faq.md

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Practical Performance Analyst as a platform itself is an answer to a lot of the questions we’ve been asking ourselves for ages. The FAQ (Frequently Asked Questions) section will provide answers to a list of most frequently asked questions. If the questions here don’t cover the ground you are looking for please send us an email at trevor at practical performance analyst dot com and we’ll do our best to see how we can help:

Vision & Mission

• What was the driving force behind Practical Performance Analyst – Our experience of a decade and a half tells us that programs/organizations around the world love reinventing the wheel when it comes to SPE (Systems Performance Engineering) across the SDLC (Software Development Life Cycle). Working on projects we have had to painfully help these organizations reinvent the wheel time and again spending money on aspects of SPE that could have been easily addressed early on in the SDLC. Practical Performance Analyst is an Open BoK (Body Of Knowledge) that aims at addressing the lack of awareness and knowledge on SPE across the SDLC in the hope that programs/organizations hopefully won’t make the same mistakes again.
• What are the main objectives at Practical Performance Analyst – The main objectives for Practical PerformancSuccessse Analyst are to collaborate with experienced SPE (Systems Performance Engineering) professionals from around the world and build an Open BoK (Body Of Knowledge) that helps address the lack of information on SPE across the SDLC. Practical Performance Analyst is an open community of volunteers and is built from ground up like any other Open Source or Free Software movement. It leverages Social Media to collaborate and spread the messages of Proactive Performance Management across the SDLC.
• Does Practical Performance Analyst aim to give away everything it builds for free – To a large extent that’s absolutely true. All of the content i.e. articles, tutorials, book reviews, VBT’s (Video Based Tutorials), etc. are available for free at Practical Performance Analyst. Our volunteers authors spend time and effort putting together information i.e. articles, tutorials, book reviews, VBT’s (Video Based Tutorials), etc. to help programs/organizations out there Pro-actively Manage Performance across the SDLC. This information will always be available for free at Practical Performance Analyst.
• How is Practical Performance Analyst currently funded – Practical Performance Analyst is currently funded personally by Trevor Warren. The website generates very little revenue through Advertisements which do not cover the costs for hosting, bandwidth, etc. Over a period of time as the movement grows we are hopeful that donations would cover the ongoing operational costs here at Practical Performance Analyst and also provide money so that we can fund initiatives where our authors can focus on building assets/tools/content that we can make available to our readers here at Practical Performance Analyst.
• What are the intentions for Practical Performance Analyst for the longer term – To work Collaboratively with professionals from around the world & stay Open, Free intending to be the leading Open Body Of Knowledge for Systems Performance Engineering across the SDLC on the internet.
• Why do you have so many different initiatives you have running at Practical Performance Analyst – At Practical Performance Analyst understand the need to address gaps that exist with regards to knowledge in SPE across the SDLC. Our various initiatives are aimed at addressing these gaps and are supported by our volunteer professional authors in their spare time. Each of the initiatives address a different need under the umbrella of Practical Performance Analyst. Please take a look at the Initiatives section to learn more about the different initiatives here at Practical Performance Analyst.
• Is Practical Performance Analyst registered as a Non Profit Organization – At this point Practical Performance Analyst has not been registered as a Not For Profit Organization. However, based on our growth and increase in charter of activities over the coming years we will make an informed decision on the need to register ourselves as an active Not For Profit Organization.

Contributing at Practical Performance Analyst

• What are the different areas or initiatives where I could contribute at Practical Performance Analyst – We welcome budding authors and volunteers here at Practical Performance Analyst. Over the last few years our readership base has grown and we have attracted some very distinguished professionals with outstanding SPE experience from around the world. As a volunteer author you could help out with articles, book reviews, tutorials, product reviews, etc. with a focus on some aspect of SPE across the SDLC. Over a period of time as we gain a better understanding of your skills and capability we will pair you up with other authors to jointly collaborate on our key initiatives here at Practical Performance Analyst. There’s always work to be done, we welcome any contribution you can make to strengthen the foundation here at Practical Performance Analyst and help us stay Open & Free.
• What does it take to contribute at Practical Performance Analyst – The will + heart to share, collaborate and participate in building stopwatchan Open Body Of Knowledge.
• How much will i get paid for contributing at Practical Performance Analyst – You will be paid immensely in terms of the good will that you generate through your contributions here at Practical Performance Analyst. Unfortunately at this point we are not in a position to pay our volunteer staff or authors for the work they do here at Practical Performance Analyst. However, we are looking for sponsors who could help us support initiatives that would allow us to pay our authors for specific pieces of work. We will keep you posted on those developments as they happen.
• What are the benefits of becoming a contributor at Practical Performance Analyst – As a professional you reach out to a large audience through Practical Performance Analyst. Our readership base is growing all the time with over 50% of our visitors happening to be repeat visitors. As a professional you increase the chance of being noticed by potential employers and also gain visibility among your peers getting recognition for the work you have done. From a organizational standpoint supporting or participating at Practical Performance Analyst shows the community, your customers and our readers (who happen to have some interest in SPE across the SDLC) that you care about community initiatives including more importantly about Proactive Performance Management across the SDLC. As we say, everyone’s a winner here at Practical Performance Analyst.
• I’ve got some great ideas for growing the community at Practical Performance Analyst, are you going to listen to me – Oh yes, definitely. Hop on board and drop us a note with your ideas, thoughts, comments including how you intend to work with us on building a more stronger Open BoK on SPE across the SDLC. Proactive Performance Management is easy to talk about and hard to put into practice. We are keen to work with professionals/individuals/organizations who are keen on supporting our initiatives aimed at spreading the good news of Proactive Performance Management across the SDLC. Drop us a note and lets get started. There’s always a ton of stuff to be done here at Practical Performance Analyst and we can always do with a few more hands.
• Is there a way i can stay in touch with the latest news and initiatives at Practical Performance Analyst – You could subscribe to our RSS feeds and also keep in touch with other happenings in the SPE world by going to the News & Blogs section here at Practical Performance Analyst. Drop us a note and let us know if you have any ideas for improvement.

Developing content for Performance Analyst

• What are the different types of content one can contribute at Practical Performance Analyst – As a volunteer author or contributor you could help out in the following areas here at Practical Performance Analyst – Write or co-author articles, book reviews, tutorials, product reviews, Video Based Tutorials, blog posts, etc. We also have a whole string of initiatives here at Practical Performance Analyst that are focused on addressing the gaps in availability of knowledge across the SDLC. Feel free to take a look at our various initiatives and drop us a line with your areas of interest.
• How frequently do i need to contribute as an author or contributor at Practical Performance Analyst – It all depends on your personal and professional schedule. We request that our volunteer authors spend 3-4 hours a week working on one of the initiatives here at Practical Performance Analyst. Now we all know that some of us might be really busy one week and relatively free the other. We are very flexible and open to working with you around your existing commitments to help build the Open BoK on SPE across the SDLC.
• Do i need to sign an agreement or agree and abide by a set of rules / regulations to be a contributor or author at Practical Performance Analyst – We do not have an agreement as such or any Non Disclosure Agreement here at Practical Performance Analyst. However we request that you respect and NDA’s that you might have signed with your current employers ensuring that any information you put together here at Practical Performance Analyst does not violate any of those agreements.
• Who owns the Intellectual Property of the content created at Practical Performance Analyst – All the original content here at Practical Performance Analyst is licensed under the Creative Commons License unless specified otherwise by the author. Content syndicated from other websites/portals based on an agreement with the the current author are owned by the that author/website/organization and are being published here at Practical Performance Analyst with prior written permission.
• Is there a revenue sharing model around the content I create at Practical Performance Analyst – Absolutely, do write to us with your ideas and thoughts. We are open to ideas that help us build a stronger foundation here at Practical Performance Analyst while keeping all the content open and free.
• What tools can I use to create text based content i.e. Articles, Howto’s, Tutorials for Practical Performance Analyst – We would encourage use of one of the free or commercial text editors to write articles. MS Word tends to be our authors favourite but is known to create a lot of problems when it comes to publishing. We are happy for you to use the editor of your choice and provide us with the content in clear text format for purposes of publishing.

Commercials at Performance Analyst

• Are you going to charge for the content here at Practical Performance Analyst – All the content here at Practical Performance Analyst is currently open and free with a focus on building a strong Open BoK on SPE across the SDLC. We could consider paid extensions to Practical Performance Analyst based on the need of the hour but the basic content here at Practical Performance Analyst will remain open and free
• How are you currently funding development of the content here at Practical Performance Analyst – All our authors and contributors work purely on a voluntary basis. We do not currently have any sponsors to support development of the Open BoK here at Practical Performance Analyst. Hopefully that situation will change in the near future.
• How can i support Practical Performance Analyst in my own little way – You can support us in numerous ways i.e. by sharing the new articles, tutorials, posts that get published using your favourite Social Media platform, by promoting our work through word of mouth and most importantly by participating in our initiatives and helping us build content.
• Does Practical Performance Analyst accept sponsorship, donations or grants from other organizations – Yes, for more details please write to sponsorship at practical performance analyst dot com.

As always do send us an email with your input, comments, feedback and suggestions.

If you think you’ve got the the talent, are keen on sharing your knowledge / experiences and are keen to help us grow the community here at Practical Performance Analyst please reach out to us at trevor at practical performance analyst dot com.