Joanne Molesky, Principal Consultant, ThoughtWorks

Joanne is the global practice lead for Continuous Delivery at ThoughtWorks, a company that is devoted to the art and science of delivering custom software. Joanne's professional passion is for finding practical ways to implement processes in IT that provide enough control to give visibility and transparency into what is happening without bogging teams down in unnecessary activities that waste resources. She has worked many years in the trenches of IT — as a business analyst, technical writer, quality assurance analyst and a GRC analyst. Before her career in IT, she was a registered dietitian, where she learned the importance of standards, process, control and professionalism when lives were on the line. Her certifications include COBIT, ITIL, CRISC and CISA.

To listen to the interview, click on this MP3 file link

 

DISCUSSION:

Interview Time Index (MM:SS) and Topic

:00:30:
What has changed in technology use over the past 5 years that calls for organizations and professional bodies to rethink IT risk management, processes and controls?
"....We need to fall back on the principles and concepts of applying control for IT (the transparency, visibility of what's happening), by applying appropriate access and authorization, approvals, monitoring the reporting reviews etc. to match the technology that you're using today...."

:07:16:
What are Continuous Delivery and DevOps? Why should we care?
"....Continuous Delivery is basically an approach in delivering solutions that reduces the risk time of delivering what you call incremental changes to users....The business makes the decision about its release and it's not business waiting for IT anymore....One of the things it's heavily reliant on to make it successful is DevOps (that's development plus operations). It's the culture of collaboration sharing, but is also commonly referred to as the skills needed to do the automation and develop the deployment pipeline...."

:15:00:
What are common practices that prevent organizations from getting value delivery in software and technology?
"....I'm going to try to break it down into the people, process and tools concept. I'll give you the major ones that we see that commonly prevent organizations from moving forward...."

:35:26:
Can you summarize how we can evolve IT processes and controls so that we can deliver better value in the use of technology?
"....We need to look at processes from an end-to-end product delivery perspective....Flexibility — allow different paths based on the amount of risk involved, don't look at it as 'one size fits all'...."

:41:55:
Joanne talks about how an organization can get started in Continuous Development and DevOps.

:46:47:
Do you feel computing should be a recognized profession on par with accounting, medicine and law with demonstrated professional development, adherence to a code of ethics, personal responsibility, public accountability, quality assurance and recognized credentials?
[See https://www.ipthree.org and the Global Industry Council, https://www.ipthree.org/about-ip3/global-advisory-council]
"....My short response is yes. My longer response is you don't want to make it so restrictive that in order to be able to work as a developer you must have these credentials; the reason being that what you tend to get is that mob mindset where there is no continuous injection of new ideas and new ways of thinking...."

:49:49:
From your extensive speaking, travels, and work, please share a story (amusing, surprising, unexpected, amazing).
"....I retired from the job that I had — I had worked exclusively in Western Canada and we packed up our bags and we moved to Australia...."

:51:39:
If you were conducting this interview, what question would you ask, and then what would be your answer?
"....What do you think is the future for organizations who don't change the way they do things to leverage the capabilities to deliver technology faster?...."

:53:13:
Joanne, with your demanding schedule, we are indeed fortunate to have you come in to do this interview. Thank you for sharing your deep experiences with our audience.
"....My pleasure Steve...."

Music by Sunny Smith Productions and Shaun O'Leary