Maybe a Different Tool Would Work Better

A little while ago I had  a conversation with my sister and a friend/colleague of hers. A few twists and turns aside, they were comparing notes on the obstediatractics practices they each work in.  My sisters friend mentioned that they were refreshing some equipment, specifically ultrasound machines and although  they had some that were 3D capable, they were probably going to just by some of  the 2D only units.  The rest of the conversation went something like this:

Me: Are the 3D machines more expensive?

My sister’s friend: Not really, just a few hundred dollars difference.

Me: Are they hard to use?

My sister’s friend: No, it’s just a switch you flip.

Me: is the 3D just a gimmick?

My sister’s friend: No it’s pretty nice to see some additional detail and identify structures.

Me: So, the 3D ones are not significantly more expensive, you don’t have to retrain, they help you do your job better, but they are not the way to go?

My sister’s friend: Not exactly. Well we like 3D better but the insurance carriers usually don't cover it.  If we use them now, we think there is no reason for them to ever cover them.

…….At this point I am thinking “what the…….who the….aw for the love of….that’s no kind of answer” but this being a social function, I just said,” really great to meet you” and let it go.

To be fair to folks in the medical profession, when I turn the focus to my experiences in Software, SaaS and PaaS development, we as technologists, can hardly point any fingers..

Let’s take a ...well.. not so hypothetical look at these type of conversations in our world.  I say not so hypothetical because it rings true of countless conversations I have had with friends and colleagues over the years.  You know the ones at the opening night party of events ending with “world” ,  “con” or “summit”  that go something like:

Architect: How are things going with you?

Dev. Mgr.: It’s going well. We continue to work on CI/CD stack.

Architect: How’s that going?

Dev. Mgr. Well we continue to try and close the gap between continuous integration and continuous deployment.

Architect: What’s holding you up there?

Dev. Mgr. We are getting the stack automated and working on better test coverage.  We looked at using some of the orchestration stacks and programmable infrastructure offerings but we are just going with the new version of our existing stuff.

Architect: When you got the legacy gear and tools were you deploying a DevOps framework or or a CI stack?

Dev. Mgr.: No it was just for our internal IT.

Architect: Well IT is not really trying to do the same thing you are. You are looking to give developers and quality engineers self-service access to production data and infrastructure without impacting the customer experience or sprawling the datacenter. Is there a compatibility issue between the new gear/tools and your existing stuff?

Dev. Mgr. No.

Architect: Are the orchestration stacks and programmable infrastructure gear more expensive?

Dev. Mgr. No, not really.

Architect: Are they harder to use, is there a steep learning curve?

Dev. Mgr. No, they are all pretty much built to be programmable and work with the languages and scripts we use.

Architect: So, the new tools and gear aren’t more expensive, they are compatible with your tools and work the way developers expect them to, but that is not the way to go with the refresh?

You get the picture.

I don’t mean to suggest that without the absolute latest technology you are dead in the water. I definitely fall into the category of being a disciple of Lean, Scaled Agile methodologies and the underpinnings of DevOps, continuous integration and continuous deployment and the likes thereof.  I dare to say it is pretty widely accepted, Agile methodologies and DevOps infrastructure are not “one and done” implementations but  philosophies adopted, iterated and improved on over time. As George Herbert said, “Start where you stand, work with whatever tools you may have at your command, and better tools will be found as you go along”.  What is important is that as the better tools are found take advantage of them. When you need to drive a screw and your old screwdriver isn’t handy, a new ergonomic screwdriver with a composite handle will work, a drill will work even better, but I definitely wouldn’t suggest the hammer.