This episode is about how to be a better z/OS installation specialist, z/OS capture ratios, and a discussion on using Trello. We have a special guest joining us for the performance topic, Miroslava Barahona Rossi.  Long show notes are found here .

Mainframe - Being a Better Installation Specialist

• "Better" here means lessons learned, not competing with people. "Installation Specialist" might just as well have used "System Programmer" or another term.


• There's definitely a reason to be optimistic about being a person that does that Installation Specialist or System Programmer type of work:


• There will always be a need for someone to know how systems are put together, how they are configured, how they are upgraded, and how they are serviced...how to just get things to run.


• Consider the new function adoption needs too. There are so many "new" functions that are just waiting to be used.


• A really good installation specialist would take information they have and use it in different ways.


• Knowing parmilb really well.


• You can't be better by only doing things yourself, no one can know everything. You've got to work with others who are specialists in their own area.


• Last but not least, learn how to teach yourself. Know where to find answers (and that doesn't mean asking people!). Learn how to try out something on a sandbox.
  
  

Performance - Capture Ratio

• Our special guest is Miroslava Barahona Rossi, a technical expert who works with large Brasilian customers.


• Capture Ratio - a ratio of workload CPU to system-level CPU as a percentage.


• Commercial considerations when billing for uncaptured cycles. You might worry something is wrong if the capture ratio is low.


• Reasonable value is usually 80 - 90. Seeing more like 85 - 95 these days. It has been improved because more of I/O-related CPU is captured.


• Summary:


• Don’t be upset if you get a capture ratio substantially lower than 100%. That's normal.


• Understand your normal. Be aware of the relationship of your normal to everybody else’s. But, be careful when making that comparison as it is very workload dependent.


• Understand your data and causes. See if you can find a way of improving it. Keep track of the capture ratio over the months and years.
  
  

Topics - Hello Trello

• Trello is based on the Kanban idea.


• Why are we talking about Trello?  We moved to it for high level podcast planning.  Template used for hatching new future episodes. We move cards around sometimes between episodes.


• Marna uses it to organise daily work, with personal workload management and calendaring. But it is not a meetings calendar.
  
  Probably with Jira will be more useful than ever. We'll see.


• Martin uses it for team engagements, with four lists: Potential, Active, Dormant, Completed. Engagement moves between lists as it progresses
  
  

Martin's blog

Marna's blog

So It Goes.