Ecosyste.ms: Awesome

An open API service indexing awesome lists of open source software.

Awesome Lists | Featured Topics | Projects

https://github.com/ovotech/ovo-com-tech-radar

OVO.com Tech Radar
https://github.com/ovotech/ovo-com-tech-radar

ovo ovotech tech-radar

Last synced: 12 days ago
JSON representation

OVO.com Tech Radar

Awesome Lists containing this project

README 

        
# [OVO.com Technology Radar](https://ovo-com-tech-radar.ovotech.org.uk)



[ovo-com-tech-radar.ovotech.org.uk](https://ovo-com-tech-radar.ovotech.org.uk)



The OVO.com Technology Radar is a living document that captures and provides a

high-level overview of our technology landscape.



The radar consists of four quadrants:



- **Techniques**  

  Includes various aspects of software development process and ways of working.

- **Languages & Frameworks**  

  Our main programming languages and key frameworks used for development.

- **Platforms**  

  Platforms that we use to build our software on top, e.g. databases, cloud

  services etc.

- **Tools**  

  Various software development tools that make our lives easier.



Each quadrant is divided into four rings:



- **Adopt**  

  Technologies we have high confidence in to serve our purpose, also in large

  scale. Technologies with a usage culture in our OVO production environment,

  low risk and recommended to be widely used.

- **Assess**  

  Technologies that are promising and have clear potential value-add for us;

  technologies worth investing research and proof of concept efforts in to see

  if they may add value. These technologies have higher risks; they are often

  brand new and highly unproven in our organisation. You will find some

  engineers that have knowledge in the technology and promote it, you may even

  find teams that have started a proof of concept effort.

- **Trial**  

  Technologies that we have seen work with success in project work to solve a

  real problem; first serious usage experience that confirm benefits and can

  uncover limitations. These technologies are slightly more risky; some

  engineers in our organisation have used them before and will share knowledge

  and experiences.

- **Hold**  

   Technologies not recommended to be used for new projects. Technologies that we

  think are not (yet) mature enough to warrant continued investment. The technologies

  should not be used for new projects, however it might be acceptable to continue

  using the technology on an existing project.



## Why you should use the Radar



A consistent technology stack is often a big driver of delivery efficiency, cost

effectiveness and knowledge sharing across teams and the Technology Radar is an

important tool that helps us in discussions about the technologies that we want

to standardise on and invest in as an organisation.



## How to use the Radar



While consistency is the driving principle for our Radar, we also want to

encourage innovation, creativity and allow anyone to challenge our choices if

they believe there's a better way of doing something, which is why we put in

place the following process.



### Propose a new technology



To assess a new technology that is not listed on the Radar, please use our

[#ovo-com-tech](https://ovoenergy.slack.com/archives/C01QB298E59) Slack channel

to start a discussion and share your use case with others. To make the initial

case, you need to provide the following information:



- Why are you and your team interested in this technology, what value could it

  add to OVO?

- How does it compare to the adopted technologies, i.e. why would you want to

  use it over one of our currently adopted technologies?

- How are you planning to evaluate it, i.e. what will the research and PoC

  consist of?

- What are your success criteria?



A decision on whether you can proceed with the assessment and add the technology

to the Assess quadrant or whether it needs to be put on Hold will be made by HoE

with a recommendation from the Tech Radar Advisory Group[^1]. The proposal can

be reviewed by anyone, and any comments and feedback shared by our engineering

community will be taken into consideration.



### Present the research & PoC



You should evaluate your PoC against the success criteria defined in your

initial proposal and present the results of your research to the Tech Radar

Advisory Group. The group will form a recommendation to the HoE on whether the

technology can be promoted to the Trial quadrant, requires further evidence or

clarification to support your case, or should be put on Hold. In order to make a

case to promote the technology into Trial, please provide the details on:



- How the technology will be used to solve a real problem.

- How you’re planning to evaluate it and prove its value.

- What are the things you’d like to learn about it from the trial.



### Trial the technology



Trial is a first serious usage of the technology that can confirm its benefits

and can uncover any limitations. The technology should be used to solve a real

problem as per the above proposal, can be used in production with caution and

risk mitigation measures in place, but must not be used for mission-critical

systems.



If you trial a technology, you must present the progress and results to the Tech

Radar Advisory Group on a quarterly basis, which will determine whether the

technology can be promoted to the Adopt quadrant, needs more evidence and

further evaluation (and therefore needs to remain in Trial) or should be put on

Hold going forwards. In case the technology is put on hold, you might be

required to migrate to one of the adopted technologies instead, however, in some

circumstances it might be acceptable to continue using the technology for your

particular use case without adopting it organisation-wide - this will be

considered on case by case basis.



### Re-evaluate if appropriate



A proposal to re-evaluate any existing technology being on Hold can be made at

any time to resume the process from the point it was decided to put that

technology on Hold. The proposal should be supported by any evidence that makes

the decision to put the technology on Hold no longer relevant, e.g. the

technology has matured enough, and the main concerns have been addressed since

it was last reviewed. The proposal will be reviewed, and a decision will be made

by the HoE after considering the recommendation from the Tech Radar Advisory

Group on whether the process can be resumed or the technology should remain on

Hold.



See the following flowchart for a summary of the process:



![](review-process.svg)

[Source](https://drive.google.com/file/d/1dPTx3ElrchkRw7iBxsNSReP35Sn68iVc) (for

making comments or suggesting any changes)



### Responsibility boundaries



- HoE - executive decision maker, accountable for technology across the area

- Tech Radar Advisory Group - reviews changes to the Tech Radar and forms a

  recommendation to the HoE

- Tech Leadership Team - owners of the Tech Radar, including S5 engineers who

  drive technology discussions and ensure consistent approach across the area

- SEMs & S4 Engineers - responsible for ensuring tech consistency with the Tech

  Radar on a team-level



## FAQs



### Why is there only the Adopt ring on the Radar?



We've initially created the Radar only with technologies in the Adopt ring to

emphasize the focus on technologies which are already widely adopted and used in

production at OVO.com, but we will expand it to other rings in the future.



### What to do if a technology I want to trial is not listed here?



To assess or trial a new technology that's not listed on the Radar, please use

our [#ovo-com-tech](https://ovoenergy.slack.com/archives/C01QB298E59) Slack

channel to start a discussion and share your use case with others. See the

[process](#propose-a-new-technology) above.



### What to do if the technology I want to use is listed in the Adopt ring?



You should feel free to adopt the technology on your project, but we encourage

everyone to reach out to our engineering community on Slack in on

[#ovo-com-tech](https://ovoenergy.slack.com/archives/C01QB298E59) channel to

validate their design, find out more about how the technology is currently used

and get some general advice from others.



## Contributing



The OVO.com Technology Radar is owned by the OVO.com Tech Leadership, however

anyone from our engineering community can:



- fork & raise pull requests for additions, clarifications, grammar fixes,

  formatting changes and any other suggestions; any movements between quadrants

  or additions should follow the [process](#propose-a-new-technology) outlined

  above

- raise GitHub issues with any questions or improvements that might not be

  appropriate for a pull request

- create a new proposal, review and comment on pull requests and any proposals

  submitted by others



For any external contributions, please raise an issue or get in touch with us

via our [ovotech/general](https://gitter.im/ovotech/general) channel on Gitter.



[^1]:

    OVO.com Tech Radar Advisory Group - a group which is formed by the OVO.com

    Tech Leadership Team and Senior Engineers (S4+). The group meets on an as

    and when required basis to review any proposed changes to the Tech Radar,

    (i.e. movements between quadrants) and forms a recommendation to the HoE who

    has the final decision on any changes to the Tech Radar. The group should

    meet no more often than once per month to review any proposals.