Building Trust in Remote Agile Teams: Best Practices from Opreto

Alan P. Laudicina

President, Opreto

4 minute read

The heartbeat of an Agile team is its people, and trust is the rhythm that binds them. It isn’t just about believing in each other’s capabilities but about fostering a shared vision and mutual respect. At Opreto, we’ve recognized that trust is the bedrock of every successful Agile team. Whether our teams work in person or are separated by thousands of kilometers, this trust remains pivotal. Through our journey, we’ve discovered practices that nurture this bond, ensuring cohesion and drive, regardless of distance. We’re excited to share the methods that have solidified trust within our teams, leading to consistent excellence.

Agile Software Development is a Horse

Dylan Herbert

VP of People, Opreto

8 minute read

As part of the struggle of being the founding partner of a new company in the 2020s, there is the everpresent looming question of how to market yourself. This is true both of yourself as an individual - as an executive you should embody and represent at least some slice of the value of my company’s meta on LinkedIn and the whole shebang; and you need to know how to position your company in order to attract new clients and feed yourself reliably over the long term. The sales must flow.

The confluence of UX and DX for API Design

Xavier Spriet

VP of Technology, Opreto

7 minute read

Do you know what happens when a group of people connect to a Chromecast device through Spotify? Nobody knows. The outcome is evenly distributed between wiping your queue, playing something random from your device, connecting only a subset of the group to the device, moving a random group member’s queue onto your device, or establishing a group connection as expected.

Software Bloat: The Red Queen’s Race

Aaron Mavrinac

VP of Operations, Opreto

6 minute read

For decades, computers have been growing in power at a meteoric pace, and the army of programmers writing software for them is now twenty-eight million strong. So why does it feel like the applications we use every day—not even the brand new, bleeding-edge stuff, just basic things we’ve had forever, like word processors and e-mail clients—are slower and clunkier than ever?

The AI Tsunami Threatening Google

Alan P. Laudicina

President, Opreto

2 minute read

Google has always been the gateway to content visibility on the internet, making optimization for Google Search a golden rule in content creation. But today, Artificial Intelligence is changing the game, and it’s time for Google, and all of us, to sit up and take note.

Installing and Running an IPFS Node

Dylan Herbert

VP of People, Opreto

5 minute read

IPFS, the InterPlanetary File System, might evoke grand images of cosmic networking, but its true significance lies in ignoring topological boundaries altogether and making them irrelevant. While the name might come off as grandiose, it emphasizes IPFS’s capability to create a global, decentralized network where data can be stored, accessed, and shared completely independently of considerations about physical location. The underlying technology becomes secondary, as content-addressable storage takes center stage in ensuring the sanctity and robustness of the system.

Why I love the InterPlanetary File System

Dylan Herbert

VP of People, Opreto

8 minute read

IPFS (InterPlanetary File System) is a decentralized, peer-to-peer protocol that redefines how we handle data on the internet, enabling us to break free from reliance upon tech giants like Google and Amazon for hosting our data. By adopting a content-addressed storage approach and eliminating the traditional server-client model, IPFS offers a more independent and resilient solution for storing, sharing, and accessing information online.

I run a dedicated node for the InterPlanetary FileSystem, and you should too.

The Dilemma of Third-Party Apps in a World of Closed Systems

Aaron Mavrinac

VP of Operations, Opreto

2 minute read

You use all sorts of online services. I know, because you’re using one right now to read this post. You also very likely use third-party applications of some kind to enhance your experience of those services: a browser extension, an alternative to the official mobile app, an AI news bot you follow. To come to life, these applications need some means of interacting with their target service in particular ways.

Why I Love Lightweight Architectural Decision Records

Xavier Spriet

VP of Technology, Opreto

3 minute read

Legacy projects are where development teams go to die.

Beyond the Monster: Embracing the Friendly Giant of Feature Flags

Alan P. Laudicina

President, Opreto

2 minute read

Feature flags: your worst nightmare or a secret weapon? It’s funny how clients react when we first pitch them on feature flags. It’s like they’ve seen a monster, but soon, they’ll realize it’s just a friendly giant. Let’s unpack this.