Proven Thought Leadership From Intertechs Full-Time Technology Leaders & Consultants
Design – Architecture – Delivery – Development – QA – Deployment
CI/CD – Agile – DevOps – Digital Transformation
PROCESS INSIGHTS
Agile, How It Works, And Important Estimation Considerations
Author: Stevie Borne – Director of MomentumWorks™
Agile development is more than a series of Sprints; it’s a proven methodology that can deliver fast results with less bureaucracy. However, without the right leadership your scrum can quickly get very chaotic.
TECH INSIGHTS
Heading Off 11 Common Angular Application Design, Best Practice, & Methodology Challenges
Author: Dave Cloutier – Intertech Consultant
This collection of tips is intended to provide guidance for new and experienced Angular developers on some common best practices, methodologies, and design practices that will improve the design, organization, functionality, scalability, and maintainability of Angular applications.
EXECUTIVE INSIGHTS
Scope Creep And How To Successfully Manage The Various Forms
Author: Stevie Borne – Intertech, Inc.
Whether you are the project sponsor, project leader, or a member of the development team, increasing the scope of a project can be frustrating. Beyond the initially estimated work, this increase in scope is often called “scope creep.” In many situations, scope creep results in extended timelines and additional financial investment for the project.
GET TO KNOW US
Consultant
Ryan Harvey
If you spent any time in Colorado during the past three decades, you probably ran into Ryan Harvey. Ryan worked at Bold Technologies in Colorado Springs, serving as a systems architect and later as director of software development. Previously he worked as a senior network engineer at Colorado-based Vanion. His earlier entrepreneurial efforts resulted in a successful dial-up and DSL Internet Service Provider know as Royal Internet Services, which served southern Colorado. Ryan was well prepared for his wide-ranging technology career. He earned a bachelor of science degree in computer science from Colorado Technical University (CTU) and a master of science in electrical engineering from CTU. Joining Intertech in 2015, Ryan has continued his pursuit of knowledge with multiple licenses and certificates. His particular areas of specialty are Microsoft SQL Server, Integration, and Agile Methodologies.
“Continuous learning gives good developers an edge,” says Ryan. “Intertech strongly encourages ongoing education, which benefits employees and clients.”
Why Did You Choose Intertech?
My philosophy is simple: never stop learning. Intertech gives me that opportunity with challenging projects and the opportunity to work next to some of the best in the business.
Sideline
In collaboration with one of Intertech’s other amazing consultants, Ryan leads the Machine Learning collective at Intertech, researching new ways to expand the uses for client’s data.
Using CSS Variables In Angular
Author: Rich Franzmeier – Intertech, Inc.™
Why does ngStyle stop working when you need to pass into a component the color for the ‘hover’, ‘active’ and ‘focus’ pseudo-classes for the button? It doesn’t work because you can’t set pseudo-classes (:hover, etc.) on the style property of an element (i.e. <button style=”:hover {background-color: blue}”> —- does not work. So how do you pass a variable to CSS using Angular? Find out here…
EXECUTIVE INSIGHTS
Three Essential Areas Relating To A Successful Agile Transformation
Author: Stevie Borne – Director of MomentumWorks™
You may be at the start of your Agile transformation journey or a few years into it. Either way, you want it to be successful. But what does success look like for you? More importantly, how do you get there? This article will discuss three essential tips to set up your organization for a successful Agile transformation.
EXECUTIVE TECH INSIGHTS
Providing Tech Leaders The Tech Insights They Need To Succeed
Finding and Retaining Stellar IT Employees
What It Takes To Build and Keep a Winning Team
IT leaders cannot demand that employees care deeply, but they can profoundly influence the workplace and create an atmosphere that encourages deep satisfaction. Learn how to impact your workplace for the best.
Selecting and Working with IT Consulting Firms
What Every CIO Should Know
This Intertech Executive Brief provides insight into selecting an excellent consulting firm that fits your particular needs and how to leverage that consulting relationship for maximum value.
Agile Methodology For Executives
A Guide for Executives Managing and Working with Agile Teams
This Intertech Executive Brief provides an Agile Methodology Overview with related commentary about how scrum complements many agile principles. This paper will also expand your understanding of how to combine Agile and Scrum for the best results.
PROCESS INSIGHTS
Agile, How It Works, And Important Estimation Considerations
Agile development is more than a series of Sprints; it’s a proven methodology that can deliver fast results with less bureaucracy. However, without the right leadership your scrum can quickly get very chaotic.
Selecting And Working With IT Consulting Firms
It’s exciting to participate in the biggest and most vital economic segment in the world. It also means intense competition for skilled IT professionals with in-demand expertise. How do you get the best partners to carry your vision forward? Find out here.
The 100 Building Blocks For Business Leadership
Making Projects Succeed, Building A High-Performance Team, Living Your Best Life, And So Much More!
100 practical ways to improve your business, your team, and your life. Supported by over 30 tools and templates that can be found by clicking the red button below, the Midwest Book Review said: “Simply stated, “The 100: Building Blocks for Business Leadership” should be a part of every community, corporate, and academic library Business Management instructional reference collections.” Available now as a free resource through Intertech’s Exective Library!
Featured Content:
Avoiding Common Errors In Software Development Cost Estimation
Author: Tom Salonek — Intertech Founder and CEO
This Intertech Executive Brief shares Five Critical Factors technical leaders need to consider when estimating any development project cost while providing recommended proven strategies for dealing with software development cost estimation challenges.
Top Three Reasons Agile Transformations Struggle
This article explores three of the top reasons Agile transformations struggle and how to overcome them.
Your company is in the midst of an Agile transformation, and you are responsible for its success, yet things are not going according to plan. Teams are not moving any faster than before the transformation began and may even be moving slower. People are not buying into the process changes, so there is conflict in various company areas. Thus far, the company has spent lots of money on this transformation but has little to show. What is going wrong? Find out the top 3 reasons and how to solve them.
TECH INSIGHTS
ASP.NET Core For Managers
Author: Davin Mickelson – Intertech, Inc.
It can be daunting for a developer or manager to try to decipher and choose one of the new frameworks available in .NET Core and Visual Studio. As developer teams continue to maintain existing web solutions, they occasionally need to create or rewrite a new ASP.NET web application. Perhaps they are replacing an old Active Server Pages (ASP), WebForms (ASPX) application, or .NET Framework MVC application. The question is – which project template is best? ASP.NET Core? — Razor Pages? — MVC? — Blazor? — gRPC? — Web API? Which One Should You Use and Why?
Angular: Structural Framework For Dynamic Web Applications Tutorial
Get up to speed with, Intertech developer, Mark Root’s new tutorial Angular: Structural Framework For Dynamic Web Applications. This comprehensive guide outlines how a leading technology uses HTML as your template language and extends HTML’s syntax to express your application’s components clearly and succinctly.
The ease in which Angular allows developers to build expressive, readable, and quick to develop web applications has fueled its popularity. Luckily, getting up to speed on developing with Angular v2+ involves mastering just a handful of basics. Having trained and mentored many teams on the basics of Angular, Mark has designed each article to within the tutorial to help walk developers through basic concepts as well as some more advanced topics. This 9-part series is a great starting point for anyone wishing to become more proficient with Angular.
Tutorial includes:
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Getting Started With The Angular CLI
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Application Structure Using Modules
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Setting Up Routing In Your Application
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Components: Inputs, Outputs, and EventEmitters
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Angular Component Lifecycle
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Template Driven Angular Forms
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Angular Reactive Forms
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Getting Started With Electron and CLI
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Using Bootstrap 4 with Angular
More Tips From Intertech Consultant, Mark Root
- Angular Tutorial: Simple Toast Animation
- Technology Spotlight: NativeScript
- Technology Spotlight: WebAssembly
- Why Junior Developers Should Consider Consulting
- Angular Tutorial: Working with Angular Pipes
If you would like to go deeper into Angular and NgRx, check out Intertech Developer, Rich Franzmeier’s 5-Part tutorial.
Pillars of Software Development Success
How to Deliver Software On-Time On-Budget On-Feature
A study by PricewaterhouseCoopers, which reviewed 10,640 projects from 200 companies in 30 countries, found that only 2.5 percent of the companies successfully completed 100 percent of their projects. Find out how to avoid this issue.
THINKING AHEAD
Ignoring ADA Compliance Can Be Expensive: What You Need To Know!
With the realization that accessibility compliance is a great advantage for your company and customers, and with the increase in ADA activist lawsuits across the country, it is important to have a clear understanding why web tools and applications should be compatible with assistive technologies used by people with impairments. Some of the most common ways of meeting compliance are making sure screen readers, Braille terminals, screen magnification and speech recognition applications have clean access to your systems. Other ways would be to meet expectations for subtitles and captioning when needed. In this article we will cover why accessibility is important, compliance standards, WCAG guidelines, ARIA guidelines, and validation and screen reader tools.
THINKING OUTLOUD
Your Journey From Agile Transformation Through DevOps To Digital Transformation
In the early days of Agile Transformations, the term often meant “implementing Scrum” in most companies. The goal was to leverage Scrum practices to improve a technology organization’s ability to deliver software more rapidly. With the Scrum framework’s emphasis on value delivery, ideally this software would better meet their customer’s needs. In many cases, people focused on doing Scrum and lost sight of the Agile Manifesto on which Scrum was based.
This article will cover: (1) How Agile came to dominate and where it fell short (2) The coming together of Agile Development & Operations, and (3) Bringing it all together and calling it Digital Transformation.
ADA Compliance Lawsuits On The Rise Across The Country
In Tampa, Florida (not California where new laws are taking effect) disabled plaintiffs calling themselves activists working to improve society for the disabled are working their way around the state, one lawsuit at a time.
(Full Story)
According to the article, in 2018 alone, there were 2,285 ADA website lawsuits filed in federal courts across the nation, an increase of 181% from 2017.
You may not feel it is worth the extra time to make your software and website meet compliance. That is a valid consideration, but if you are considering building these features into your project, Intertech can provide you an overview of services so you can review the options and make an informed decision.
Understanding ADA, WCAG, & Section 508 Compliance
Information Below references ADA & Section 508 Government Documents
What is ADA Compliance?
The ADA differs from Section 508 regulations, which are an amendment to the Rehabilitation Act of 1973 and apply to all information technology, including computer hardware, software, and documentation.
Who Is Required To Follow The ADA?
“The Department is currently developing regulations specifically addressing the accessibility of goods and services offered via the web by entities covered by the ADA. The fact that the regulatory process is not yet complete in no way indicates that web services are not already covered by title III.”
— Statement of Interest of the United States Department of Justice in NAD v. Netflix (page 10)
Who Does The ADA Law Affect?
- Americans with disabilities and their friends, families, and caregivers
- Private employers with 15 or more employees
- Businesses operating for the benefit of the public
- All state and local government agencies
How Does A Company Comply With The ADA?
The ADA encourages self-regulation of accessibility standards and the Department of Justice is currently developing regulations to provide specific guidance to the entities covered by the ADA. Organizations are encouraged to use the WCAG 2.0 level AA guidelines as a guide on how to become accessible until the DOJ defines the regulations.
Who Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) Is For
WCAG is primarily intended for:
- Web content developers (page authors, site designers, etc.)
- Web authoring tool developers
- Web accessibility evaluation tool developers
- Others who want or need a standard for web accessibility, including for mobile accessibility
Related resources are intended to meet the needs of many different people, including policy makers, managers, researchers, and others.
What is Section 508?
The Board’s Section 508 Standards apply to electronic and information technology procured by the federal government, including computer hardware and software, websites, phone systems, and copiers. They were issued under section 508 of the Rehabilitation Act which requires access for both members of the public and federal employees to such technologies when developed, procured, maintained, or used by federal agencies.
The Section 508 Standards are part of the Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR) and address access for people with physical, sensory, or cognitive disabilities. They contain technical criteria specific to various types of technologies and performance-based requirements that focus on functional capabilities of covered products. Specific criteria cover software applications and operating systems, web-based information and applications, computers, telecommunications products, video and multi-media, and self-contained closed products.
Find out more: Section 508
The sources for above information can be found at: EPA, GSA, Interactive Accessibility, & ADA.gov
Consultant
Dave Cloutier
Business and technology acumen have dovetailed in Dave Cloutier’s career, making him an ideal Intertech consultant. After an early start as an aerospace engineer, Dave became a business analyst at Prosar (now ProPharma Group). While maintaining most of his business analyst responsibilities, he also became a lead developer and led the implementations of multiple enterprise systems. Dave joined Intertech in 2019, where he devises creative solutions to complex problems. He is a natural teacher and leader who can work individually or as part of a team.
“Risk versus reward is the critical factor in most decisions,” says Dave. “There rarely are times when difficult decisions have an obvious choice. Finding the option that maximizes the potential reward for an acceptable level of risk only can be done when a solid relationship exists between the client and consultant.”
Why Did You Choose Technology Sales?
I believe IT solutions are best when the lanes of communication between developers and end-users are open. Developers who know the ins and outs of the business can design creative solutions using emerging technology that end users may never have imagined. An open, creative, and iterative approach yields better software and pushes both sides to learn and grow.
Sideline
I like to pretend that I’m good at hockey and play in an adult winter league, but my favorite hobby is woodworking. I’m slowly working to replace all the furniture in my house with something I made. After working in a virtual world during the day, it’s refreshing to build something physical!
Author of Article
Software Feasibility Study: Questions To Ask When Determining How To Move Forward.
When it comes time to invest in a new application, the software feasibility study is crucial in understanding what you really need.
Before making a decision, it is essential to understand the current situation, pinpoint the pain-points, and determine the various technologies that should be considered. It is also imperative that if you are going to spend the time and resources on a project, whether custom or off-the-shelf, you resolve your problem and improve your entire system, whether it’s the efficiency of a process or collection of meaningful data.
TECH INSIGHTS
What’s The Difference Between .NET Framework, .NET Core, & Xamarin?
According to the TIOBE Index, Microsoft’s C# language is the sixth most popular programming language in the world. Indeed, for enterprise applications, the competition boils down to either Java or C# over the past 20 years.
TECH INSIGHTS
Prototypal Inheritance in JavaScript: Understanding the Inheritance Chain
JavaScript is unique in a lot of ways. It’s the dominant browser-supported language that powers most user interfaces online. It also has its quirks in syntax and equality that can range from endearing to maddeningly annoying. However, JavaScript’s most unique aspect is object inheritance and the prototype chain.