April 2019 Summaries

Pitometer is an open-source Node.js project designed to automate deployment validation in continuous integration and continuous deployment (CI/CD) workflows by providing a metrics-based scoring system. Originating from discussions at Neotys PAC 2019, Pitometer allows teams to define indicators, such as monitoring, testing, security, or code quality metrics, from various data sources to assess the quality of software deployments. These indicators are graded against predefined thresholds, baselines, or past results to calculate an overall deployment score, determining if a deployment passes. Pitometer can be integrated with keptn, a control plane for continuous deployment and operations for cloud-native applications on Kubernetes, or used standalone in existing delivery pipelines. The project aims to streamline deployment validation, reducing the extensive manual time traditionally spent by quality engineers, and is extensible for additional data sources and grading algorithms. It has garnered contributions from companies like Dynatrace, Neotys, and T-Systems, and encourages broader participation from the tech community to enhance its capabilities.

Effective communication challenges persist in human interactions, and as artificial intelligence (AI) becomes more integrated into daily life, both personally and professionally, ensuring that AI doesn't replicate these issues is essential. Dynatrace's AI tool, Davis, aims to enhance user experience by providing proactive problem alerts and immediate answers to technical and business questions, thereby reducing the need for human intervention. A notable example from a large US insurance company highlights how the implementation of custom naming rules and the Dynatrace Mobile App improved communication and transparency by providing detailed, accessible problem information and reducing unnecessary communication cycles. This adaptation not only facilitated easier problem solving but also increased management's access to real-time status updates, eliminating the need for direct inquiries to on-call teams. The integration of these improvements showcases the potential of AI to streamline operations and enhance the working environment.