Performance Zen

Author: spierzchala

  • Much running through my head…

    I have had one of those days that leaves me thinking if what I do matters.

    I have a great message; I am enthusiastic about my message. But the more I try and push my message, the more mundane the tasks I am handed. I need a new challenge, one where I am not battling a lackadaisical sales force who just wants to get by, does not want to push the limits.

    We have great customers, who have amazing technologies and interesting business challenges. Meanwhile, I am doing basic jobs, jobs that do not challenge me to think strategically or in new ways. Why? I see the challenges everyday, but here I sit.

    The question is: what have you done to change this? What steps have you taken to resolve this?

    I have blogged my ideas. I have tried to implement them, present them to customers, co-workers. My enthusiasm for this is still there. The only place I have for my ideas is here, and here is where they will be.

    Bring on your Web performance challenges. I want them, I want to see them as bad as they get. I live for them.

  • A worthwhile tirade on UIs

    Johanna Rothman has nailed a credit card company with a stupid UI.

    I liked it, because I agree that a core component of Web performance is transparent and seamless Web design. I particularly enjoyed this TakeAway:

    Why do you care what browser your users use? The world is full of browsers.

    That’s why we have Java. Accommodate all the browsers. Sure it means that you have to write code more carefully and test on many platforms. Is it worth losing any customers because your developers were too lazy to write good code?

    I often ask myself the same question.

  • I am whacked

    I think that tomorrow will be a snow day for me — I’ll work from home. I have a presentation to put together for Wednesday, so hanging out in my frigid attic work room is where it will happen.

    We went back out around 4PM EST to do some more shovelling. We can now get out if we have to, but why?

  • Someone else is snowed in.

    Stephen O’Grady of RedMonk is snowed in in Portland, ME [here].

    Good day to do nothing but wonder how the Scobelizer feels now that he is 40…a fate I won’t have to suffer for four more years!

  • The Power and Magic of Testers and QA

    Brian Marick has a great article on testers.

    I am one of those who is a tester. And frankly, I agree with everything he says.

  • SNOW: Thoughts of Johnny Cash

    Why Johnny Cash?

    How high’s the water snow, momma?
    2 feet high and risin’….

    Took the Damnation out…ok, I dragged her behind me. The snow is shoulder deep on her, knee deep on me. And it is still falling. And it is still blowing.

    I am not even going to try and dig out until the snowfall stops.

    ADDENDUM: Dave Winer has a great movie of guys digging out in Cambridge. Shot from his hotel room.

  • Considering GrabPERF Expansion

    Since I think that I have stabilized the GrabPERF System into a happy near-production environment, I am considering an expansion of the system. This expansion would include adding more measurement locations.

    Much like Ian Holsman’s WebPerf.Org, I want to know if there are any volunteers who would like to participate in a BETA of this system when I have it ready to go.

    Requirements for BETA participants would be the following:

    — crontab
    — Perl DBI
    — Perl dbd-mysql
    — Perl CURL-Easy
    — A stable IP address
    — Ability to talk to my server on port 3306

    I would establish some very basic Agent verification (hence the stable IP address). This would include allowing the IP address to talk to my database server through IPTABLES, and then verifying that the Agent ID and it’s IP address match, in the database.

    Drop me an e-mail if you are interested.

  • Halley Suitt from the Scoble House

    Halley Suitt is at Robert Scoble’s 40th b-day in Seattle…near Victoria. Seems that people from the East Coast are getting snowed in and missing the party [here].

    At least 8 inches here at The Embassy…with a stiff wind…and now sign of stopping.

    I hate you all…in the nicest possible way! 😉

  • eBay: Theoretical Limits of the Network?

    In the Business 2.0 Blog, the author posits on the possibility that eBay may be reaching the theoretical limits of its network growth potential. In this case, I do not mean the technical TCP/IP network; I mean the business to client network that has been created around this community.

    eBay has been trying to move into new markets and diversify — classifieds and rentals being two new opportunities. And the recent price increase has infuriated some of their long-term community members.

    From personal experience, the treatment that the ZenWife received from the PayPal division has been enough for both of us to walk away from using it.

    So, eBay, what are you going to do to make your user-community ecstatic to use you again? How are you going to make yourself a place where people want to do business, not a place where they grudgingly do business because you are a near-monopoly?

    How will you make your community love you again?

  • The VARY Header: Appropriate Compression and Caching

    The team at Port80 has a great article on why the VARY server respose header is important for caching and compression in HTTP/1.1 [here]. It succintly sums up this method for determining what should be cached and which cached content should be delivered to requesting clients.