Jeff Nielsen

Some teams try to build their own ACH file creation tools from scratch. It can work—at first. But maintenance is where things unravel. ACH file formats evolve. So do platform requirements, compliance rules, and APIs. What worked six months ago may break without warning. Debugging that in-house system? Costly and time-consuming. That's why the real challenge isn't development—it's long-term upkeep. Before committing resources to a DIY solution, ask: Who's responsible for compliance updates? How fast can we fix issues when something breaks? Is this the best use of our team's time? When file formatting and integration headaches interfere with core operations, it's time to reconsider whether building from scratch is still worth it.

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Common theme this open payments submission. More records, which are not locatable on the VPL, NPPL, NPPEs are finding there way into being accepted in CMS. The challenge with that is there is often no rhyme or reason so you have two options. 1) Don't load items that appear by all signs to be not reportable but have enough to make you wonder. 2) Load anything that may hit and submit more "junk" most will not find its way in and leave a lot more clean up. #2 is obviously the answer but what a headache it is to do. Happy reporting yall!

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𝗜𝗳 𝘆𝗼𝘂𝗿 𝗰𝗵𝗮𝗻𝗴𝗲 𝗯𝗼𝗮𝗿𝗱 𝗶𝘀 𝗮 𝘄𝗲𝗲𝗸𝗹𝘆 𝗺𝗲𝗲𝘁𝗶𝗻𝗴, 𝘆𝗼𝘂’𝗿𝗲 𝗮𝗹𝗿𝗲𝗮𝗱𝘆 𝗯𝗲𝗵𝗶𝗻𝗱 A weekly CCB cadence is a comfort blanket. Reality: issues don’t wait for Thursdays. And engineering changes definitely don’t align with calendar invites. Mature ECM isn’t “more meetings.” It’s 𝗳𝗮𝘀𝘁𝗲𝗿 𝗱𝗲𝗰𝗶𝘀𝗶𝗼𝗻𝘀 𝘄𝗶𝘁𝗵 𝗯𝗲𝘁𝘁𝗲𝗿 𝗲𝘃𝗶𝗱𝗲𝗻𝗰𝗲. 𝗣𝗿𝗼𝘃𝗼𝗰𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻: If your CCB is a recurring meeting instead of a decision system, you’re managing your schedule — not your risk. 👉 Want to see how our solutions handles this? Explore: https://lnkd.in/dXM6rYiW or book a meeting: https://lnkd.in/d4cd3mwg #ilcgroup #ILCNA #4PEP #VariantConfiguration #PLM #Revolution #bestwaytoPLM #EngineeringChange

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Most APM programs do not fail because of the platform. They stall because readiness is overlooked. Data quality, cross functional buy in, and workflow integration are make or break. If these are missing, performance improvements never scale. In this article, we break down how to spot and close readiness gaps before they derail your investment. Read here: https://lnkd.in/dcPV_A8Q #Dexcent #AssetPerformanceManagement #IndustrialDigitalTransformation #APM #DataStrategy #OperationalExcellence #ChangeManagement #Maintenance #Reliability #OTData

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If I had to pick one metric that tells you whether a technology organization is healthy, aligned, and capable of scaling, it’s this: Time‑to‑Value. Not deployment frequency. Not lead time. Not MTTR. Not change failure rate. Those matter — and frameworks like DORA and SPACE are useful for understanding engineering performance. I use them. They’re important. But here’s the pattern I’ve seen across industries: You can hit every DORA target and still fail to deliver meaningful business impact. Why? Because DORA measures how well you ship. Time‑to‑Value measures whether what you ship actually matters. And this becomes even more critical in an AI‑first SDLC. AI changes the economics of delivery — but only if the organization can move from idea → data → model → product → impact without friction. If any part of that chain is slow, unclear, or misaligned, AI becomes a science project instead of a force multiplier. Time‑to‑Value exposes those bottlenecks immediately. When Time‑to‑Value is healthy: - Data foundations are strong - Architecture supports rapid iteration - Teams are aligned to outcomes - AI models can be trained, deployed, and improved continuously - The business sees real impact, not prototypes When it’s unhealthy: - AI pilots never scale - Data quality issues stall progress - Engineering cycles drag - Product decisions lag - Modernization efforts produce little ROI Here’s the truth I’ve seen in every transformation I’ve led: Improve Time‑to‑Value, and your DORA metrics improve with it. Improving DORA metrics alone does not guarantee that Time‑to‑Value will move. And in an AI‑first SDLC, Time‑to‑Value becomes the forcing function that keeps the entire system honest. It’s the one metric every CTO should own — because it tells you whether your organization can turn intelligence into impact at scale.

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Headline: How a Rigged Visa Monopoly and Outsourcing Model Have Crushed Revenue for American IT Firms Like Smart Tech Solution LLC Running an American IT company should be about building value for clients and delivering reliable support. Instead Smart Tech Solution LLC has had to fight through a system tilted against us at every turn. The H1B visa pipeline has been monopolized by offshore consultancies for years. They flood the lottery with bulk applications corner the market on visas and then resell imported labor back to U.S. corporations at cut rates. The impact on our business has been devastating. Revenue that should flow to American companies like ours gets siphoned off before we even have a fair chance to compete. In IT support we offer hands on expertise built by engineers who can be onsite tomorrow and who know the compliance needs of U.S. businesses. Yet contracts slip away to offshore teams that underbid on price while overpromising on service. In MSSP cybersecurity services we invest heavily in protecting healthcare practices and SMBs against ransomware and breaches. But when the decision makers are swayed by a cheaper offshore quote we are left cleaning up the mess when those same providers fail. Even in hardware reselling the outsourcing model poisons the well. Offshore labor reduces margins for U.S. distributors and squeezes local resellers like us. Instead of investing in American supply chains clients are funneled into arrangements that look cost effective up front but erode long term reliability and accountability. The irony is that while our revenue gets strangled the country pays in other ways. Equifax leaking 147 million identities. Colonial Pipeline shutting down fuel supplies. Target hemorrhaging 40 million credit cards. Each tied back to outsourced IT dependencies that were supposed to save money. The savings were an illusion. The losses were real. Smart Tech Solution LLC has not stopped fighting. We continue to support clients who value accountability and security over a race to the bottom. But the truth is outsourcing has affected our business tremendously. It has made IT support contracts harder to win MSSP services harder to scale and hardware reselling margins thinner than ever. Not because we lack talent or innovation but because the system rewards monopoly tactics over domestic investment. So when people balk at a $100,000 H1B fee and call it extreme we ask a different question. How extreme has the damage already been to U.S. businesses like ours. How much revenue has been siphoned away. How much opportunity has been locked out. How much risk has been imported under the banner of efficiency. Until the monopoly is broken American IT companies will keep being treated like outsiders in their own country. And the real cost will not just be lost revenue. It will be national security. #Cybersecurity #MSSP #ITSupport #Hardware #Innovation #NationalSecurity #H1B #Monopoly #Tech

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𝐖𝐡𝐲 𝐃𝐨𝐃 𝐏𝐫𝐨𝐣𝐞𝐜𝐭 𝐌𝐚𝐧𝐚𝐠𝐞𝐫𝐬 𝐌𝐮𝐬𝐭 𝐌𝐚𝐬𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝐑𝐞𝐪𝐮𝐢𝐫𝐞𝐦𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐬 𝐃𝐢𝐬𝐜𝐨𝐯𝐞𝐫𝐲 DoD Project Managers are leading programs with codebases 50x larger than what frameworks designed in the 1990s can handle. Most are managing large, multi team efforts involving multiple DIB contractors and mission critical outcomes, challenges that have outgrown the frameworks we were all trained on. Product Management emerged to solve how to lead requirements discovery across complex, multi team environments. 𝐈 𝐝𝐢𝐝𝐧'𝐭 𝐜𝐨𝐦𝐞 𝐭𝐨 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐜𝐨𝐧𝐜𝐥𝐮𝐬𝐢𝐨𝐧 𝐥𝐢𝐠𝐡𝐭𝐥𝐲. The last 2 years, I've interviewed dozens of Product Managers from Amazon, Boeing, JPMorgan Chase, and other companies across tech, finance, aerospace, and automotive. These insights led Agile Alliance board members David Luke and Brian Button to launch the Project Management Institute (PMI) Agile Alliance Product Management Initiative after I shared my findings. Roman Pichler, a leading Product Management expert, is a key member, and I'm also involved. 𝐏𝐌𝐈 𝐡𝐚𝐬 𝐫𝐞𝐜𝐨𝐠𝐧𝐢𝐳𝐞𝐝 their training didn't fully address the requirements discovery challenges you face daily. In 2021, the Project Management Body of Knowledge (PMBOK) 7th edition broke from 34 years of tradition to incorporate Product Management thinking. The 8th edition, coming soon, will go even further. Project Management Institute is actively working to communicate this shift because the profession itself now recognizes that 𝐞𝐱𝐞𝐜𝐮𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧 𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡𝐨𝐮𝐭 𝐧𝐚𝐢𝐥𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐫𝐞𝐪𝐮𝐢𝐫𝐞𝐦𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐬 𝐝𝐢𝐬𝐜𝐨𝐯𝐞𝐫𝐲 𝐥𝐞𝐚𝐝𝐬 𝐭𝐨 𝐟𝐚𝐢𝐥𝐮𝐫𝐞.This transformation hasn't been widely communicated in defense circles yet. The urgency is real. Many of our platforms weren't designed for today's threat environment. The coming years will bring modernization pressure we haven't seen since World War II. Without robust & continuous requirements discovery, programs can spend 18 months building capabilities that miss the mark due to insufficient requirements discovery. This is why I'm working with DoD leaders and Project Managers to expand access to Product Management training. These are skills not typically covered in traditional project management certifications but essential as software solutions continue to grow in complexity. The Project Managers who build these capabilities now will lead the programs that define the next generation of defense capabilities. 𝐓𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐞𝐯𝐨𝐥𝐮𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧 𝐢𝐬 𝐚𝐥𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐝𝐲 𝐮𝐧𝐝𝐞𝐫𝐰𝐚𝐲 𝐢𝐧 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐩𝐫𝐨𝐟𝐞𝐬𝐬𝐢𝐨𝐧. The question is whether DoD will lead it or lag behind it. For a deeper dive, read my full article here: https://lnkd.in/eKNEK8fw If you're interested in recommendations on Product Management training customized for defense programs, reach out. #DoDProjectManagement #ProductManagement #DefenseInnovation #SoftwareAcquisition #ModernizeTheDoD #RequirementsDiscovery #DefenseTech #DevSecOps

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I spend too much time orchestrating coding agents that write, review, and fix code. Generally, just copying and pasting from one agent to another. Creating a local app to streamline the entire SDLC pipeline. Output from one agent is the input to the next agent until a PR is complete. For example, once a PR is created, my CI/CD pipeline runs the code review process using Codex, Gemini, Claude code, and SonarCube. This local app would review the comments and SonarQube output, decide which feedback to incorporate, and resolve the comments. It replies to the comment before resolving, creating an audit trail. If a review item is not safely fixable, the agent should leave an explanatory GitHub reply instead of silently skipping it. I'd envision this app will eventually orchestrate the entire development pipeline. Orchestrating the entire pipeline from 1. Project management tool 2. Brainstorm with the user 3. Code 4. Lint 5. Test 6. Dogfooding - let the agent try the app 7. Deploy to preview / staging 8. Run PR review process with multiple review agents 9. Get feedback from the team using preview links 10. Generate demo videos, changelogs, and help center articles 11. Deploying to production safely 12. Read logs and screen recordings to fix bugs or UI issues while you are asleep 13. Keep a record of lessons so that we don't make the same mistakes twice link in comment

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The Product Velocity Imperative Most Leaders Miss: Product Velocity is designed, not wished for. The imperative is fast, system-level learning across the lifecycle, reinforced by strategy, architecture, engineering, and production. Misalignment anywhere throttles learning everywhere. When the elements reinforce each other, learning accelerates, decisions improve, and integration tightens. 🚀 𝐏𝐫𝐨𝐝𝐮𝐜𝐭 𝐕𝐞𝐥𝐨𝐜𝐢𝐭𝐲 𝐚𝐭 𝐑𝐞𝐂𝐨𝐧𝐟 𝟐𝟎𝟐𝟔 At ReConf 2026, I will deliver two live sessions focused on accelerating complex product development without cutting corners: 🛠️ 𝐇𝐚𝐧𝐝𝐬-𝐨𝐧 𝐖𝐨𝐫𝐤𝐬𝐡𝐨𝐩 We work on your real-world challenges. Together with other participants, you will apply Product Velocity directly to concrete systems, constraints, and organizational setups. 🎤 𝐒𝐭𝐫𝐚𝐭𝐞𝐠𝐢𝐜 𝐓𝐚𝐥𝐤 Not just that Product Velocity is possible, but what actually needs to change in architecture, organization, and decision-making to make it real. If you build hardware, cyber-physical, or regulated products, this is for you. 👉 𝐑𝐞𝐠𝐢𝐬𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐑𝐞𝐂𝐨𝐧𝐟 𝟐𝟎𝟐𝟔 🎟️ Save 10% with promo code REC26_SPRE_2523 🔁 Share this with peers who are serious about faster product development #ProductVelocity #ReConf2026 #SystemsEngineering #ProductDevelopment #Flow #HardwareEngineering #CyberPhysicalSystems Full article at https://lnkd.in/du6kTBPi #ProductVelocity

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