“plans are worthless, but planning is everything.”

Just the other day, I had a pleasant conversation with a senior leader of a very prosperous company here on the West Coast.  Our dialog concerned her company’s future.  What will business be like once COVID begins to truly recede.   Together, our discussion was focused on formulating plans for the organization to be flexible, and very focused on delivering value.  We are seeking to take advantage of what was learned during this pandemic.

I made the comment, that plans are not prescriptions.   She, laughed and quipped, “plans are worthless, but planning is everything.”  I listened and pondered this response.  She was correct — this statement gave me pause.  To me, it was insightful, rational, even enlightening.   I concurred immediately.  

Entertained by my admiration of the comment, she advised me that she was not the original author.  Former President and US Army General Dwight D. Eisenhower authored this enlightening passage.  General Eisenhower, the Supreme Allied Commander for the invasion of Europe during World War II, planned and plotted, spending enormous efforts into planning.  However, as history showed us, situations arise, the adversary does not behave as we planned.    He and the allied forces were faced with extraordinary circumstances.

Plans may not have been executed in the same manner as outlined.  However, planning and the plans themselves, provided the framework, the map for how to proceed, ultimately, defeating the enemy and ending the war.

This pandemic may not be on the order of a World War.  However, COVID is very serious: impacting lives, families and businesses throughout the world.    As Eisenhower demonstrated, I would encourage us all to be nimble and agile in our approach to business operations—looking for the advantages and productive means to win.  Planning is still a wise endeavor.   Let’s go forth and conquer our destiny as a business.  Let’s plan to win, by being very nimble to adjust and keep moving forward to success.   Like the Allied forces, we will face strife and setbacks, however, if we keep planning and moving forward, we will win.

Economic downturn: Driving cost of software development down–alternatives to help your company.

With today’s pandemic and economic uncertainty, companies are now looking for creative ways to move forward, while reducing cost. Teams are considering alternatives solutions in order to maintain existing development,  or contemplating  new development opportunities with concern over meeting business deadlines and reduced budgets.

Ascension Development Group may have a solution for you.  We have clients that use our Nearshore development teams to help them meet new challenges.  The teams are based in Mexico. Many of the developers were educated in the US and speak English.

Cost reductions alone are realized by our clients of 25-40% versus US rates. We work on Central Time–working US all timezones. With Covid, most of us are working remotely and the future seems to point to more remote work than ever before.

If you want to discuss the advantages of nearshore, without any obligation, please call us at 425-750-0760 or you can email me directly at paul@ascension-tg.com.

Thank you and please be safe.

Cost Effective Application Development Option

With today’s pandemic and the economic uncertainty, companies are now looking for creative ways to move forward. Teams are considering alternatives solutions in order to maintain existing development,  or contemplating  new development opportunities with concern over meeting deadlines and budgets.

Ascension Development Group may have a solution for you.  We have clients that use our Nearshore development teams to help them on a daily or project basis.  The teams are based in Mexico. Many of the PM’s were educated in the US and many of the developers and testers as well, speak English. 

What does this mean to you and your company?   Here are some of the benefits to your organization:

•          Acceleration of delivery time

•          Meet objectives alignments between business and technology

•          Expand  project portfolio visibility

•          Increases team productivity

•          Cost  reduction, realizing a 25-40% saving versus US hourly rates

•          Two hour time difference in Mexico vs. 10 to 16 hours Offshore in the Far East

How can your business benefit from Nearshore development?

Please complete this form and one of our representatives will contact you within one business day.

Nearshore – Alternative for App Development during the Coronavirus Pandemic

With today’s pandemic and the economic uncertainty, companies are now looking for creative ways to move forward. Teams are considering alternatives solutions in order to maintain existing development,  or contemplating  new development opportunities with concern over meeting deadlines and budgets.

Ascension Development Group may have a solution for you.  We have clients that use our Nearshore development teams to help them on a daily or project basis.  The teams are based in Mexico. Many of the PM’s were educated in the US and many of the developers and testers as well, speak English. 

What does this mean to you and your company?   Here are some of the benefits to your organization:

•          Acceleration of delivery time

•          Meet  objectives alignments between business and IT

•          Expand  project portfolio  visibility

•          Increases team  productivity

•          Cost  reduction, realizing   a  25-40% saving versus US hourly rates

•          Two hour time difference in Mexico vs.  10 to 16 hours Offshore in the Far East

If you would like  more information on our Nearshore Practice or set-up an appointment  and discuss next steps. Please contact  Mel Silver @ 425.466.3459 Phone or email me. mel@ascension-tg.com, Website: www.ascension-tg.com

"The appearance of U.S. Department of Defense (DoD) visual information does not imply or constitute DoD endorsement."

Finding Humanity in Big Data

At the beginning of Operation Iraqi Freedom in 2003, I was assigned as the Senior Intelligence Officer for the 1st Battlefield Coordination Detachment (1st BCD) at the Combined Air Operations Center on Prince Sultan Air Base in Saudi Arabia.  As the name of our unit implies, our mission was to coordinate ground and air operations for the invasion of Iraq.  This was a monumental task and the amount of information that passed through our desks was almost unfathomable.  It is difficult to paint a complete picture, but we were coordinating the movement of two entire Armies; with hundreds of thousands of ground troops, from multiple nations; hundreds of air assets, ranging from combat, intelligence, refueling, command/control and troop transport aircraft to Army helicopters and drones.  On top of all that, everything was constantly and simultaneously moving.  Talk about big data.

In order to monitor all this activity, we had no less than about 15 separate battlefield operations systems daisy-chained together, but with fewer than that many soldiers on shift to operate all the computers.  Information was flying across the screens faster than the ticker at the New York Stock Exchange.  The Combined Air Force Component Command used a system of kill boxes to coordinate air interdiction targets on the battlefield and it was the 1st BCD’s mission to deconflict fires between the ground and air component commands.  The air and ground components agreed to open a certain kill box north of Baghdad, which meant that everyone agreed there were no friendly forces in the area.  However, out of the thousands of icons representing maneuver forces on the ground, I noticed a small blue blip on the screen.  Fortunately, just before the invasion, the Army fielded the Blue Force Tracking system, which was an emitter to show where units were located.  I did a quick investigation and discovered a U.S. Special Operations Detachment operating well forward of the main battle area (as Green Berets are supposed to do), so I denied opening the kill box.  If the Blue Force Tracking system was not fielded, if one of the battlefield operations systems did not work properly, and if I stepped away from my station for a few minutes, that SOF detachment would likely have been destroyed.  There is perhaps nothing more tragic in war than friendly or civilian casualties.

In business, it is hard to detect the human element in big data.  We tend to focus on processing massive amounts of information as quickly as possible.  However, as leaders we must look at our systems from the customers’ perspective.  Customers have a lot of online choices these days, but a human touch goes a long way to earning lasting loyalty.  An occasional personal note or phone call to a customer following an online transaction adds humanity to big data; especially if there is a negative experience.  People see that and know the company values them as a person, rather than just a transaction or anonymous account number.

Ascension has the expertise to assist your company in customer relationship management.  We can help your company with the transformation between technology and cultural changes.

By John Winters, Colonel U.S. Army {Retired}

Industrial Systems Vulnerable to Hackers!

Security Week, a well respected online new service, announced that ” Several major industrial and automation solutions providers have issued advisories in response to the recently disclosed Wind River VxWorks vulnerabilities dubbed Urgent/11.

It is reported that Company’s with systems from the following have issued notices and/or advisories regarding this Zero Day vulnerability.

At Ascension, we are working to insure ourselves and our clients are protecting both corporate and individual data. Again, I think we need to ask ourselves, are we doing enough our systems and the persons affected. Please Ponder this question and free to call or comment. Thank you

Ascension Technical Group Welcomes John Winters, Colonel, U.S. Army (Retired)

Cybercrime is the greatest threat to every company in the world,” according to a recent Forbes magazine article.  The World Economic Forum assesses a significant portion of these criminal activities go undetected.  Companies are struggling to protect their intellectual property. Ascension brings decades of Cybersecurity experience in keeping companies’ enterprise and data safe.  In that spirit, we are pleased to announce, John Winters is joining the Ascension team.  He brings over 30 years of experience protecting our nation’s most sensitive information, operations, and technology.  John has extensive knowledge of global cyber threats and has designed and implemented risk mitigation programs and directed large scale  strategies  for international organizations in Africa, Asia, Europe, and the United States.

You may contact him at  john@ascension-tg.com