August 2022 Summaries

In the face of economic uncertainty, software development teams are encouraged to embrace rapid feature releases and data-driven decision-making to remain competitive and become future digital leaders. Companies are advised to adopt a culture of experimentation and continuous delivery to minimize risk, improve speed, and derive value despite market turbulence. Feature management and experimentation platforms like Split are highlighted as crucial tools for increasing release cadence while maintaining safety, reducing technical debt, and enhancing productivity. By relying on data-driven insights rather than opinions, teams can ensure the stability and effectiveness of their digital innovations. The text emphasizes the importance of balancing cost-cutting measures with efficient resource use and empowering engineering teams to focus on significant challenges. Ultimately, the article advocates for adopting new mandates in software development to improve customer experiences and maintain agility in challenging times.

Split has introduced Split Arcade, a gamified learning management system aimed at enhancing feature flagging and experimentation skills, allowing teams to improve DevOps practices and achieve rapid, data-driven feature releases with minimized risk. This initiative is part of the Journeys to Best Practices program, which emphasizes collaboration, conversation, and ongoing learning. Split Arcade offers a fun, flexible, and interactive experience with technical training and guidance from industry experts, enabling students to earn certificates and LinkedIn badges. Catering to specific roles such as Engineering, Product Management, and Administration, it provides step-level certifications to manage cognitive load during onboarding. The platform is designed with accessibility features like closed-captioning and text enlargement, ensuring an inclusive experience for all students. With features like product explainer videos and interactive challenges, Split Arcade helps users focus on essential use cases that deliver immediate value, promoting continuous improvement in software development.

Harness's Security Testing Orchestration (STO) is now generally available, offering automated security scans, intelligent vulnerability management, and customizable governance policies, all seamlessly integrated into CI/CD pipelines. This enables collaboration between developers and security teams to enhance secure software delivery without compromising current processes. Feedback from end users has led to new features that increase security throughout the software delivery process while maintaining high innovation velocity. Key capabilities include orchestrating multiple security scanners, managing security exemptions, providing comprehensive dashboards and reports, and establishing governance policies based on the Open Policy Agent (OPA). STO also offers enterprise-grade audit trails and role-based access control, allowing for detailed examination of security activities and efficient permissions management. By integrating with popular application security scanners and normalizing their outputs, STO helps prioritize vulnerabilities, thereby reducing rework and enhancing productivity and compliance. The solution is available as a standalone module or integrated with Harness CI/CD, offering flexibility for various deployment models.