Automation represents a very important component in IT, whether it is used for software development (in continuous integration, for example) or for the administration of different systems and infrastructure. In the case of big, dynamic environments, implementing a form of automation represents one of the most basic needs in order to ensure the optimization of the resource management.  

In the last 3 months I tried to talk about different subjects presented in Clean Code. Even if this is the 4th article about this topic, I have the feeling that there are so many things that we should talk about when we are talking about a clean and good written code. We could say that the ‘Clean Code’ book, written by Robert C. Martin, has set the standards in our industry from this perspective. It is the developers’ Bible and many times it is used as the ‘law’ of the code. I don’t want to go deeper into this subject, but I promise that one day I will talk in detail about why we should (not) use this book as THE Bible.

One of the oldest military treatises and one of the most successful is "Sun Tzu's Art of War". The book was written around 500 BC by a general from the court of King of Wu, and presents a set of 13 chapters with precepts about tactics and strategies in warfare. I've read the book for the first time some years ago, but looking at some trends in the communication techniques and management style determined me to read it again.

One of the main challenges that Agile teams are facing is the way it plans the testing activities so that: - the team is actually testing what the Product Owner thought of in the acceptance criteria - it copes with continuously changing requirements - it has a clear overview on how much of the acceptance criteria is being automated tested and finds the right balance between the effort invested in testing (both automated and manual) and the actual importance/impact/risk of the scenario being tested

Peter Lawrey is a Java expert who appeared on the third position in the StackOverflow chart. We have the pleasure to have him as special guest to Cluj IT Days 2014, where he will deliver a technical presentation on “Hot topics in Java Performance Tuning”, as well as a presentation on his experience as an independent consultant: “What I have learnt by becoming an independent consultant”. Moreover, Peter is having a one day workshop on Java Performance

Theory says that 90 percent of a project manager’s work is communication and if theory says that, there must be some truth in it. The real important thing is the fact that communication is all over the place for the project manager and the theory makes him aware of this from its first chapters. What we often don’t realize is that polishing our communication skills starts much sooner and it is part of our job and our lives more that we knowingly realize. Referring to our work environment only, communication goes around among people with different communication skills and different backgrounds (e.g. developer, tester, administrator, hr).

When I first heard about Share Cluj, the project was yet an idea, the team was still discussing about the purpose of the project, thinking how to involve more people and how to put Cluj on the world map. Initially, my role in the project was to be an ambassador but, by participating to a team meeting having as main subject the technical part, I immediately became a member of the team. 

I have seen in my 15 years career as a developer, technical lead, project manager, freelancer, trainer, agile/lean/technical coach and again developer many failures of software development. I have also seen unexpected successes.  From all industries, software development seems rather unpredictable. As a client, you can ask for a feature that looks simple and should take a day or two, (eg. Add Euro support to an accounting system designed for French Francs) and it takes two months. Or you can ask for a feature that looks awfully complex, and it takes one day. What should you expect? A 10 times budget increase for the feature set that you need, or to have the software earlier than expected?

We continue the series of articles on Cluj IT Days with a new invitation. We had a month to fill in the blanks. We thank all those who have sent us a suggestion for presentation and we are sorry we couldn’t include them all. We will try to include them within our next editions. Let’s have a look over the main sections of the event as well as those of the presentations.

During the last year, I forgot my tablet in various places at least 3 times (in the supermarket, in restaurants, at events) - luckily I recovered it quite quickly every time. One of my phones is still in Bulgaria somewhere, it had fallen from my pocket. With the wallet there’s no problem: I forget it at home all the time, this way I know for sure where it is. Let me be clear about all these: I’m not forgetful! Perhaps, a little careless, but I’d rather prefer to think it happens to anyone, anytime and anywhere.