality – Currently, standard virtual reality systems use either virtual reality headsets or multi-projected environments to generate realistic images, sounds and other sensations that simulate a user’s physical presence in a virtual environment. A person using virtual reality equipment is able to look around the artificial world, move around in it, and interact with virtual features or items. The effect is commonly created by VR headsets consisting of a head-mounted display with a small screen in front of the eyes, but can also be created through specially designed rooms with multiple large screens.

• Artificial Intelligence – is intelligence—perceiving, synthesizing, and inferring information—demonstrated by machines, as opposed to intelligence displayed by animals and humans. Example tasks in which this is done include speech recognition, computer vision, translation between (natural) languages, as well as other mappings of inputs. The Oxford English Dictionary of Oxford University Press defines artificial intelligence as:

• Internet of Things – describes physical objects (or groups of such objects) with sensors, processing ability, software and other technologies that connect and exchange data with other devices and systems over the Internet or other communications networks.[1][2][3][4][5] Internet of things has been considered a misnomer because devices do not need to be connected to the public internet, they only need to be connected to a network[6] and be individually addressable

• 5G / 6G – is technology standard of celluar connectivity, every generation or revision increase possible speed of mobile internet, which is very important in Metaversum, due of big ammount data transfer required to enjoy it.

Is Metaversum the technology of tommorow?

Absolutely yes! This technology will change the world we are living.

• Probably we won’t need to travel half of the world to join meetings

• Probably we won’t need to travel physicaly, to discover new places in the world or even cosmic space

• Probably we will be able to enjoy any others activities with friends

• Probably we will be able to try on new clothes, without visiting the shop

• Probably we will be able to do training online (for example deconstructing the items in order to know how to fix them, exchange them)

What are challanges to Metaversum?

• Security – is one of the primary issues that have cropped up with an increase in the value of crypto transactions and the increase in crypto scams and malicious softwares. If meteverse is a serious project that is here to stay, it needs to improve its security standards to give users the confidence that their identity and assets are safe and secure.

• Privacy – is another issue which has haunted the metaverse. Considering the fact that the metaverse uses devices such as webcams and AR & VR technology, it indeed makes the privacy of the user susceptible to being compromised. It is a known fact that hackers have in the past hacked and exploited such devices to spy on people. So, for the metaverse to be used by the masses, such risks to privacy must be addressed and solutions be addressed.

In conclusion, the Metaverse is a groundbreaking technology that provides users with a vast array of immersive experiences, from gaming to virtual meetings, events, and personal creativity. It has the potential to change the way we interact with each other, work, and even travel.

However, the Metaverse faces some significant challenges that must be addressed to ensure its long-term success. Security and privacy are two of the primary concerns that must be addressed to give users the confidence that their assets and personal information are secure.

Despite these challenges, the potential of the Metaverse is enormous, and its future looks bright. As the technology continues to develop, we can expect even more innovative and immersive experiences that will revolutionize the way we live and interact with each other.

In the years to come, we can expect to see the Metaverse grow and evolve, becoming an essential part of our daily lives. As such, it is crucial to continue investing in the development and security of this technology to unlock its full potential and provide users with an unforgettable experience that is safe and secure.

Artykuł Metaversum vs VR Headsets: Which One Will Take You to the Future? pochodzi z serwisu LEOCODE.

Zagrożenie ze strony cyberprzestępców wzrasta, a metody ich działania nieustannie ewoluują. Dlatego cyfrowa odporność stała się jednym z najpilniejszych wyzwań politycznych, biznesowych i społecznych na świecie. Odczuwasz niepokój? Słusznie! Czytaj dalej, ponieważ – prędzej czy później – problem cyberzagrożeń dotknie również i Ciebie (o ile już do tego nie doszło).

Globalna Groźba

Zagrożenie wciąż rośnie, a branża cyberbezpieczeństwa ewoluuje w odpowiedzi. Oczekuje się, że do 2025 r. straty poniesione przez sektor publiczny i prywatny w wyniku działań hakerów wzrosną do 10,5 bilionów dolarów rocznie (w porównaniu z 3 bilionami z roku 2015). Raport Embrokera uznaje to za „największy transfer bogactwa ekonomicznego w historii”.

„Firmy z branży cyberbezpieczeństwa spodziewają się, że koszty ataków hakerskich wkrótce przewyższą straty spowodowane klęskami żywiołowymi”.

Globalna fala cyberprzestępczości wzbiera na sile w tempie wykładniczym. Przestępcy posiadają w swoim arsenale najnowsze technologie i adaptują się do zmieniających się modeli bezpieczeństwa oraz metod organów ścigania. Pandemia COVID-19 przyspieszyła ten problem na bezprecedensową skalę. Przymusowe przejście na pracę zdalną w trakcie lockdownu przyczyniło się do wzrostu włamań online i kradzieży danych aż o 600%. 

„Warren Buffet określił cyberprzestępczość problemem numer jeden, przestrzegając, że ataki hakerskie są większym zagrożeniem dla ludzkości niż broń jądrowa”.

Co prawda technologia ułatwia wiele dziedzin życia, w tym prowadzenie biznesu, ma jednak realną moc destabilizacji korporacji, miast, a nawet całych krajów. Stany Zjednoczone doświadczyły tego wielokrotnie. W 2018 roku agent FBI, zaangażowany w dochodzenia w sprawie włamań cyfrowych, powiedział na łamach The Wall Street Journal, że każdy obywatel USA powinien się spodziewać, iż wszystkie jego dane osobowe zostały już wykradzione i są do zdobycia w sieci Darknet. Ponieważ coraz więcej dużych korporacji i agencji rządowych pada ofiarą hakerów, nieuniknione jest, że popyt na produkty i usługi z zakresu cyberbezpieczeństwa będzie rósł wykładniczo.

Cyfrowe problemy międzynarodowych korporacji i molochów mogą się wydawać przeciętnemu Kowalskiemu dalekie od jego codziennej rzeczywistości.  Całkiem niesłusznie, gdyż pojawił się nowy, dość niepokojący trend. Hakerzy, którzy tradycyjnie atakowali organizacje rządowe i duże firmy, dostrzegli łakomy (i łatwy do schwytania) kąsek w postaci mniejszych organizacji i osób prywatnych dysponujących zdecydowanie niższym poziomem zabezpieczeń. I tak oto Kowalski znalazł się na celowniku. Teraz, gdy nikt już nie może cieszyć się luksusem „poczucia bezpieczeństwa” w internecie, musimy uznać cyberprzestępczość za powszechne zagrożenie, tak jak COVID. Czasu jest mało. Musimy podjąć zdecydowane kroki i wyznaczyć linię obrony.

Małe i Średnie Firmy na Celowniku

“W 2021 roku, średnio co 11 sekund, jakaś firma stawała się celem ataku typu ransomware.”

Prędzej czy później Twoje dane znajdą się na celowniku. Cyberbezpieczeństwo stało się żywotną kwestią dla każdego biznesu, niezależnie od wielkości lub branży, w której operuje. Od organizacji z listy Fortune 500 po jednoosobowe działalności gospodarcze – każdy rodzaj przedsiębiorstwa w pewnym momencie stanie się celem ataku. 

“Statystyki są alarmujące: 50% małych i średnich przedsiębiorstw doświadczyło cyberataku. Skutkiem tego aż 60% z nich zakończyło działalność w ciągu następnych 6 miesięcy.”

Jeśli chodzi o cyberataki, małe i średnie firmy są na nie wielokrotnie bardziej narażone niż wielcy gracze. Duże firmy tradycyjnie mają większe zasoby – finansowe i kadrowe. Mniejsze organizacje często nie mają dostatecznych środków, aby skutecznie się ochronić, a w konsekwencji stają się łatwym łupem dla hakerów.

Czy wiesz, że w 2021 roku:

• 85% naruszeń dotyczyło czynnika ludzkiego,
• 61% wynikało z kradzieży lub złamania danych uwierzytelniających użytkownika,
• 35% ataków odbyło się z wykorzystaniem socjotechniki.

Internet Rzeczy Zmienia Postać Rzeczy

Szacuje się, że na świecie jest ponad 50 miliardów (czyli 6 razy więcej niż ludzi) połączonych i komunikujących się ze sobą urządzeń. Dzięki rozwojowi 5G, liczba ta będzie rosła w kolejnych latach szybciej niż kiedykolwiek. Stworzy to nowe możliwości dla przestępców, a także nowe wyzwania w zakresie bezpieczeństwa.

Ponieważ granice między pracą a domem wciąż się zacierają, a praca zdalna staje się normą, rodzi to nowe wyzwania w zakresie bezpieczeństwa dla organizacji. Firmy muszą nie tylko dysponować solidną infrastrukturą bezpieczeństwa, ale także edukować swoich pracowników i klientów na temat potencjalnych zagrożeń bezpieczeństwa związanych z używaniem ich własnych urządzeń, np. domowej sieci Wi-Fi.

Organizacje i przedsiębiorcy powinni potraktować bezpieczeństwo jako priorytet, przy czym odpowiedzialność za to spoczywa zarówno na firmach, jak i pracownikach. Przedsiębiorstwa muszą zacząć uwzględniać w wydatkach na cyber ochronę nie tylko infrastrukturę, oprogramowanie czy tworzenie procedur. Kluczowe będzie także zapewnienie bezpieczeństwa firmowych danych w domu pracownika zdalnego, a także jego edukacja w zakresie procedur i praca nad zmianą dotychczasowych nawyków.

Realne Koszty Cyberataku 

Rzeczywista cena incydentu cybernetycznego to nie tylko bezpośrednia strata pojawiająca się w jego następstwie. To także – i może przede wszystkim – nieoczywiste i długoterminowe koszty związane z bolesnym powrotem do stanu sprzed ataku. 

Jego następstwa mogą ciągnąć się miesiącami, a nawet latami, pochłaniając znaczne wydatki, z których firmy nawet początkowo nie zdają sobie sprawy i na które – z pewnością – nie były przygotowane.

Jaki jest zatem rzeczywisty koszt cyberataku?

• skradzione pieniądze
• utracone dane – firmy i klientów
• potencjalnie utracone kontrakty
• dodatkowa praca działu IT
• wydatki prawne
• przywracanie zhakowanych systemów
• utrata produktywności i płynności operacyjnej
• zakłócenie lub zaprzestanie działalności
• kradzież danych osobowych/finansowych
• straty przychodów z przestoju firmy/systemu
• utrata zaufania klientów i reputacji przedsiębiorstwa

Bezpiecznego Nowego 2022 Roku

Zagrożenie cybernetyczne nieustannie się zmienia. Atakujący, czy to pojedynczy hakerzy, czy też zorganizowane grupy przestępcze, zaczynają kierować swoją uwagę od wielkich, “tłustych” celów na mniejszą, łatwiejszą do schwycenia “zdobycz”. Nikt nie jest w stanie przewidzieć, gdzie nastąpi kolejny atak, ale wszyscy muszą być ostrożni i przygotowani. Pytanie brzmi: nie “czy”, ale „kiedy” zostaniesz zhakowany. I będzie to najprawdopodobniej rok 2022.

Poznałeś Zagrożenie – Co Teraz?

Czy podjąłeś niezbędne kroki, aby chronić swoją firmę przed złośliwym oprogramowaniem i cyber zagrożeniami? Czy masz niezbędne narzędzia, infrastrukturę i kompetencje na pokładzie?

Jednym z polecanych rozwiązań jest przeprowadzenie audytu bezpieczeństwa informacji w organizacji. Jest to narzędzie, które pomaga uniknąć nieprzyjemnych konsekwencji o charakterze prawnym, finansowym lub wizerunkowym. Regularne przeprowadzanie audytów bezpieczeństwa pozwala na zarządzanie ryzykiem i udoskonalanie zabezpieczeń adekwatnie do zidentyfikowanych zagrożeń. 

Warto zatem, aby, niezależnie od rodzaju prowadzonej działalności, audyt bezpieczeństwa informacji był przeprowadzany w organizacji przynajmniej raz na jakiś czas, najlepiej regularnie.

Audytor pomoże Ci zidentyfikować luki między samooceną organizacji w zakresie bezpieczeństwa a uznanymi standardami. Ponadto może zalecić określone priorytety poprawy cyberbezpieczeństwa, takie jak wdrożenie określonej technologii lub nabycie określonych zestawów umiejętności. 

Nasi specjaliści znajdą najsłabsze punkty w systemach zabezpieczeń Twojej firmy oraz wskażą Ci, krok po kroku, jak je usprawnić i podnieść poziom Twojej cyberodporności.

Autor: Przemysław Szczurek

Kliknij i umów się na bezpłatną konsultację online z naszymi ekspertami ds. cyberbezpieczeństwa

Artykuł Twoja Firma Będzie Zhakowana w 2022 r. Czy wiesz dlaczego? pochodzi z serwisu LEOCODE.

Developers, Testers, Analysts, Project Managers, and technical people in general, often complain that recruiters working in the IT industry have no idea what their interlocutors are talking about. Let me ask a rather perverse question then: Who does this really reflect badly on?

The IT world is constantly changing — new technologies and new approaches and solutions continue to emerge. I would venture to say that no other industry is so dynamic. To keep up to date with the latest innovations, you need to constantly update your own knowledge — and this applies not only to technical people but also to all the other positions around them that enable IT companies to operate. At the core, there are software developers who write the code, but would their code be worth anything if it weren’t for the salespeople who find clients interested in purchasing specific apps? Would the company be able to operate without recruiters who keep looking for new people to join the team? The work of salespeople and recruiters would not be too easy either if it weren’t for marketing activities aimed at making the organization recognizable on the market. And the company itself would never have been founded and could not operate if it weren’t for its administration department, which ensures that all the formalities are complied with and every single document is signed on time. As we can see, the IT industry is one giant ecosystem where all elements are dependent on one another. Being able to cooperate smoothly is worthwhile. In this article, I will focus on the relationship between the technical person and the recruiter, as this is where misunderstandings often occur (for which both parties are responsible, and both must work to prevent them from happening).

A recruiter is not a technical person!

IT recruiters are people who CANNOT PROGRAM — at least this one thing is obvious, isn’t it? Although HR professionals interact with technical people on a daily basis, this fact alone does not make them one. While it is clear that they gain some kind of technical knowledge and so know slightly more about it than the average person, they still don’t know every single IT-specific term or concept. And it would be rather unreasonable to expect them to — programming/testing/project management is simply not their job. The recruiters’ and HR professional’s role in the organization is different, as they specialize in areas other than the technical ones.

And — just to be clear — I obviously do not intend to justify cases where a recruiter:

• doesn’t know the difference between frontend and backend;
• isn’t capable of remembering (although it is repeated ad nauseam in various jokes and stories) that Java and JavaScript are not the same thing;
• offers a React Developer a job involving React Native technology — just because both sound so similar, after all;
• thinks that if someone only tests web apps, they can easily handle mobile app testing too without additional training.

Everyone, even a novice recruiter, must know the basics.

What can we learn during an interview with an HR representative?

An initial interview with a person from the HR department is not intended to test the candidate’s specialist knowledge (this is what the task stage or the technical interview stage are for). So what is the purpose of the initial interview?

• Talking about the company, the position, the projects, and the stages of the recruitment process.
• Looking into the candidate’s needs, finding out what they are expecting from the new employer, and letting them know what they can actually expect at the new company.
• Answering various types of formal questions such as the form of contract, the date of commencement of possible collaboration, office location, salary brackets, or benefits offered.
• Verifying the candidate’s command of English, if it is required at a given company.
• And, most importantly, conducting the so-called ‘soft’ verification of the candidate, i.e. testing the famed communication skills, among other things — after all, how else to verify them if not simply by talking to each other?

How should one talk to someone from the HR department, then?

The main purpose of an interview with an HR representative is to check whether a given individual fits in with the company in terms of their culture and personality, whether they will bring a positive attitude to the team, and whether they will be good to work with. And, of course, it is impossible to be absolutely sure of all this after a conversation lasting 30–60 minutes — after all, no one can read another individual’s mind or predict the future. But it is the way they communicate during their first interview that can give us some indication of how collaboration would look in the future.

When talking to another person, we need to adapt the vocabulary we use to them. Just imagine you are talking to a physicist or chemist who uses the same words they would use when talking to another scientist — it would hardly change anything in the state of your knowledge. Likewise, hearing about the technical details of a project adds little or nothing to an interview with a recruiter. If we want to portray ourselves as truly communicative, it is not enough to just talk a lot — we need to talk in such a way that the other person knows what we mean. The old adage — if you are unable to explain something so that even a child can understand it, then it means you yourself do not understand it well enough — suits perfectly here.

If the recruiter asks you to elaborate on your work experience, focus more on telling them what a given project was about, what a given app was used for, what obstacles/challenges you faced along the way, and how you dealt with them. You could also talk more about the team you worked in: Was it small or large? Did you have the opportunity to work with people from abroad and speak English at work on a daily basis? Or maybe you were in charge of introducing new employees to their duties or teaching junior staff members? You can tell the story of a given project from many perspectives, not necessarily listing all its technical specifications. And don’t get me wrong — it is not that you cannot take pride in the fact that, for example, you worked with the latest version of a given technology. The names of programming languages or frameworks are known to recruiters, and if you do not mention them yourself, you will certainly be asked about the knowledge of the technologies used at the company you are applying to.

Why is this communication so important?

Once upon a time, the stereotype was of the software developer sitting in front of their computer screen all day long, with not a soul for company. Nowadays, however, apps are so complex that an individual is not able to take care of everything by themselves, so they have to work together as a team and get along with others to achieve the goal. For this reason, it is important for IT companies to hire people who can easily find their way into a group and are able to properly communicate all kinds of problems and issues to be solved. At this point, it is not enough for an IT specialist to be a master in their respective field and just to write flawless code. If you aren’t able to work in a team, you won’t achieve the expected results. When working in a team, we are dealing with the synergistic effect, which in simple terms means that 2 + 2 gives us 5. Of course, no one is saying that everyone has to become the life and soul of the party all of a sudden! Just make your point clearly and share your knowledge and experience. For those who love to dominate a conversation, this is also something of a challenge — they will have to learn to give space to the more timid individuals to speak. It is important to realise that dominating a conversation is to some extent to our disadvantage — on the one hand, we get our opinion across, but on the other hand, we don’t learn anything new, we don’t get to know our interlocutor’s perspective and, ultimately, we don’t get anything out of the conversation.

Why should a technical person make sure that the recruiter understands them?

The recruiter is the person who takes you through the entire hiring process, which varies from company to company, but usually consists of an initial interview with an HR professional, followed by a technical interview and an interview with the hiring manager / decision-maker. During the first interview, as I mentioned earlier, the candidates’ communication skills are tested. What can be the consequences of being assessed negatively in that category?

The first one may be that the recruiter decides not to process the candidate further and then they no longer have the opportunity to demonstrate their technical skills. This is, of course, the worst-case scenario, and it probably doesn’t happen that often because recruiters know that there are many reasons why a candidate did not put themselves across in the best possible way. And it is well known that a technical person will easily find a new recruitment process and a new company (and probably not just one, but as many as five of them!), but is that really the point? Sometimes they may lose out on the chance to work in an organization that would have provided them with great opportunities, and, as we know, it is always better to have more options to choose from.

Coming back to the negative consequences of an unfortunate first interview: if the recruiter does not fully understand what we have been doing so far and what interests us, they may throw us into a long recruitment process, which may eventually end up with us securing a place for ourselves at the company, but not necessarily in the position we had expected, or under different conditions. Another negative scenario may be a situation in which the recruiter provides the manager with not entirely positive feedback about us, and the manager finally decides to offer the job to another person who performed similarly to us or even worse in technical terms.

Communication noise, i.e. all kinds of distractions, means not only the use of incomprehensible words, but also the actual noise present in our surroundings. At my work, from time to time it has turned out that a candidate — despite having made an appointment with me for the interview at a specific date — did not have the right setup to take part in such an interview. In the era of the pandemic and remote working, no one blames anyone for children playing in the background, but talking on a crowded bus is not comfortable for either party. Similarly, talking while driving does not allow you to focus 100% on the other person and convey all the most important information. Cooking dinner and talking to a recruiter is not the best possible combination either! Tapping a spoon against a frying pan does not blend too well with talking about your work experience. Let me debunk the myth of multitasking a bit here — the human attention span is limited and if we do several things at once, we have to bear in mind that we will only be able to allocate a certain percentage of our concentration to each of them (even if they are simple activities, performed automatically), which contributes to obtaining worse results in general. And I guess we want to show our best side and not miss any important points during a job interview, right?

So what will be the positives if the first interview goes well and the recruiter gets a proper idea about you? If the person from the HR department is sure that their candidate is a perfect fit for the position, they will do everything to make the manager think the same too, and to convince them, firstly to include the candidate in the process, and secondly (if the technical interview goes well) to offer them the job. Apart from that, when determining the salary with the manager, the recruiter will have arguments as to why the candidate should get as much as they expect (e.g. because they will bring the principles of good communication to the team and, as a communicative person, they will perform well in a leadership/mentoring role). It is no secret that we care more about the interests of people we like and get along well with.

Coming back to the question: Who does it reflect badly on if the recruiter doesn’t know what we are talking about?

The question is a bit perverse, but of course the above situation reflects badly on both parties. If something goes wrong during the interview, both parties are responsible for that, and both parties can undertake to put it right.

How to deal with it then?

Let us begin with what the recruiter can do, namely:

• keep learning, expand their knowledge, and read articles — so that they are familiar with the industry jargon;
• tell the developer straight that they are not a technical person and ask them to expound on the topic using colloquial rather than specialist vocabulary (based on my own experience, I can say this: It really works! A change takes place immediately, and the interlocutor tries to convey everything as if they were giving the interviewer some kind of training);
• show some understanding for the developer, who uses certain words on a daily basis and may sometimes find it difficult to come up with a substitute word quickly (we mustn’t give up on anyone right away, throwing them into a bag labelled ‘non-communicative);
• rephrase the technical person’s statement in our own words to make sure we have understood it correctly;
• don’t just ask one question, expecting the other party to fully elaborate on the topic and cover all the points we are interested in — we should keep asking additional questions as we go along, thus specifying what we are interested in.

Tip: Use positive reinforcement — if the technical person answers our question in a clear and understandable way, tell them so and praise them for it! Then, the next time our interlocutor gives us their answers, they will follow that lead and keep answering in a similar style.

And what can a developer do?

• the first step would certainly be to realize that they are talking to someone who does not have to deal on a daily basis with the specialist vocabulary that they themselves use every day, as well as to try replacing it with more colloquial words;
• prepare for the interview with the recruiter — think about what other-than-typically-technical aspects of the project they can talk about (team, challenges, the greatest achievement, additional responsibilities such as introducing others to their duties, being a mentor/leader, or conducting workshops with the client);
• ask themselves if they speak in an understandable way and keep adjusting their communication style on an ongoing basis (an interview with a junior recruiter will certainly be different from the one with a senior recruiter — if possible, the developer should check the recruiter’s LinkedIn profile before the interview, as they certainly have one ;) )

Tip: If there are some typically technical questions that you need to know the answer to before you decide to take part in the recruitment process, don’t be afraid to ask the recruiter to answer them. If they don’t know the answers, they will find out and get back to you.

End credits and a final request

And finally, as an IT recruiter myself, I ask only one thing of you for the sake of my HR profession: please have sympathy for us. Believe me, we do our best to educate ourselves as much as possible. And this is not just empty rhetoric! — You can see it in the number of courses available on the market, industry articles, and handbooks, not to mention internal training courses and the daily exchange of information within the team. And the industry is not easy at all, and keeps changing all the time. To recall my words from the beginning, we all live in one ecosystem, so let’s all take care of good communication and relations between departments.

Author: Agnieszka Śmiałkowska

Artykuł How to talk to an IT recruiter pochodzi z serwisu LEOCODE.

But first, how can we prove Scrum’s agility? 

Scrum’s agility is about being able to react quickly to product requirements, sprint ranges, and their adaptation to the market, product situation, customer requirements, and feedback. With Scrum, software product development teams are enhanced in delivering business values in the shortest time by rapidly and repeatedly testing and inspecting software that is currently working. 

In terms of product development, this framework focuses on responsibility, teamwork, and iterative progress towards well-defined goals. In its assumptions, Scrum is 100% agile as it usually deals with the fact that requirements are likely to change or are mostly unknown at the initial phase of the project. If you want to be responsive and adaptive to change then you have no choice but to embrace the agile approach. 

What stands out against the agility of Scrum processes?

Scrum, as an agile framework, has a well-established and concise set of rules, roles, artifacts, and procedures. This fact alone seems to be a contradiction to Agile’s “spirit”. 

If you read through the Scrum Guide, it defines specifically what Scrum is and it exists only in its entirety. Try to leave anything out and you’re not doing Scrum anymore. And yet, any kind of technique or method that tells you how to work is, by definition, not agile. 

Scrum processes are rigid, rock-solid ways from which you can safely build your project. But for the same reason, they cannot be considered agile. If the team decides to change something in the processes or to skip some parts entirely, this could be the first step to putting the project on the wrong track.

The rule is simple: if you intend to work in Scrum procedures, you must obey and follow them exactly as stated. Even missing just one of its artefacts and roles will cause Scrum not to function anymore. It becomes aberrant and slowly poisons the project by gradually increasing the number of areas that do not follow the correct procedures. 

The agile approach, on the contrary, means you have the freedom to choose the right tool or artefact to enhance your actual process. When it comes to the Agile process, leadership plays a vital role. On the other hand, Scrum successfully fosters a self-organizing, cross-functional team.

At the end of the day, the results matter more than processes.

Scrum is about delivering value and not about getting work done easier. You could go away and produce twice the garbage in half the time but that’ll get you nowhere. What you really want to be doing is product development that delivers good, quality work that’s valuable to people. 

If your final product isn’t clearly defined and there are a lot of unknowns that might evolve over time, Agile deals with these changes effectively. It enables an easy implementation of new requirements or features throughout the process. While the intention of Scrum processes is nice, everyone knows real life isn’t so kind. 

If you’re agile, your product development should be ready for changes or new tasks. But are we always able to cope with this extra workload? For example, it may turn out that there is a new task that needs to be done quickly for the stakeholder but your sprint is not flexible and it just crumbles after the introduction of this extra task. Even though you planned, estimated the story points and set the course of events, during product development it still turns out that you are not delivering on time. So you start shuffling tasks around or making new estimations but time is running out and there is no space for proper analysis. Your smooth, well-oiled machine starts to jam. 

Once again, is it possible to keep agility in your software product development while following a rigid process? If you have a hard-line process like Scrum, then you are not able to respond in an agile way to product changes. And yet the ability to implement such changes lies at the core of Agile. Scrum processes that should have a positive impact on the final product actually, in the product development process, turn out to be an obstacle.

Culture eats processes for breakfast and rules for lunch.

When you’re agile you’ve got to stay flexible and be able to change things on the fly as you learn. It’s not an accident that the Agile Manifesto has only one practice in it: continuous learning and improvement. 

This methodology was intended to gradually remove unnecessary components of the development process and provide a lightweight framework for project management. This leverages the creativeness and technical knowledge of the developers as a consequence. Scrum, on the other hand, is all about doing things exactly as prescribed by the framework. 

There is one more important aspect and a consequence of working in Scrum: If you want to develop the team’s autonomy, and if you want your developers to be adaptable and have the ability to think independently, you cannot do it with only Scrum processes. There is simply no space for progress in it. Even the regular retrospectives are not enough as they are not a tool for improving processes because they are concerned with reviewing the deliverables and the current sprint activities that have been done. 

To enhance the team’s progress you must reach beyond the given processes. Actually, there is no space in Scrum for acquiring domain knowledge, in-depth analysis of the functionalities currently being developed, user analysis, or even for the reviewing requirements provided by the stakeholder.

There is some correlation between the team’s maturity and its ability to deliver products in an agile way. For some teams, abandoning its procedures may mean more autonomy, greater ownership and more overall self-development, while for others only greater… chaos. For some teams, breaking free from procedures means greater progress towards agility, but for others it is the exact opposite! The decisive factor here might be the level of experience. A mature team knows that specific frames and patterns should be kept but they can freely, in an agile way, choose the right ones for the project.

Agility won’t happen in an immature team.

The maturity of a development team is quite a relative term and it’s hard to set the specific criteria of qualities and behaviors that make a team highly mature in terms of agile. However, it’s possible to recognize some “symptoms” of a team’s maturity in the context of being agile. 

The maturity of a team should determine which processes you follow (or if you’re doing it at all). In Scrum, for example, daily standups might be helpful to keep tasks flowing smoothly as well as the rhythm of the development cycle. However, they aren’t necessary for more mature teams.

For “younger” teams that are just starting out with Agile, having strong processes, such as those given in Scrum, is important. But this is only the first step of going agile. As the team matures, it should strive to get the job done with fewer processes and patterns which will become brittle as the years go on. 

A well-run agile team can detect and respond effectively to any change that occurs. But when you follow Scrum blindly there is a risk that you’ll “stick to the plan” instead of learning the domain or you won’t be ready to respond to changes in the environment that might influence the business. 

For “younger” teams with no high-level seniority and a lack of experience, the risk lies in over-trusting and over-believing in the processes. There is a high risk of falling into a false sense of security. What can go wrong as we follow procedures?

Some teams are convinced that they remain fully agile because they keep processes and let the framework think for them. Paradoxically, this way they are less agile than they used to be before the agile methodology was introduced to the organization. 

Over time, tools and procedures will become so ingrained in how you do things that they will become second nature. Scrum elements will be “replaced” by a certain mentality, an agile mindset. This change in the team’s approach might be almost imperceptible but yet it is still significant. It’s about focusing on the wider perspective rather than on the short period of the work you’re currently engaged with.

Summary:

Although Scrum is perceived as an agile framework, it doesn’t adhere to all the principles that make agile unique. 

That being said, it’s definitely not a bad place to start for teams and companies that want to embrace the agile way of delivering products. It’s just important to remember that Scrum is not a one-size-fits-all solution.

Eliminate aspects of your processes that get in the way of real progress. Use Scrum to teach your team maturity and create a selection of artifacts that will eventually create a framework that works for you.

The important thing to know about agile software development is that it is not something that can be applied overnight. It is a process in which teams develop the ability to bounce ideas off each other, testing the viability of new approaches before committing them to development. 

Adherence to Scrum principles doesn’t mean giving up on agility. Failure to understand its principles – definitely does.

“Scrum is simple. Try it as is and determine if its philosophy, theory, and structure help to achieve goals and create value. The Scrum framework is purposefully incomplete, only defining the parts required to implement Scrum theory.”

Artykuł Is Scrum even agile? pochodzi z serwisu LEOCODE.

Let’s start with some easily digestible yet shocking stats. It is estimated that by the end of 2021 there will be a shortage of 1.4 million developers in the world but only 400,000 new software development graduates entering the market.

Developers’ employment in the US is estimated to grow by 22 percent between 2019 to 2029, much faster than for any other occupation! Despite increasing workloads in this ever growing and rapidly changing industry, the current shortage of developers is not completely caused by an overall shortage of talent. It can also be heavily attributed to a lack of qualified software engineers who do not meet certain criteria. Difficulties in finding the right people for a project make the hiring process difficult for recruitment staff as they have to headhunt many staff members. This imbalance in the supply and demand of developers works well in their favor as they are in the fortunate position where they are able to dictate their working conditions.

Quoting Buffer (2018), 1 in 3 developers would change jobs for a remote opportunity and 60% of developers report that they want to go remote at some point in their career. According to the SWZD ‘2021 State of IT’ report, 64% of surveyed companies allowed a smooth transition between stationary and remote work during the 2020/21 pandemic. More than half of all companies plan to stick to the flexible work policies they have now established after the pandemic ends.

The ongoing global situation caused a major change in the way we work. Thousands of developers worldwide are looking for remote work and there is a finite amount of available positions. Some of the projects naturally require on-site teams so the companies that are open to remote work actually have even bigger odds of hiring the best fit. By leveraging remote team extensions, you can access a much wider talent pool and potentially cut costs while keeping top quality staff.

Developers dictate the conditions:

Startups, tech giants and smaller outsourcing companies all try to outdo each other in terms of the salaries and benefits they offer just to get their hands on top talents. Having a suitable company prestige and a budget to match is the only way to attract these recruits when competing for experts. Staying relevant as an employer while attracting highly qualified personnel can be difficult to manage, but by developing new technologies, offering engaging projects and reinventing services accordingly, it is possible to keep up with evolving job-seekers’ needs.

Increasingly high salaries seem to play only a partial role in the decision-making process developers make when choosing their next project. Company values, their mission, internal culture and how challenging the project is also play important roles when it comes to being an attractive workplace for the cutting-edge talents.

Expectations vs reality:

Nevertheless, some developers still bring unrealistically high demands to their prospective employers while often bringing very little to the table. Recruitment specialists struggle with screening the right candidates as the hole goes a lot deeper than simply coding skills.

The shortage of developers is often due to a lack of qualified software engineers who don’t meet certain criteria. For example:

• Software developers don’t have enough experience for the project.
• Not enough technical skills for the job.
• Insufficient soft or social skills to join the team. Problem-solving, flexibility and overall communication skills are crucial in the industry.
• The salary demands happen to be inadequate or unacceptable.

Scarcity dictates conditions:

The idea of a one-stack developer specialized in only technology is slowly being repressed as customers tend to search for talents who are more flexible both in terms of technology stacks and interpersonal skills. Good software engineers can pick up just about any technical skill and become productive quickly in one way or another. On the other hand, there are developers who have simply memorized a limited set of technical solutions and can’t do much more outside of that. The hiring market seems to value talents who possess knowledge or skill set that can be very transferable. Another important consideration is a high level of individual ownership. This is surely one of the most sought-after qualities when searching for qualified software engineers.

Recruitment market:

The market value of highly flexible, communicative and technically experienced software engineers will keep going up as the demand rises. Until the number of IT graduates closes the huge gap between the supply and demand of developers, and the market saturation reaches the optimal level, tech companies can only reevaluate their expectations and narrow down their hiring criteria. Every company aims for growth-driven, experienced, ownership-oriented developers, but not every organization can simply afford them and therefore, attract them in the long run. These software engineers are a luxury ‘commodity’ and the hiring market is strictly dictated by scarcity and high demand.

Summary:

Despite the overall scarcity, not every developer is like a full Bitcoin. Full-stack technical knowledge does not ensure anyone a Software Developer position anymore. The rabbit hole goes much deeper than straight coding experience. The 2021 market needs Engineers, not Coders. How one can become an Engineer, you might ask.

What separates Engineers from Coders is the ability to creatively solve issues and future-proof their products if possible. A wide range of soft skills as well as being able to predict issues and provide the most efficient solutions, constant self-development, and actively seeking knowledge is what makes the difference between these two. Tech-savvy, well-educated (education goes way beyond the formal one but that’s always a solid foundation) experts, ready to engineer custom software solutions are like bitcoins, rare and expensive to acquire. Lucky you, we have teams just like that, ready to perform- plug and play.

Artykuł Developers are like Bitcoins (except that they’re not) pochodzi z serwisu LEOCODE.

Clubhouse is a social networking app based on audio-chat. It connects the functionality of a radio, conference call, and a casual meeting or a lecture where users can listen to captivating conversations on various topics.

You’re not invited:

Clubhouse has a tone of exclusivity. You can’t just download the app, create an account and join the party. The idea behind the invitations works just like a real-life exclusive, membership club. You have to be invited to join by an existing member. Clubhouse is currently not available on Android devices, so you’ll need to use an iPhone for now.

We’re in:

Just like many other apps, you have to select a range of your interest. Technology/IT, business, psychology, and so on. The number of conversation rooms and users the app will recommend to you depends strictly on the amount of information you’re willing to share. 

The topic room works just like a conference call. Most people just join the channel to listen to other people talking. Once the conversation is over, the room is closed- no content stays on the platform in a form of recording (yet, it doesn’t stop anyone from recording using external software.)

How to get a Clubhouse invitation?

To join Clubhouse, an existing user has to send you an invitation from their app. Then you’re given the access to set up your own account. When you are invited, you’ll receive a text message to your phone number, containing a link directing you to a sign-up page in the app. Note that existing users only have two invites available at the beginning. The creators have announced that they’re aiming to complete the app’s beta stage to eventually “open up Clubhouse to the whole world”.

What has Elon Musk got to do with it?

The Clubhouse App was launched by Silicon Valley entrepreneurs Paul Davidson and Rohan Seth in March 2020. In May 2020, it had just 1,500 users, and was worth $100m. Recently Elon Musk hosted an audio-interview on Clubhouse with Robinhood CEO Vlad Tenev.  The event reached the app conversation room limits and was live-streamed to YouTube. It allowed Clubhouse to gain lots of recognition. Currently, Clubhouse has over 2 million users.

Clubhouse has announced new features, such as well-known subscriptions as well as tipping or tickets. The new solutions will potentially allow users to directly pay creators via the app. Clubhouse is now valued at $1bn, and is considered a Unicorn startup just likeUber or SpaceX. The App invitations are highly desirable at the moment making some users try to sell and buy them on Reddit and other online forums.

Follow us on Youtube and Spotify:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7VqNHEFo21c&ab_channel=LEOCODE

Artykuł What’s the Clubhouse hype about? pochodzi z serwisu LEOCODE.

Prep time:

Remote work has its must-haves. Comfortable workplace, including desk and chair allowing you to keep your health while working long hours. Stable internet connection, good microphone and hardware allowing you to make quality presentations as well as take daily calls, are another point of the ‘remote work basics’. You also need lot’s of patience and indulgence especially if you or some of your team members are parents. Remember that you, working from home might be as big of an obstacle for the family, as the playing children might be a distraction for you.

In case of potential downtime, you’ll also need an alternative way of communication. Both as an employer and a developer, you cannot afford to spend hours without any form of communication with the rest of the team. For example, slack had a minor failure this year which I’m sure some of you may be aware of. Hope for the best, prepare for the worst.

Full remote culture:

Switching to fully remote mode, demands everything to be written down and documented even more scrupulously than before for the project to develop continuously. At the start, the company tried to avoid going fully remote, yet they’ve offered everyone who was interested in going back to their home countries, the opportunity to do so. Regular calls, constant communication, and pursuit of improvement as well as focus on tightening the human relations, were what I knew before but not at this scale.

Another aspect that I found pleasantly shocking was the freedom of delivering the work within flexible timesheets. We were working in Scrum with the Scrum Master being a part of the client’s in-house team. As long as we delivered the work on time and attended the obligatory meetings, there was no problem with working in non-standard/late hours.

The team that I had the pleasure of working with, had basically no staff rotation during the project. There was a high focus on creating a very inclusive environment where every issue has to be addressed by the entire team. “Leave no one behind” is the kind of approach I would say.

I’d say the company was well prepared for the pandemic scenario, yet they were learning on the way. Hypothetically, if your team needs hardware (laptops for example) that need to be secured and shipped to the other side of the globe, you need to make sure everything is done right to not waste weeks of time if they need to be shipped back.  Some waste of time was inevitable, yet that’s the lesson that could not be prevented.

Is it here to stay?:

Remote work has its good and bad sides. The office maintenance costs are lower for the employers, on the other hand, the electricity bill will go up for the employee (not everyone got the bonus for working from home). Remote work also might need some new laws, let’s say you had an accident when walking your dog during work hours- who do you think should be held accountable for such an occurrence? What I’m sure of, is that most companies will go back to their old ways as soon as the COVID situation gets better. I think that it is way too early to judge if remote work is here to stay. 

Lack of trust is one of the main reasons holding home office from becoming a new standard. We seem to lack the belief that people can work as well on their own as they do when supervised at the office. The trust issue won’t change unless the way we think changes. For now, it seems that the mindset stays the same, we’re just forced to adapt and reduce the damage done by the pandemic. A Nine-to-five versus task-oriented workday is another dilemma that has to be addressed as soon as possible. Working in tech is knowledge-based work, demanding high focus and mental loads. Overworking and lack of proper mental hygiene can quickly lead to burnout resulting in lower (down to zero) productivity. The company I worked for seemed to be fully aware of the risk, as they put a lot of effort into caring for their teams well being. Purely human approach and honest, mutual care was present and felt every day of the project. To put it in perspective, such an approach might be a little harder to stumble upon in Central Europe. 

Old vs. new ways:

COVID has opened the gate (by force) which otherwise would have been closed for years. Remote work needs mutual trust to function properly and efficiently. Micromanaging has to step down and make room to task-oriented work. Another thing we should focus on is efficiency. Proper documentation, cybersecurity and well-prepared procedures, as well as a comfortable workspace, are a must that keep things going. Low-value calls, home distractions and lack of constructive feedback lowers the morale, leading to a permanent decrease in performance.

My personal experience shows that remote work can work with the minimum amount of understanding and human approach implemented. Although I wasn’t a fan of the home office, I changed that mind after I tried fully remote work. Also, I think that the possibility of working remotely, or even just partially from home is a nice addition to somehow restricting 9-to-5, 5 days a week office job, and can be a valuable benefit, both in terms of employer branding and personal comfort.

Artykuł Remote work during the pandemic | Developers PoV pochodzi z serwisu LEOCODE.