In the previous issue, we introduced the performance management framework OKR (Objectives and Key Results) and how it can help us build and grow performant product teams. In short, OKR is a set of measurable objectives and key results that we set quarterly. Each objective has a responsible, and at the end of each quarter we draw the line and evaluate the results: how many goals we were able to accomplish? Next, we will consider a timeline for implementation of OKR in a company, with a snapshot of annual and monthly activities.

The company I work for has a kitchen like no other. This is not due to the industrial coffee machine which has queues every morning. There is another reason: the conversations. It is difficult to pass by and not get involved in conversation: leaves of absence, kindergarden, the weather, cars, gadgets and beliefs. When I talk about beliefs, I refer to the technical aspect of our work. I hear the following sentences on a weekly basis „And this is the reason why I don’t like Angular.” or , „JavaScript? Hahaha…” I also hear „You front-end developers are not even real developers!” (This one really hurts!) But wait, not a minute goes by, and there’s another comment: „Angular? Are you serious...?” Last but not least, another opinion comes along „Typescript? Well, that has JAVA written all over the place!” Folktale or not, I know you got the picture. Dear reader, I know that, like myself, you have very nimble adversaries. Therefore, I thought I should walk you through the world of the recently launched Angular 2, because you can never know who you will end up meeting in the kitchen.

IT Days is one of the most complex IT events in our country, having become a tradition for Cluj-Napoca each November. I had the pleasure of attending the 2016 event which spanned over 2 days. The presentations were spread across three streams, for each day, covering various topics in IT: Software Development, Products & Leadership, Big Data & Machine Learning, Testing, Business & Management, Startups & Entrepreneurship, Software Architecture, Hands-on Lab and  Research . In the same context, in an open discussion panel whose invited guest were Maria Metz, Roxana Rugină, Voicu Oprean and Șerban Țîr, the development of IT in Romania was also tackled.

A set of well-defined objectives is an essential prerequisite for the success of any company. Company objectives are extremely important for Product Teams because they guide strategic decisions in a manner which seeks to align itself with the solution meant to solve the issues product users are confronted with. Even if there are many models and methodologies for performance management, the OKRs (Objectives and Key Results) model is one of the best means of keeping the people involved in development focused on the target. The model provides a clear and simple view of objectives and key results, as well as a transparent and measurable way of tracking the progress made to reach those objectives.

Internet of Things or IoT is already here and cannot be ignored. The concept is becoming increasingly used in Romania as well, and it refers to the connection among various physical devices - via Internet and software applications, which allow them to communicate with one another (and with us, the users). In brief, IoT brings together the physical world and the virtual world. It is estimated that – by the year 2020 – we will have 200 billion interconnected devices, according to Intel, which is approximately 26 devices for each individual on Earth. What do you think about these numbers?

Millennials are now responsible for many of the changes that organizations underwent in the past years. Many of these changes were made out of pure necessity. Organizations had to stay updated with the needs and characteristics of the working generations or they wanted to create a workplace which is as close as possible to the ideal. And Millennials have a lot of ideals! We have already “threatened” you in this year’s papers and presentations of a new generation making its way to our offices – Generation Z, which is expected to bring new expectations, competencies and of course, needs. This generational mix may create confusion and uncertainty among employers and managers. In order to address these changes, we chose to present you with 3 major workplace trends in 2017. Let’s start!

Do you remember the famous saying: “Keep your friends close and your enemy closer” ?. That’s a very powerful quote on how to handle the entourage, but in the IoT era one more player comes into the game and that is the data. The data is generated by every device in the personal ecosystem and can offer anyone (friend or enemy) access to private information, beyond the imagination. Moreover, since one “should not wash dirty laundry in public”, keeping the data at home might be a solution. That might even work, but since “we are too poor to buy cheap”, all of us should have a private datacenter, at home, which should also provide some replication, because we all know that we “should not keep all our eggs in one basket”? Based on this knowledge, it looks like we have reached a dead end. Perhaps we should consider Mr. Einstein’s quote stating that “Imagination is more important than knowledge” (some rumors say he was pretty smart) and try to imagine a solution that will combine the power of enterprise technologies with cheap devices, in order to fulfill the needs of a home-use level datacenter.

Given this month’s topic, Internet of Things, I’ll focus on the startups in this area. Doing an IoT startup proves to be much more difficult than a purely software one. This doesn’t seem to stop founders, but it pushes them to be more realistic and more clear about their customers and the problems they solve for them. Statistically speaking, last year has seen a boom in IoT and hardware startups in Romania, even if it takes more time to finalize the product and sell it.

In the past few years there has been an increase in the demand for indoor tracking and location services, as many new technologies came to the fore with new capabilities, at reduced costs. One of the technologies for doing such indoor tracking and indoor navigation is Bluetooth beacons. This paper will review two of the most common uses of Bluetooth beacons, and the types of situations they are best suited for.

What not so many people know, especially in Romania, is that Bosch stands for much more than refrigerators and drilling machines. For example, the main theme for us this year is: Simply Connected. What does this stand for? It stands for intelligent and connected solutions split across four categories: Connected Mobility, Smart Home, Smart City and Industry 4.0. The company offers not only a variety of products, but also a variety of solutions, which help consumers lead convenient, efficient and secure lives. In this article, I want to briefly present one solution, developed within our Industry 4.0 Project for which developers from our Engineering Center in Cluj contributed to a great extent: TraQ – Tracking Quality.