Fresh Links Sundae encapsulates information I have come across during the past week. Often they are from the people whose work I admire or resonate with me. I hope you will find these ideas thought-provoking at the minimum. Even better, I hope these ideas will, over time, help my fellow IT pros make better decisions, be awesome, and kick ass!

Many companies are struggling to add piecemeal elements to their existing IT operations in order to compete in the digital era. Some experts have suggested that reinventing the IT function may be another way to deliver the digital capability the companies need to compete. Henrik Andersson and Philip Tuddenham have identified seven elements that are critical to achieving the IT performance improvements required for the new digital world. Reinventing IT to support digitization (McKinsey & Company)

When moving towards a more “digital” enterprise, many organizations are adopting what Dion Hinchcliffe called the ‘bolt-on’ strategy, which typically means adding a few new digital channels to existing touch point. He explains why companies should consider another more transformative approach when going digital. Going Beyond ‘Bolt-On’ Digital Transformation (Enterprise Irregulars)

Today’s website and web applications contain many distributive technical components. Maintaining and diagnosing performance issues can be complex. In a five-part series, Clare Kirlin discusses the considerations and decisions required to ensure the performance of your websites and web application meets your business needs. New Blog Series: #OptimizeDigital (Part 1) 3 Miles and 14 Bottlenecks: Know Your Performance Enemies (Part 2) Optimize Measurements to Optimize Web Performance (Part 3) Real Users: A Common Web Performance Blind Spot (Part 4) The Quick and Easy Audit that Every IT Manager Should Perform (Part 5) (In the Limelight)

The technologies used in software development have changed radically in the last two decades. Mike Loukides reflects on the technology stacks in use today and describes the essential components everyone in the software development or operations team should know. Beyond the stack (O’Reilly Radar)

Leveraging his recent system migration experience, Andreas Grabner explains why by monitoring all your system components and correlating the results with deployment tasks will you be able to deploy with more confidence without disrupting your business. Web Service Monitoring 101: Identifying Bad Deployments (About: Performance)

With today’s complex projects, some are convinced that the current project management processes are obsolete for dealing with complexity on projects.  Glen Alleman believes that the notion is untested and recommends ways to deal with project complexity. How to Deal With Complexity in Software Projects? (Herding Cats)

In light of what we may have read about the discovery of mismanagement at the US Veterans Administration, Bob Lewis reminds us the importance of collecting and reporting on the right metrics that truly matter to the business. Your own personal VA scandal (IS Survivor Publishing)

We all want to stand out in some way, but we also want to fit in. Reflecting from a personal experience, Jeff Haden outlines the approach for working towards fitting into a larger community. The Best Way to Fit In and Truly Become Part of…Anything (Inc.com)

Food for Thoughts…

Many schools hold graduation commencement during the month of June.  Michael Schrage gives us a playful, but not implausible, look at a future commencement speech. The First Robot Commencement Address (Harvard Business Review)