The last time SPK and Associates co-founder Chris McHale spoke with PLM expert Oleg Shilovitsky, they discussed the difficulty of BOMs across engineering disciplines and across the product lifecycle. Here is their next discussion on the latest PLM news and trends...
PDM/PLM-Product Data and Lifecycle Management
The Difference Between Continuous Delivery and Continuous Deployment
In my previous article, I define and compare the two software development practices of Continuous Integration and Continuous Delivery. The two practices are complementary and potentially overlapping, but at least their names give us the hint that they are distinct. If...
Electric Flow Feature Highlight: Environment Reservations for Confident Deployments
Deploying modern software applications is a complex process involving many moving parts. Adding microservices into the mix amplifies this problem by further decentralizing applications, resulting in more deployment endpoints to track. With all those IP addresses...
Our Top Technology Stories in 2017 and 2018 Industry Predictions
SPK wants to wish our growing subscriber community a Happy New Year! We’re honored to be welcomed onto your desktops and smartphones to share stories on how to make your engineering team and company work more efficiently. Perhaps more importantly, we hope any...
The 12 Principles Behind the Agile Manifesto: Principle Number Five – Cultivate Supportive Environments
Welcome back to our discussions of the 12 principles behind the Agile Manifesto! This is our fifth installment of this series which will cover the concept of what I am calling "creating supportive environments." Just as our last discussion pointed out that Agile is...
The Importance of Tools Integration in the Software Development LifeCycle (SDLC)
This week I’d like to talk in larger conceptual terms about the Software Development LifeCycle (SDLC) process and the benefits of integrating tools associated with this process. To start off, let’s identify the four kinds of tools that are important to a fully...
MKSSI Environment Variable – an Integrity PLM Software Primer
I'm not a programmer by trade, so I've had to force feed myself a lot of knowledge – some of it makes sense, some of it is beyond me. I've written this post to serve as an Integrity PLM Software Primer for the MKSSI Environment Variable. I hope you find it useful!...
How to Solve Costly Monotony and Redundancy with Automation
Redundant and repetitive tasks present a number of challenges for your business. Your engineering team feels bored, like they’re wasting their time. Pretty soon, they’re done being bored and looking for more challenging and rewarding work. With skilled engineers in...
How to Account for Complex Risk with Jama in Medical Device Manufacturing
Requirements management isn’t optional in many fields. Medical technology and finance are just two fields where regulatory compliance necessitates requirements management. You and other stakeholders simply must be in total agreement about the requirements of a given...
How Automation Helps Reach Target Product Launch Dates and Increases Engineer Morale
Automation isn’t just for manufacturing tasks. In fact, many of the grinding, repetitive tasks your engineers can’t stand can easily be automated out of existence. Any task that is repeatable is automatable. That means you can save big money on man hours, letting your...
The 12 Principles Behind the Agile Manifesto: Principle Number Six – Promote Face To Face Interaction
Welcome back to our series as we continue to examine the 12 principles underlaying the Agile Manifesto! Our topic for this installment is principle six's guidance on effective communication. This principle states the following: The most efficient and effective method...
The 12 Principles Behind the Agile Manifesto: Principle Number Seven – The Primary Progress Indicator
This installment of our 12-part series on the principles of the Agile Manifesto deals with principle 7. This principle states: Working software is the primary measure of progress" In a traditional waterfall development cycle, all the design is done up front and the...










