Matrix Group International

Month: February 2020

  • Don’t Pile on the Tech Debt by Developing in an Old Platform

    Don’t Pile on the Tech Debt by Developing in an Old Platform

    I blogged recently about the dreaded tech debt. I blogged about how to identify it and describe it. We all know that tech debt sucks!

    But what do we do about the tech debt we’ve got and how do we prevent it from happening in the future?

    My number one piece of advice is to STOP piling on the tech debt by continuing to develop in your old software or platform. Think you’re not doing it? Here are some examples:

    1. You have an old version of your content management system. You don’t have budget to upgrade to the latest version, but you really need new functionality that won’t cost very much to implement, so you go ahead and approve the work. Why this is bad: When it comes time to upgrade your CMS, this new functionality will likely need to be redeveloped, thereby adding to the upgrade cost.
    2. You have an old version of your membership database and it’s not in your budget to upgrade this year. You need to bring a new Learning Management System ( LMS) online and you want to implement single sign-on between the membership database and the LMS, so you approve the project to integrate with the old membership database. Why this is bad: You’re probably not using the latest SSO protocols, and you’ll need to upgrade the SSO when you upgrade your membership database.

    I know that in the real world, we can’t keep everything upgraded. But we should be upgrading and maintaining our mission-critical systems since they are the most dynamic and most used.

    Make 2020 the year you burn down that tech debt!

  • How Matrix Group Ended up with Four Addresses In One Year

    How Matrix Group Ended up with Four Addresses In One Year

    Clients, Partners and Friends, the Matrix Group address is changing. Again. We are imposing upon you, once more, to change your records so that correspondence, checks and everything else arrive at the proper place.

    Here’s the complicated story of how our one move generated three address changes.

    For 10 years, our address was 2711 Jefferson Davis Highway, Suite 1200, Arlington, VA 22202. It was sometimes confusing to find us because while the building was on Jeff Davis, you couldn’t enter our building from Jeff Davis. Our entrance was on Clark Street.

    Last June 2019, Alexandria changed Jeff Davis to Richmond Highway, but only in Alexandria, so we weren’t affected. Sort of. GPS maps went haywire. Google couldn’t find 2711 Jefferson Davis Highway in Arlington, only in Richmond, VA.  BUT the post office would only deliver to Jeff Davis. That was fun directing clients to enter a different address into their phones when they came to visit.

    Last July 2019, we moved down the street to 2611 Jefferson Davis Highway. Never mind that this building wasn’t even on Jefferson Davis Highway. We changed our address on everything digital BUT we knew that political winds were likely going to necessitate a change to Jeff Davis, so we did not print new letterhead, business cards, etc.

    Then in October 2019, Arlington County finally changed Jeff Davis to Richmond Highway. Some GPS maps still couldn’t find us because our building is really on South Clark Street. In fact, typing 2611 South Clark Street usually worked better in Google maps. Yuck. We changed our email signatures, website, proposals, intranet, extranet, yada, yada. But we still didn’t print anything because our landlord said more change was coming.

    Fast forward to January 2020. Arlington County, at the request of our landlord, approved a request to change our address to 2611 South Clark Street. Finally, something that made sense! Sort of. While Google maps recognizes 2611 South Clark, retailers like Amazon and Best Buy still do not. So when I bought new TVs for the office, I had them delivered to 2611 Richmond Highway. Oh, and Amazon is still delivering to 2611 Jefferson Davis Highway.

    It will likely take a few months before the post office, Google maps and all retailers recognize our new address, but I think we can now print new business cards. Oh heck, maybe we’ll eliminate our physical address from our cards altogether!

    Bottom line: Please update your records. Matrix Group is located at 2611 South Clark Street, Suite 330, Arlington, VA 22202. Come see us. We have an amazing office and we love having visitors!