Essential Performance Forecasting

Abstract

Forecasting is like walking. You need to learn, and the sooner the better. Everyone in IT needs to know the essentials of forecasting performance, and the sooner the better. I would wager that at least once every day, you get asked a forecasting-related question. It may not be in the traditional form, or the question may be rhetorical, but it is still a forecasting question. How many times has your manager walked by your office late Friday afternoon and sheepishly asked you something like, “Well, ah... all those users from that company we acquired are going to start using our applications next week. That’s not going to be a problem is it? OK. See ya.” You’re left with this knot in your stomach, and your weekend just got a lot shorter. We all need the ability to quickly forecast performance. Identifying future performance problems and developing risk mitigation strategies are an essential IT professional skill.