Keeping watch
The five-step watch cycle, the four kinds of watch, pushed or pulled collection, the tools (feeds, alerts, newsletters, repository releases, security bulletins) and information overload.
- 23 cards
- 4 topics
- Free
The outline, topic by topic
Each topic is weighted the way the exam weighs it.
- Concepts
- Questions
- Sort and link
- Scenarios
A few cards from the deck
Watch: what is it?
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An organised, continuous activity that monitors a field to spot what changes and pass it on to those concerned.
It follows a cycle: target, source, collect, analyse, share. Reading whatever turns up now and then is not a watch, for lack of a target and of sharing.
How do you get notified of the next release of a library hosted on GitHub?
- Follow the releases published in the library's repository
- Rerun the same search on a general search engine each week
- Reread its website's home page every day
- Ask the question on a Q&A forum
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Follow the releases published in the library's repository
Following the repository's releases notifies you as soon as a version is published, with no collection effort. The other means are pulled, slower, and let releases slip by.
The watch cycle begins by … the need and ends by … what was kept.
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The watch cycle begins by targeting the need and ends by sharing what was kept.
In between: sourcing, collecting, analysing. Information found but not shared serves only whoever read it.
Watch topic: what is it?
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A precise subject chosen for monitoring, with a purpose: for example, the flaws in the project's dependencies.
Without a topic everything looks equal and you subscribe to everything. Three well-chosen topics, each with a reference source, beat a hundred feeds.
A developer follows 140 feeds and missed the advisory of a critical flaw in his library. What is the cause, and the remedy?
- Too few feeds; he should add more to miss nothing
- A badly set-up aggregator; it is enough to change it
- Pulled collection; he should visit the sites every day
- No targeted topic; three topics, one official source per topic and an alert on security advisories
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No targeted topic; three topics, one official source per topic and an alert on security advisories
Everything arrives at the same level, so the critical advisory drowns: this is overload, not a shortage of feeds. Target, pick one reference source per topic and an alert on security advisories.