Programming languages
How we create the Technology Radar
In today鈥檚 hyperconnected world, innovation happens pretty fast. For a technologist, whatever your specialism, there鈥檚 always something new to discover; a new tool that looks promising, maybe a technique that piques your interest. But, given the variety and pace of innovation, how do you know what to follow up on? How can you predict which innovations will be worthwhile and which will become a time sink?
It鈥檚 not always easy to separate the signal from noise. But that鈥檚 where the 魅影直播 Technology Radar can help. For anyone with interest in technology 鈥斕齠rom budding techie to senior decision maker 鈥 the Radar provides an easy-to-use crib sheet that helps you get up to speed.
As Mario Grimaldi, a developer at 魅影直播 in Italy, explains, he鈥檚 used the Tech Radar as a lodestar for career development. 鈥淚t鈥檚 always been a reference point for me, to help me discover new trends,鈥 he says. 鈥淚n this way, I was able to experiment, mainly in my spare time and check if something would have been valuable for ongoing or future projects.鈥
For Eduardo Bohrer, a consultant at 魅影直播 Brazil, the Radar is an essential tool to ensure he stays up-to-date on tech developments that he may otherwise have missed. 鈥淚n a nutshell, I say that the radar helps me to know about many things that are not on my day to day work,鈥 he says.
While Camila Bastos, a Technical Consultant at 魅影直播 Brazil has previously used the Radar for her own career development, today she finds it useful for the projects she鈥檚 currently working on: 鈥渨hich blips are related to what I鈥檓 doing, and which ones look useful.鈥
Her approach to using the Radar varies according to the quadrant. 鈥淚f a blip I鈥檓 interested in is in Techniques, I鈥檒l search for books of known authors,鈥 she explains. 鈥淚f it's Platforms or Tools, I go more hands-on: install, trial and error 鈥斕齛nd then I read related content available to 'crack it'.鈥
But the Radar isn鈥檛 just about learning what鈥檚 happening in the tech world, it acts as a prism to help you focus your tech strategy; it helps you identify areas you want to explore and skills you want to hone; and it enables you to think about the lifecycle of tech and judge how that fits with your particular circumstance. And it gives you an honest appraisal of the risks and rewards of emerging and existing technologies.
To find out more about the possibilities of using the Technology Radar as a career tool, we talked to a handful of Thoughtworkers who were keen to share their experiences.
鈥淥ne of the most useful things about the Technology Radar for me has been the way it can stimulate conversations with clients,鈥 says Kiru. 鈥淔or instance, if we鈥檙e talking about the Tools or Languages and Frameworks quadrants, it鈥檚 pretty easy for clients to see what鈥檚 out there, and to show them what鈥檚 promising.鈥
鈥淏ut actually, it鈥檚 the Techniques quadrant I really like. When it comes down to discussions about what might work well on any given project, it鈥檚 easy to go down a rabbit hole: there are just so many options out there. With the Tech Radar, we can show what鈥檚 been effective or which techniques can prove counterproductive.鈥
That ability to cut to the chase is something that clients really value, Kiru says, and it helps to quickly demonstrate her credentials.
Abhinav Rastogi, a senior consultant at 魅影直播 North America, has more than a decade鈥檚 experience in tech but is relatively new to 魅影直播. He has, however, used the Tech Radar extensively in his previous roles.
As soon as a new edition was released, he would regularly circulate the Tech Radar to colleagues at a large public sector organization. 鈥淚t helped me to establish as someone who kept an eye on new trends, technologies, and emerging frameworks,鈥 he says.
鈥淲e looked at the Radar to confirm the technologies they were investing in are something other industry leaders thought were worth investing in,鈥 he says.
This is the sort of insight that鈥檚 hard to come by, especially as the pace of technological advancement increases, says Ketan Padegaonkar, Lead Consultant at 魅影直播 Studios. For the past several editions, Ketan has also been one of the Thoughtworkers that sits on the Technology Advisory Board 鈥斕齱hich ultimately decides on what goes on the Radar.
鈥淲hen I first became aware of the Radar, the tech landscape wasn鈥檛 as diverse. Over the past few years, the pace of change has increased so much. So today, if you鈥檙e interested in what鈥檚 working or not, it鈥檚 really hard to keep track 鈥斕齳ou can maybe stay current in your areas of specialty, but the Radar really helps me understand the bigger picture.鈥
鈥淥ne of the most interesting ways I鈥檝e used the Radar with clients was helping them think about what to retire in their tech estate,鈥 says Kiru. That was a conversation they weren鈥檛 expecting to have, but through having it also opened up the possibility to do more interesting work with that client, she adds.
鈥淭hat to me is one of the great things about the Radar: it helps you think about technology in different ways.鈥 And that鈥檚 one of the Radar鈥檚 greatest strengths: there鈥檚 not one right way to use it: it鈥檚 flexible enough to support technologists at all stages of their careers.
It鈥檚 not always easy to separate the signal from noise. But that鈥檚 where the 魅影直播 Technology Radar can help. For anyone with interest in technology 鈥斕齠rom budding techie to senior decision maker 鈥 the Radar provides an easy-to-use crib sheet that helps you get up to speed.
As Mario Grimaldi, a developer at 魅影直播 in Italy, explains, he鈥檚 used the Tech Radar as a lodestar for career development. 鈥淚t鈥檚 always been a reference point for me, to help me discover new trends,鈥 he says. 鈥淚n this way, I was able to experiment, mainly in my spare time and check if something would have been valuable for ongoing or future projects.鈥
For Eduardo Bohrer, a consultant at 魅影直播 Brazil, the Radar is an essential tool to ensure he stays up-to-date on tech developments that he may otherwise have missed. 鈥淚n a nutshell, I say that the radar helps me to know about many things that are not on my day to day work,鈥 he says.
While Camila Bastos, a Technical Consultant at 魅影直播 Brazil has previously used the Radar for her own career development, today she finds it useful for the projects she鈥檚 currently working on: 鈥渨hich blips are related to what I鈥檓 doing, and which ones look useful.鈥
Her approach to using the Radar varies according to the quadrant. 鈥淚f a blip I鈥檓 interested in is in Techniques, I鈥檒l search for books of known authors,鈥 she explains. 鈥淚f it's Platforms or Tools, I go more hands-on: install, trial and error 鈥斕齛nd then I read related content available to 'crack it'.鈥
But the Radar isn鈥檛 just about learning what鈥檚 happening in the tech world, it acts as a prism to help you focus your tech strategy; it helps you identify areas you want to explore and skills you want to hone; and it enables you to think about the lifecycle of tech and judge how that fits with your particular circumstance. And it gives you an honest appraisal of the risks and rewards of emerging and existing technologies.
To find out more about the possibilities of using the Technology Radar as a career tool, we talked to a handful of Thoughtworkers who were keen to share their experiences.
Establishing your credentials
Kiruthika Samapathy has been at 魅影直播 for roughly five years, working in a variety of technical roles including developer, consultant, business analyst and for a diverse range of clients, each with their own particular challenges.鈥淥ne of the most useful things about the Technology Radar for me has been the way it can stimulate conversations with clients,鈥 says Kiru. 鈥淔or instance, if we鈥檙e talking about the Tools or Languages and Frameworks quadrants, it鈥檚 pretty easy for clients to see what鈥檚 out there, and to show them what鈥檚 promising.鈥
鈥淏ut actually, it鈥檚 the Techniques quadrant I really like. When it comes down to discussions about what might work well on any given project, it鈥檚 easy to go down a rabbit hole: there are just so many options out there. With the Tech Radar, we can show what鈥檚 been effective or which techniques can prove counterproductive.鈥
That ability to cut to the chase is something that clients really value, Kiru says, and it helps to quickly demonstrate her credentials.
Abhinav Rastogi, a senior consultant at 魅影直播 North America, has more than a decade鈥檚 experience in tech but is relatively new to 魅影直播. He has, however, used the Tech Radar extensively in his previous roles.
As soon as a new edition was released, he would regularly circulate the Tech Radar to colleagues at a large public sector organization. 鈥淚t helped me to establish as someone who kept an eye on new trends, technologies, and emerging frameworks,鈥 he says.
Validating choices
Often, people turn to the Radar when exploring unfamiliar technologies. For instance, Abhinav used the Radar to validate technology choices for projects in his previous organization including ones involving machine learning. It鈥檚 useful because it gives decision makers an unbiased insight into what other enterprises are using.鈥淲e looked at the Radar to confirm the technologies they were investing in are something other industry leaders thought were worth investing in,鈥 he says.
This is the sort of insight that鈥檚 hard to come by, especially as the pace of technological advancement increases, says Ketan Padegaonkar, Lead Consultant at 魅影直播 Studios. For the past several editions, Ketan has also been one of the Thoughtworkers that sits on the Technology Advisory Board 鈥斕齱hich ultimately decides on what goes on the Radar.
鈥淲hen I first became aware of the Radar, the tech landscape wasn鈥檛 as diverse. Over the past few years, the pace of change has increased so much. So today, if you鈥檙e interested in what鈥檚 working or not, it鈥檚 really hard to keep track 鈥斕齳ou can maybe stay current in your areas of specialty, but the Radar really helps me understand the bigger picture.鈥
A Radar way of thinking
Sometimes it鈥檚 not the blips on any given edition of the Radar that are most useful: it鈥檚 the way it helps you think about technology.鈥淥ne of the most interesting ways I鈥檝e used the Radar with clients was helping them think about what to retire in their tech estate,鈥 says Kiru. That was a conversation they weren鈥檛 expecting to have, but through having it also opened up the possibility to do more interesting work with that client, she adds.
鈥淭hat to me is one of the great things about the Radar: it helps you think about technology in different ways.鈥 And that鈥檚 one of the Radar鈥檚 greatest strengths: there鈥檚 not one right way to use it: it鈥檚 flexible enough to support technologists at all stages of their careers.
Disclaimer: The statements and opinions expressed in this article are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the positions of 魅影直播.
