Software, Team and Strategy

Mike Borozdin - Kubernetes @ Google. Previously: Dir of Eng @ DocuSign, Lead @ Microsoft. I help companies focus and engineers grow.

Monday, January 31, 2011

Hiring: Technical Evangelist in San Francisco / Bay Area

Technical Evangelist

DocuSign, Inc.
San Francisco, CA, United States
Full-Time

A successful TE would be able to articulate the benefits of DocuSign service to a wide variety of audiences from CTO to an individual Software Engineer. Internally TE’s responsibility would be to influence DocuSign product strategy through knowledge of software vendors, system integrators and technological landscape.

The position will be measured by:
1) DocuSign API and protocol adoption in the marketplace
2) DocuSign service awareness among outside software developers
3) Partner satisfaction
4) Revenue resulting from integrated solutions

Position Requirements:

1) Self-direction and proven ability to identify technical trends.
2) Passion for learning new technologies in various technology stacks: Linux, Force.com, iPhone, Android and others.
3) Existing knowledge of how to create a solution in 2 or more of the technology stacks using various programming languages such as: PHP, Python, Ruby, Java and Apex Code.
4) At least 3 years of commercial experience as a Software Engineer, Product Manager or Program Manager.
5) Communication experience with a record of public speaking, writing, Facebook, twitter and blogging on technical topics.
6) Personality: positive attitude, ability to energize software developers and IT professionals, fair and balanced approach to technology.
7) Education: Bachelor of Science in Computer Science or Computer Engineering is required. Graduate degree in business or computer science is a plus.
8) Language: Must be fluent in English both verbal and written.

http://jobvite.com/m?3AIf1fwi

Tuesday, January 18, 2011

Videos of my CloudStock and DreamForce presentations

Hi all! These are the two presentations I made at CloudStock and DreamForce. Thanks for everyone who attended!!!

Integrating DocuSign eSignatures into Your Force.com Apps without Writing Code

DocuSign is the global leader in electronic signature. DocuSign accelerates business processes by replacing slow, expensive paper transactions with fast, simple and complete digital solutions. We will show you how to use DocuSign for Salesforce and get the benefit of eSignatures and paperless processes without writing any code.



API Basics to DocuSign-enable your App in 45 minutes

Learn how to connect to DocuSign eSignatures from your Force.com application in this hands on session. We’ll walk you through a sample application that relies 100% on printing documents which will become 100% paperless!

Monday, January 10, 2011

Implementing Standard Protocols

I am writing this while waiting for the new version of XCode to download and install on my MacBook. This 3.5G install gives you time to run errands, grab coffee, or in my case - write a blog entry.

I often spend time talking about new APIs with executives and engineering teams. Most of the time executives and engineering managers understand the value of a well-designed interface, but when it comes time to fully supporting some standard you get some resistance. Today I'd like to dissect my experience in trying to convince people to sign up for the work it takes to fully support a standard.

90% of the time an enhancement to the API happens because a customer comes in and has an issue that can't be solved with the current set of interfaces. Features creep in one by one and in general the default behavior is to add just enough to solve the problem at hand. From a cost perspective it also makes sense to avoid building things you don't need right away.

In addition to the internal inertia there is also a school of thought of iterative design, except that iterative design is not such a good thing with the API. Companies that have integrated with you aren't so keen on going back and refactoring that piece of code on your schedule.

Signing up for the work to fully support a standard needs to be broken down into dollars and sense. First supporting a standard rather than adding a couple of features has its costs:
1) Standards have elements you don’t immediately need.
2) Standards take away some flexibility
3) It takes longer
4) Someone needs to read and understand the standard in order to implement it.
What are the benefits? Here are some benefits that go beyond engineering purism:
1) the design time put into a standard doesn’t need to be replicated internally
2) a lot of times there are test kits you can use to do automated testing
3) standard protocol generally have a good deal of documentation which eases the burden on the internal doc team.
4) Helping people implement a solution based on a standard will require less support and professional services involvement.
5) Implementing a good standard is good for developer marketing.

While the time it takes to understand and develop full support of a standard are very obvious costs. The benefits need to be explained. The things that worked best for me are #2 and #5. If you find a test kit and can shave time off the release in the testing department it’s a slam-dunk. If there are some apps or companies that already know how to work with a protocol and because of that are going to integrate with your service – that’s another easy win. Still depending on the cost of supporting a standard you might need to consider all five benefits and put a dollar or time value on those.

Good luck defending standards implementation. Remember – it pays off in the end!

Wednesday, January 05, 2011

New Years Resolutions 2011

These are the resolutions excluding the work related ones which are obviously secret:

- learn how to dribble better in soccer
- drop from 12% body fat to below 10%
- do meditation classes at least once a month
- go to a meditation retreat
- take jiujitsu classes

2011 is going to be a GREAT YEAR. Let's go!