Friday

friday

As of right now, the window for snow Friday is 2 p.m. to 10 p.m. and, initially, that snow will melt on contact, but after the sun goes down and temperatures drop some of that will stick.

Tracking snow threat: Snow possible Friday, bringing chance for accumulations

Black Friday is nearly here, which means customers will be swarming stores to snag the best deals — and retailers will be bracing for the corresponding boost in thefts. But even aside from the Black Friday bump, theft is a growing problem for many retailers. How could AI reduce the risk? 1. Enabling Automatic Cart Audits Some retailers have employees standing near store exits to check shoppers’ receipts as they leave, verifying that the list of items matches their cart contents. However, this process often becomes cumbersome during busy periods, requiring people to wait in lines. Leaders at Sam’s Club believe AI can do the task faster. As of April 2024, more than 120 locations used AI exit scanning technology, and the overall figure matched executives’ goal of adding AI to 20% of its stores by the end of the first quarter. Sam’s Club represents the largest deployment of such customer-facing technology in the retail industry. Customers who engage with it can leave stores 23% faster, and internal data shows more than 50% of shoppers use it. Notably, before rolling out this solution, Sam’s Club employees got feedback from customers about current pain points and what they wanted from their experiences. Participants mentioned they’d like faster and more convenient shopping trips and consistently brought up the waiting times associated with the previous cart audits as a primary downside.  Now, computer-vision cameras and digital technologies work in the background to check that cart contents match a customer’s payment records. This high-tech approach aligns with the company’s other improvements, such as its Scan & Go offering, which allows people to bypass the traditional checkout process when buying their items. The market value for AI products in retail was approximately $5 billion in 2023, and it’s expected to grow. Decision-makers are even more likely to reap the benefits if they do as Sam’s Club leaders did and gather customer feedback. 2. Curbing Potentially Harmful Employee Preferentiality Most people think of customers as the main people behind retail theft, but workers can exacerbate the problem, too. Sometimes, they might slip small items into their pockets during slow periods, believing no one will notice and they will never get caught. The circumstances can also become more complicated. One example is what some in the retail industry call “sweethearting.” It happens when employees give discounts or free items to friends or relatives. One tech company, Corsight AI, began offering AI technology to detect such interactions. More specifically, it spots unusual behavior by analyzing how close customers stand to employees. Because the tool tracks engagements over time, it can also determine if specific shoppers keep going to the same employee’s cash register or otherwise show a preference. The system flags unusual behaviors to the relevant store decision-makers, letting them decide whether to act. Critics have pointed out that regularly engaging with the same employees when shopping at a store doesn’t necessarily mean anything suspicious. Perhaps a customer appreciates a worker’s friendliness, efficiency or product knowledge, causing them to naturally interact when opportunities arise. However, increasing theft problems have caused some retail leaders to scrutinize things they might have previously ignored. That is particularly true for retailers selling high-value items. For example, jewelry companies’ crime-related losses exceeded $129 million in 2022. These retailers usually have high-tech security systems, but those defenses probably won’t catch occasional instances of store workers offering unusually generous discounts. AI tools might. 3. Providing Better Awareness Although circumstances vary, some potential shoplifters target locations before attempting to steal things. During each visit, they gather information such as the number of workers in the store at particular times, whether certain departments or products have dedicated security measures and the locations of entrances and exits. Someone who goes to a well-staffed store, notices numerous security cameras and sees how employees seem continually aware of their surroundings may decide against proceeding with theft attempt plans. Conversely, stores that seem virtually deserted and feature few or no visible security cameras are much more appealing to would-be thieves. Because AI products can work in the background and detect unusual occurrences, they help loss prevention officers and others become more aware of what happens in individual stores. For example, Everseen creates AI tech that can be used to help reduce self-checkout theft. Part of its approach involves processing footage from ceiling-mounted cameras, often gathering tens of millions of customer interactions daily. Another helpful aspect of the technology is that it can scan shelves to determine when specific products are almost out of stock. Additionally, retail leaders can use this product to get near-real-time analytics about what’s happening in a store and receive prompts about handling certain situations. For example, if the AI spots a frustrated customer, it might prompt a worker to engage with them to learn what’s wrong. Many retailers already use artificial intelligence creatively by incorporating it into their demand-planning processes. For example, automating supply chain activities could reduce costs by as much as 10%, making that goal a worthy pursuit for cost-conscious parties. In any case, improved awareness provided by specialty tech products could help retailers manage theft. 4. Analyzing Shoppers’ Gestures Although many retailers use facial recognition technologies, some consumers dislike the perceived lack of privacy. An AI alternative is potentially less invasive because it does not analyze people’s appearance, but rather whether they make suspicious movements commonly linked to theft. Wild Duck Wine & Spirits in Boston uses an AI product from company Veesion on all 24 of its security camera feeds. The technology checks shoppers’ gestures to see if they match those frequently used during shoplifting. For example, someone might try to conceal something in a clothing pocket. Another “red flag” occurs when people hide items in baby strollers. Finally, people may eat or drink while shopping, potentially consuming what they have not paid for yet. If the AI spots something specific, it alerts workers approximately 15 seconds later, providing a video clip of the event. Those employees can then choose whether to confront the person or see if they try to skip the checkout counter. A representative from the AI company explained that this solution is about more than stopping people from stealing single items. It sends them a message that they should not try to repeat their actions because they’ll get caught. Minimizing Theft in Retail These fascinating examples show how AI can help store managers, loss prevention officers and other responsible parties reduce the frequency of theft in their locations. Choosing the appropriate tools and learning how to use them properly is crucial for success. Black Friday is nearly here, which means customers will be swarming stores to snag the best deals — and retailers will be bracing for the corresponding boost in thefts. But even aside from the Black Friday bump, theft is a growing problem for many retailers. How could AI reduce the risk? Black Friday is nearly here, which means customers will be swarming stores to snag the best deals — and retailers will be bracing for the corresponding boost in thefts. But even aside from the Black Friday bump, theft is a growing problem for many retailers. How could AI reduce the risk? 1. Enabling Automatic Cart Audits 1. Enabling Automatic Cart Audits Some retailers have employees standing near store exits to check shoppers’ receipts as they leave, verifying that the list of items matches their cart contents. However, this process often becomes cumbersome during busy periods, requiring people to wait in lines. Leaders at Sam’s Club believe AI can do the task faster. As of April 2024, more than 120 locations used AI exit scanning technology, and the overall figure matched executives’ goal of adding AI to 20% of its stores by the end of the first quarter. Sam’s Club represents the largest deployment of such customer-facing technology in the retail industry. Customers who engage with it can leave stores 23% faster , and internal data shows more than 50% of shoppers use it. Notably, before rolling out this solution, Sam’s Club employees got feedback from customers about current pain points and what they wanted from their experiences. leave stores 23% faster leave stores 23% faster Participants mentioned they’d like faster and more convenient shopping trips and consistently brought up the waiting times associated with the previous cart audits as a primary downside.  Now, computer-vision cameras and digital technologies work in the background to check that cart contents match a customer’s payment records. This high-tech approach aligns with the company’s other improvements, such as its Scan & Go offering, which allows people to bypass the traditional checkout process when buying their items. The market value for AI products in retail was approximately $5 billion in 2023 , and it’s expected to grow. Decision-makers are even more likely to reap the benefits if they do as Sam’s Club leaders did and gather customer feedback. approximately $5 billion in 2023 approximately $5 billion in 2023 2. Curbing Potentially Harmful Employee Preferentiality Most people think of customers as the main people behind retail theft, but workers can exacerbate the problem, too. Sometimes, they might slip small items into their pockets during slow periods, believing no one will notice and they will never get caught. The circumstances can also become more complicated. One example is what some in the retail industry call “sweethearting.” It happens when employees give discounts or free items to friends or relatives. One tech company, Corsight AI, began offering AI technology to detect such interactions. More specifically, it spots unusual behavior by analyzing how close customers stand to employees. Because the tool tracks engagements over time, it can also determine if specific shoppers keep going to the same employee’s cash register or otherwise show a preference. The system flags unusual behaviors to the relevant store decision-makers, letting them decide whether to act. spots unusual behavior spots unusual behavior Critics have pointed out that regularly engaging with the same employees when shopping at a store doesn’t necessarily mean anything suspicious. Perhaps a customer appreciates a worker’s friendliness, efficiency or product knowledge, causing them to naturally interact when opportunities arise. However, increasing theft problems have caused some retail leaders to scrutinize things they might have previously ignored. That is particularly true for retailers selling high-value items. For example, jewelry companies’ crime-related losses exceeded $129 million in 2022. These retailers usually have high-tech security systems, but those defenses probably won’t catch occasional instances of store workers offering unusually generous discounts. AI tools might. 3. Providing Better Awareness Although circumstances vary, some potential shoplifters target locations before attempting to steal things. During each visit, they gather information such as the number of workers in the store at particular times, whether certain departments or products have dedicated security measures and the locations of entrances and exits. Someone who goes to a well-staffed store, notices numerous security cameras and sees how employees seem continually aware of their surroundings may decide against proceeding with theft attempt plans. Conversely, stores that seem virtually deserted and feature few or no visible security cameras are much more appealing to would-be thieves. Because AI products can work in the background and detect unusual occurrences, they help loss prevention officers and others become more aware of what happens in individual stores. For example, Everseen creates AI tech that can be used to help reduce self-checkout theft. Part of its approach involves processing footage from ceiling-mounted cameras, often gathering tens of millions of customer interactions daily. Another helpful aspect of the technology is that it can scan shelves to determine when specific products are almost out of stock. Additionally, retail leaders can use this product to get near-real-time analytics about what’s happening in a store and receive prompts about handling certain situations. For example, if the AI spots a frustrated customer, it might prompt a worker to engage with them to learn what’s wrong. Many retailers already use artificial intelligence creatively by incorporating it into their demand-planning processes. For example, automating supply chain activities could reduce costs by as much as 10% , making that goal a worthy pursuit for cost-conscious parties. In any case, improved awareness provided by specialty tech products could help retailers manage theft. by as much as 10% by as much as 10% 4. Analyzing Shoppers’ Gestures Although many retailers use facial recognition technologies, some consumers dislike the perceived lack of privacy. An AI alternative is potentially less invasive because it does not analyze people’s appearance, but rather whether they make suspicious movements commonly linked to theft. Wild Duck Wine & Spirits in Boston uses an AI product from company Veesion on all 24 of its security camera feeds. The technology checks shoppers’ gestures to see if they match those frequently used during shoplifting. For example, someone might try to conceal something in a clothing pocket. Another “red flag” occurs when people hide items in baby strollers. Finally, people may eat or drink while shopping, potentially consuming what they have not paid for yet. If the AI spots something specific, it alerts workers approximately 15 seconds later , providing a video clip of the event. Those employees can then choose whether to confront the person or see if they try to skip the checkout counter. approximately 15 seconds later approximately 15 seconds later A representative from the AI company explained that this solution is about more than stopping people from stealing single items. It sends them a message that they should not try to repeat their actions because they’ll get caught. Minimizing Theft in Retail These fascinating examples show how AI can help store managers, loss prevention officers and other responsible parties reduce the frequency of theft in their locations. Choosing the appropriate tools and learning how to use them properly is crucial for success.

With Black Friday Coming Up, Retailers Are Better Off Using AI to Combat Theft

Early Birds Rule: 5 E-Commerce Moves for Black Friday Prep Waiting until November to plan for Black Friday and Cyber Monday? That’s like stepping into the ring against a heavyweight champ without any training. In the ultra-competitive arena of e-commerce, the early planners grab the lion’s share of profits. Here’s how you can dominate this year’s biggest shopping days, with insights from award-winning agency, Mattered, your guide to mastering the retail rush. 1. Email Marketing: Your Secret Sauce Start simmering your email campaigns now because this is the gourmet dish you can’t afford to mess up. Segment your audience like a pro—VIP clients, cart abandoners, the ‘just browsing’ folks—and tailor those emails to speak directly to them. Remember, personalization makes people feel special, and special people open their wallets. Use data from last year to adjust your approach, focusing on what worked best, and don’t forget to sprinkle some exclusive deals or early access to make your subscribers feel extra special. Stats to Chew On: According to Campaign Monitor, segmented email campaigns can drive a 760% increase in revenue. So, chop, mix and season those emails wisely! 2. Ad Spend: Go Big, Then Go Home For Black Friday and Cyber Monday, if you’re not boosting your ad spend, you’re basically giving your competition the keys to the castle. Increase your visibility by investing more in your best-performing channels—be it PPC, social media ads, or retargeting campaigns. Think big and bold with your creative content, ensuring it breaks through the noise. And remember, timing is everything; start your ads early to create hype, but save some budget for last-minute push notifications to capture those spontaneous shoppers. Mattered Tip: Use data-driven insights to identify which times and platforms garnered the most conversions last year and adjust your ad placements to double down during these peak times. 3. Refresh Your Content Like It’s a New Season of Your Favorite Show Just like you wouldn’t binge-watch a show with last season’s plot twists, your customers don’t want last year’s vibes. Refresh your website and social media with new graphics, engaging videos, and interactive elements that highlight your sales. Make sure your site is optimized for mobile because, let’s face it, a lot of shopping happens from the comfort of the bed with leftover pie in hand. Creative Boost: Utilize AR or VR if possible to give users a virtual try-before-you-buy experience. It’s innovative and could be the hook that lands you that big fish (aka the undecided shopper). 4. Collaborate to Accumulate Why go solo when you can increase your reach with collaborations? Partner up with influencers and other brands, or even showcase user-generated content to build trust and extend your audience pool. Make these collaborations fun and engaging—think live streams, giveaways, or co-branded limited editions. Success Story: Look at how brands like GoPro and Red Bull collaborate during high-energy events. While you don’t have to jump out of a plane, think about how a partnership could add that extra adrenaline rush to your campaigns. 5. Stock Up, Follow Up, and Keep Up Inventory management can make or break your Black Friday/Cyber Monday. Stock up based on predictive analytics to avoid the dreaded ‘Out of Stock’ banner. Equally important is your follow-up—ensure your customer service is on point to handle any issues that arise. Post-event, keep the momentum going with thank-you emails, feedback surveys, or even sneak peeks at your next big event or sale. Insight: Use AI-driven tools to forecast demand more accurately, ensuring that you have just enough stock to meet customer expectations without overcommitting. Yes, gearing up now for Black Friday and Cyber Monday might seem premature, but in the e-commerce arena, the early brand catches the worm—or, in this case, the sale. These strategies are your ticket to a record-breaking Black Friday and Cyber Monday. “Remember, preparation is key, but flexibility is your friend. Monitor, adapt, and react in real-time to keep your campaigns fresh and your customers engaged,” says Victor Ricci, CEO and co-founder of Mattered. If you’re preparing for the holiday rush and seeking expertise that delivers results, reach out to Mattered today. Let’s make this shopping season your most successful yet. Early Birds Rule: 5 E-Commerce Moves for Black Friday Prep Waiting until November to plan for Black Friday and Cyber Monday? That’s like stepping into the ring against a heavyweight champ without any training. In the ultra-competitive arena of e-commerce, the early planners grab the lion’s share of profits. Here’s how you can dominate this year’s biggest shopping days, with insights from award-winning agency, Mattered , your guide to mastering the retail rush. Mattered Mattered 1. Email Marketing: Your Secret Sauce Start simmering your email campaigns now because this is the gourmet dish you can’t afford to mess up. Segment your audience like a pro—VIP clients, cart abandoners, the ‘just browsing’ folks—and tailor those emails to speak directly to them. Remember, personalization makes people feel special, and special people open their wallets. Use data from last year to adjust your approach, focusing on what worked best, and don’t forget to sprinkle some exclusive deals or early access to make your subscribers feel extra special. Stats to Chew On: According to Campaign Monitor, segmented email campaigns can drive a 760% increase in revenue. So, chop, mix and season those emails wisely! Stats to Chew On: 2. Ad Spend: Go Big, Then Go Home For Black Friday and Cyber Monday, if you’re not boosting your ad spend, you’re basically giving your competition the keys to the castle. Increase your visibility by investing more in your best-performing channels—be it PPC, social media ads, or retargeting campaigns. Think big and bold with your creative content, ensuring it breaks through the noise. And remember, timing is everything; start your ads early to create hype, but save some budget for last-minute push notifications to capture those spontaneous shoppers. Mattered Tip : Use data-driven insights to identify which times and platforms garnered the most conversions last year and adjust your ad placements to double down during these peak times. Mattered Tip 3. Refresh Your Content Like It’s a New Season of Your Favorite Show Just like you wouldn’t binge-watch a show with last season’s plot twists, your customers don’t want last year’s vibes. Refresh your website and social media with new graphics, engaging videos, and interactive elements that highlight your sales. Make sure your site is optimized for mobile because, let’s face it, a lot of shopping happens from the comfort of the bed with leftover pie in hand. Creative Boost : Utilize AR or VR if possible to give users a virtual try-before-you-buy experience. It’s innovative and could be the hook that lands you that big fish (aka the undecided shopper). Creative Boost 4. Collaborate to Accumulate Why go solo when you can increase your reach with collaborations? Partner up with influencers and other brands, or even showcase user-generated content to build trust and extend your audience pool. Make these collaborations fun and engaging—think live streams, giveaways, or co-branded limited editions. Success Story : Look at how brands like GoPro and Red Bull collaborate during high-energy events. While you don’t have to jump out of a plane, think about how a partnership could add that extra adrenaline rush to your campaigns. Success Story 5. Stock Up, Follow Up, and Keep Up Inventory management can make or break your Black Friday/Cyber Monday. Stock up based on predictive analytics to avoid the dreaded ‘Out of Stock’ banner. Equally important is your follow-up—ensure your customer service is on point to handle any issues that arise. Post-event, keep the momentum going with thank-you emails, feedback surveys, or even sneak peeks at your next big event or sale. Insight : Use AI-driven tools to forecast demand more accurately, ensuring that you have just enough stock to meet customer expectations without overcommitting. Insight Yes, gearing up now for Black Friday and Cyber Monday might seem premature, but in the e-commerce arena, the early brand catches the worm—or, in this case, the sale. These strategies are your ticket to a record-breaking Black Friday and Cyber Monday. “Remember, preparation is key, but flexibility is your friend. Monitor, adapt, and react in real-time to keep your campaigns fresh and your customers engaged,” says Victor Ricci , CEO and co-founder of Mattered. If you’re preparing for the holiday rush and seeking expertise that delivers results, reach out to Mattered today. Let’s make this shopping season your most successful yet. Victor Ricci Victor Ricci

Early Birds Rule: 5 E-Commerce Moves for Black Friday Prep 

قاعدة الطيور المبكرة: 5 خطوات للتجارة الإلكترونية استعدادًا للجمعة السوداء

Правило за ранни птици: 5 стъпки за електронна търговия за подготовка за Черен петък 

La regla de los madrugadores: 5 estrategias de comercio electrónico para prepararse para el Black Friday

Early Birds Règ: 5 E-Commerce Deplasman pou Black Friday Prep 

Early Birds կանոն. 5 էլեկտրոնային առևտրի շարժում սև ուրբաթ նախապատրաստվելու համար 

早起きは三文の徳: ブラックフライデーに備える 5 つの E コマース戦略

Ерте құстардың ережесі: Қара жұмаға дайындыққа арналған 5 электрондық коммерция қозғалысы 

Early Birds Noteikums: 5 e-komercijas kustības Melnās piektdienas sagatavošanai 

Rregulli i hershëm i zogjve: 5 lëvizje të tregtisë elektronike për përgatitjen e së Premtes së Zezë 

Sheria ya Mapema ya Ndege: Hatua 5 za Biashara ya Mtandaoni kwa Maandalizi ya Ijumaa Nyeusi 

Nawu wa Tinyenyana ta le ku sunguleni: 5 wa E-Commerce Moves for Black Friday Prep 

Erta Qushlar qoidasi: Qora jumaga tayyorgarlik uchun 5 ta elektron tijorat harakati 

This has become a well-known practice or even a meme. When someone pushes code to production on Friday, there is a significant outage of all services, customers are angry, ratings are going down, and revenue is dipping as fast as one can imagine. Eventually, everyone will be brought back to their laptops instead of spending time with family and friends over the weekend. But how did we end up in this situation? If you look at this from a holistic approach, that makes sense. If a team publishes their changes to production, therefore exposing them to the customers and potentially causing a high load, many things can go wrong. All the bugs that haven’t been identified during the testing phase could come out, and if no one is around - no one will be able to fix or revert changes that caused an outage. It is now a rule in any organization that implements Agile at least somehow. This means that releases should be minor, frequent, automated, allow backup, and even be exposed to a small number of customers at first. But why are we still so scared to release it to production? We prefer code freezes, no-release Fridays, and other innovations many of us have seen in our workplaces. While all the practices mentioned already, in theory, do allow a particular state of calmness in one's mind, there is always this feeling that something might go wrong and it will fail.Of course, there is nothing wrong with introducing code freezes for Christmas before Friday. The stakes might be so high that even the most sophisticated guardrails do not guarantee safe space. Ordinary releases should be allowed at any point and eventually by anyone who has done their induction training. Are We Agile Enough? Most organizations are still developing in Waterfalls with Sprints - they deliver frequently, but in chunks big enough to be called Epic or even Initiative, with a couple million budgets and anything from one month to almost a year's worth of development. Yes, they call themselves agile. They have all the definitions and automation tests, but no one believes in it somewhere deep in the complex. Most of the releases are still re-tested manually by developers, all the functionalities have to be approved by the risk department before release, and no one collects the metrics that can identify the significance of the released value. It is hard to say, but in most cases, it is true. We are stuck in a constant circle of meetings where we understand what must be done. But if not for that one Agile coach or COO passionate about Agile, that is still waterfall with slightly changed titles and an iterative cadence. Unless the shift of values is successful and the organization truly believes that what it implements and enforces has some meaning, it doesn’t matter. There might be some improvements and even significant ones, but the general course is the same: we imitate the standards they leave. Releasing on Friday is a good idea if you have achieved the Agile state of mind. Quality Control Practices Most of the organizations are still focused on pre-release testing. There are some tests. There is a manual testing process. Then there is testing on the almost-like-production environment, sometimes on-like-production environment, or even safeguarded from the customer’s real production environment. However, it is still pre-release and is not treated as a must for most companies to implement the same testing after release. It will likely be manual or automated testing for critical functionality, and only to the extent that quality engineers from specific teams can do it in hours or days. Ask any software developer on the interview - they will assure you they have 100% code coverage and are doing TDD. Ask any leader in the organization, and they will assure you that all the testing is automated and that only 10% of the functionality that is too costly to automate is still being tested manually. This might be true, but most importantly, it is not what we seek. Bugs will exist no matter how rigorous we are in testing. It is essential to identify them before customers start to be annoyed, and the money will be lost. Releasing on Friday is a good idea if you know how to identify bugs before your customers are annoyed. What Is the Release Process? There might be situations when the irreversible changes happen. There is a migration from the vulnerable software, a change in the database scheme, and a migration to the new infrastructure. You can name it. In this case, there might be no way of adding additional safeguarding for your operations. However, 99% of the release organizations are different from this. They are minor tweaks in maybe not that critical features that are not used by 100% of the customers, and even if something goes wrong - that’s tolerable.CI/CD has become almost synonymous with the release process. It is rare for organizations now to have a system admin who will go to the physical server, plug in a USB drive, and run a command on a server. Most likely, there is a pipeline in one of the known orchestration tools, and after the button is pressed, everything goes live. All release processes have to be automated, with clear and straightforward options to identify problems and back out if the result provides more harm to the business than benefits. Of course, some decisions must be made, but one must have data to base them on to make those decisions. Releasing on Friday is a good idea if there is a straightforward way of judging how the release went and a concise way of backing out. When to Push to Production? Some may argue that implementing all of the practices we have described is too expensive. And they are not wrong - it will take long hours, result in some failures, and potentially annoy customers. However, when you get the right mindset, implement the proper quality controls, and build an error-prone pipeline, there will be nothing to stop you from pushing to production whenever it is right to do so - on Friday, during Christmas, Easter, Black Friday, and before the summer social party. Are you releasing on Friday? If not - what stops you from doing so? Share your thoughts in the comments. This has become a well-known practice or even a meme. When someone pushes code to production on Friday, there is a significant outage of all services, customers are angry, ratings are going down, and revenue is dipping as fast as one can imagine. Eventually, everyone will be brought back to their laptops instead of spending time with family and friends over the weekend. But how did we end up in this situation? If you look at this from a holistic approach, that makes sense. If a team publishes their changes to production, therefore exposing them to the customers and potentially causing a high load, many things can go wrong. All the bugs that haven’t been identified during the testing phase could come out, and if no one is around - no one will be able to fix or revert changes that caused an outage. It is now a rule in any organization that implements Agile at least somehow. This means that releases should be minor, frequent, automated, allow backup, and even be exposed to a small number of customers at first. But why are we still so scared to release it to production? We prefer code freezes, no-release Fridays, and other innovations many of us have seen in our workplaces. While all the practices mentioned already, in theory, do allow a particular state of calmness in one's mind, there is always this feeling that something might go wrong and it will fail. Of course, there is nothing wrong with introducing code freezes for Christmas before Friday. The stakes might be so high that even the most sophisticated guardrails do not guarantee safe space. Ordinary releases should be allowed at any point and eventually by anyone who has done their induction training. Are We Agile Enough? Most organizations are still developing in Waterfalls with Sprints - they deliver frequently, but in chunks big enough to be called Epic or even Initiative, with a couple million budgets and anything from one month to almost a year's worth of development. Yes, they call themselves agile. They have all the definitions and automation tests, but no one believes in it somewhere deep in the complex. Most of the releases are still re-tested manually by developers, all the functionalities have to be approved by the risk department before release, and no one collects the metrics that can identify the significance of the released value. It is hard to say, but in most cases, it is true. We are stuck in a constant circle of meetings where we understand what must be done. But if not for that one Agile coach or COO passionate about Agile, that is still waterfall with slightly changed titles and an iterative cadence. Unless the shift of values is successful and the organization truly believes that what it implements and enforces has some meaning, it doesn’t matter. There might be some improvements and even significant ones, but the general course is the same: we imitate the standards they leave. Releasing on Friday is a good idea if you have achieved the Agile state of mind. Releasing on Friday is a good idea if you have achieved the Agile state of mind. Quality Control Practices Most of the organizations are still focused on pre-release testing. There are some tests. There is a manual testing process. Then there is testing on the almost-like-production environment, sometimes on-like-production environment, or even safeguarded from the customer’s real production environment. However, it is still pre-release and is not treated as a must for most companies to implement the same testing after release. It will likely be manual or automated testing for critical functionality, and only to the extent that quality engineers from specific teams can do it in hours or days. Ask any software developer on the interview - they will assure you they have 100% code coverage and are doing TDD. Ask any leader in the organization, and they will assure you that all the testing is automated and that only 10% of the functionality that is too costly to automate is still being tested manually. This might be true, but most importantly, it is not what we seek. Bugs will exist no matter how rigorous we are in testing. It is essential to identify them before customers start to be annoyed, and the money will be lost. Releasing on Friday is a good idea if you know how to identify bugs before your customers are annoyed. Releasing on Friday is a good idea if you know how to identify bugs before your customers are annoyed. What Is the Release Process? There might be situations when the irreversible changes happen. There is a migration from the vulnerable software, a change in the database scheme, and a migration to the new infrastructure. You can name it. In this case, there might be no way of adding additional safeguarding for your operations. However, 99% of the release organizations are different from this. They are minor tweaks in maybe not that critical features that are not used by 100% of the customers, and even if something goes wrong - that’s tolerable. CI/CD has become almost synonymous with the release process. It is rare for organizations now to have a system admin who will go to the physical server, plug in a USB drive, and run a command on a server. Most likely, there is a pipeline in one of the known orchestration tools, and after the button is pressed, everything goes live. All release processes have to be automated, with clear and straightforward options to identify problems and back out if the result provides more harm to the business than benefits. Of course, some decisions must be made, but one must have data to base them on to make those decisions. Releasing on Friday is a good idea if there is a straightforward way of judging how the release went and a concise way of backing out. Releasing on Friday is a good idea if there is a straightforward way of judging how the release went and a concise way of backing out. When to Push to Production? Some may argue that implementing all of the practices we have described is too expensive. And they are not wrong - it will take long hours, result in some failures, and potentially annoy customers. However, when you get the right mindset, implement the proper quality controls, and build an error-prone pipeline, there will be nothing to stop you from pushing to production whenever it is right to do so - on Friday, during Christmas, Easter, Black Friday, and before the summer social party. Are you releasing on Friday? If not - what stops you from doing so? Share your thoughts in the comments. Are you releasing on Friday? If not - what stops you from doing so? Share your thoughts in the comments.

Don’t Push to Production on Friday. Yet.		

This , Bard, Claude, and other AI tools have become widely available. In this post, I'll show you why these powerful chatbots should be your secret weapon. holiday season is the first since ChatGPT But it only matters if your goal is to . write Black Friday emails that grab attention, captivate your audience, and drive conversions If that's you, keep reading. Understanding the Importance of Personalized Black Friday Emails Black Friday means incredible deals and discounts in the minds of consumers. This makes it a crucial time for businesses to boost sales and attract new customers. The number of increases. How do you cut through the noise and get your emails to connect with your customers? Each year, the holiday promotions start earlier. brands with special offers That’s where comes in. Personalized emails can make a world of difference in capturing your customers’ attention and driving conversions. personalization By and behaviors, you create a sense of relevance and value. This increases the likelihood of engagement and purchase. Customers feel valued, and you gain a competitive advantage. tailoring your email messages to individual preferences For example, you could send a personalized email to a customer who has recently . The email could include a personalized product recommendation, a discount on running shoes, or a tip on how to choose the right running shoes. browsed your website for running shoes Another use case is to send a personalized email to a customer who has . The email could remind them about the items they left in their cart and offer them a discount to complete their purchase. recently abandoned their shopping cart With paid advertising, you can even follow them around the web and reach them on specific devices. By taking the time to personalize your emails, you can create a more engaging and effective email marketing campaign. This is what modern email marketing is all about. Personalization is a powerful tool that can help you boost your Black Friday sales. Unleashing AI: Revolutionizing Email Marketing for Black Friday Artificial Intelligence has revolutionized various aspects of our lives, and email marketing is no exception. By harnessing the power of AI, you can automate and streamline your Black Friday email campaigns, ensuring each message is personalized and compelling. Think of AI in email marketing like a master chess player. It’s like having an AI-powered chessboard for your Black Friday email campaigns — every piece moves strategically, adapting to the opponent’s game. Just as a grandmaster anticipates every move, AI anticipates your customers’ preferences. With AI, your email marketing becomes a , ensuring your moves are personalized and compelling. AI-powered tools allow you to automate email customization processes. Time is money for busy business owners, and AI saves time and effort. finely-tuned game plan I’m helping local business owners leverage AI to analyze large amounts of customer data. The bottom line is highly relevant and persuasive emails delivered to more inboxes. We use their customer data to generate tailored product recommendations and suggestions. And it gets better. AI can assist in crafting using machine-generated options. These subject lines undergo , ensuring you choose the one that resonates best with your audience. attention-grabbing subject lines A/B testing Here are some specific examples of how your brand can use AI to generate personalized subject lines and body copy for their Black Friday emails: "Your personalized Black Friday deals on [ ]" Subject line: customer's favorite product category "Hi [customer's name], check out these on your favorite [product category] products: Body copy: exclusive Black Friday deals - now [ ] [Product 1] discount off [Product 2] - now [discount off] [Product 3] - now [discount off] Don't miss out on these amazing deals! . CTA: Shop now and save Let’s dive deeper into how to create personalized Black Friday emails. AI can help you collect and analyze customer data Collecting and Analyzing Consumer Data Effective personalization relies on a deep understanding of your customers. To achieve this, collecting and organizing customer data is crucial. AI can play a significant role in processing both structured and unstructured data, enabling you to derive meaningful insights. By leveraging AI, you can in past purchasing behavior. This allows you to reduce the guesswork and make data-driven decisions. Personalized email recommendations based on these insights can significantly . uncover valuable patterns and trends increase the conversion rate Spotify uses AI to personalize its Black Friday emails by sending subscribers recommendations based on their listening habits. For example, a subscriber who listens to a lot of hip-hop music might receive an email with special deals on hip-hop albums and merchandise. is another essential aspect of personalization. AI can help you divide your customer base into specific groups based on their preferences, demographics, or past purchase history. Segmentation For Spotify, this means sending a different Black Friday email to Gen Z subscribers than they would to Millennial subscribers. They might also send different emails to subscribers in different countries or regions. By using AI to segment its Black Friday emails, Spotify is able to increase the effectiveness of its marketing campaigns and drive more sales. The means you can also Apply these tactics now to increase the ROI for your email marketing. wide availability of generative AI and machine learning tools segment and personalize your email content to each client and prospect. Writing Engaging and Persuasive Black Friday Emails With AI Now that you have a trove of customer data, it’s time to put it to good use. Generic emails are not compelling. So, how can you write compelling Black Friday emails without breaking the bank? Say hello to your new best friend. AI-powered can generate dynamic and . For example, AI could help you to generate body copy that highlights the products that the customer is most likely to be interested in and explains why they should purchase those products during the Black Friday sale. Natural Language Generation (NLG) personalized email body copy By showcasing relevant deals and products, you create a sense of exclusivity and personal attention, ultimately driving conversions. Using NLG, you can with product recommendations and offers tailored to each recipient’s preferences. customize email templates In a competitive market, seizing opportunities quickly is key. By utilizing AI to send timely offers, you stay ahead of the competition, attracting customers who are ready to make a decision. To create a sense of urgency, you can employ personalized in your emails. time-limited deals . Ensuring your list feels a strong desire to act quickly leads to increased conversion rates. AI can even determine the best time of day to deliver your emails Imagine you’re running a high-stakes business negotiation, and . Just as in those crucial moments, . time is of the essence you need to create a sense of urgency in your emails Don’t forget about the importance of a strong call-to-action (CTA). that resonate with your customers. AI can help you craft personalized CTAs It is critical to ask your audience to take the desired action. Effective CTAs include making a purchase, signing up for your newsletter, or visiting your physical store. Ensuring Success With AI-Driven Black Friday Email Campaigns Using AI for your Black Friday email campaigns is powerful, but the real magic happens when you continuously optimize and monitor. By conducting A/B testing on AI-generated subject lines, email content, and visuals, you can determine which variations perform best. This iterative approach helps refine your campaigns and improve your overall results. Tracking customer response data is vital. This practice allows you to adapt your email content and offers accordingly. Ongoing adjustment ensures that your emails remain relevant and engaging. Real-time AI analytics can monitor customer behavior. While AI automation is a game-changer, . To do this balance automation with genuine, personalized interactions. it’s important to maintain a human touch in your Black Friday email communication Not only does this create a sense of authenticity — it builds stronger customer relationships. Conclusion As the Black Friday shopping frenzy approaches, your email marketing strategy must stand out from the competition. Using AI to automate and personalize your Black Friday emails is the ultimate key to success. There is a new way to create holiday doorbusters. If you want to make a lasting impact on your customers, drive higher engagement and boost conversions use AI to your advantage.  Supercharge your email marketing with compelling, tailored and persuasive messages. So, are you ready to embrace the power of AI in your Black Friday email campaigns? Follow me for more insights on the AI marketing revolution. And if you want specialized guidance, be sure to contact me directly. Happy emailing and successful Black Friday sales!

How to Use AI to Write Black Friday Emails Your Customers Will Love

It’s the month of horror! And Friday the 13th is considered as its unluckiest day. So, why not take the time to remember some very spooky and unlucky moments inside the cryptocurrency world? The truth is that we’ve had many. We’ve survived them all, but that’s a different story for some companies and cryptocurrencies. After some very bad crypto crashes for different reasons, some brands and assets have disappeared for good. Indeed, according to , , including failed Initial Coin Offerings (ICOs). If we’d count fake coins, failed companies, and scams, there’d be likely much more. Most of them were tiny projects that failed, but others were even titans in the industry. We’ll talk about those. 99Bitcoins there were at least 1,744 dead coins as of March 2023. According to , the number increased to 2,478 by October 2023 Coinopsy Sometimes, millions of people put their faith and investments in the wrong assets or companies. Let’s explore how this happened in the crypto industry with five cases, considered the biggest crypto crashes so far (until 2023). Content Overview Case 1: Mt. Gox Crash Case 2: BitConnect Case 3: Terra (LUNA) and UST Case 4: Three Arrows Capital (3AC) Case 5: FTX and FTT Token What can we learn from crypto crashes? Case 1: Mt. Gox Crash Mt. Gox probably rings a bell. This was the most popular crypto exchange worldwide between 2011 and 2014, even handling around 70% of all Bitcoin transactions by that year. It suffered a tragic demise in 2014, after the revelation of a series of hacks that stole 744.408 BTC (around $473 million at the time). But the first big crypto crash happened before that demise. In June 2011, Mt. Gox experienced a series of . Initially, 478 accounts were breached, resulting in the theft of 25,000 BTC valued at $400,000. after someone placed massive sell orders. This dramatic crash impacted a substantial portion of the Bitcoin in circulation. devastating events On June 19th, suspicious trading activity caused the exchange rate to plummet from $17 to $0.01 per BTC Later, it was discovered that an attacker had compromised an administrative account used for auditing. In response, Mt. Gox shut down its site. The situation escalated when a list containing usernames, email addresses, and password hashes was published on an Internet forum, exposing over 61,000 accounts with a total value exceeding $8.75 million. The exchange reopened later with improved security measures, but the incident left a lasting impact on the market. , when Mt. Gox closed for good. It hasn’t happened again either, fortunately for us. Bitcoin Indeed, BTC lost over 93% of its value between June and November that year, something that didn’t happen even in 2014 Case 2: BitConnect We have to say it: this one became a classic meme in crypto. The exclamation “Hey, hey, hey! Bitconeeeeect!” is a widely used running joke — a simple greeting or to imply that something is a scam. The reason is that BitConnect was, in fact, one of the biggest ever pulled off. And it had its own platform and a native asset. crypto scams The brand operated a supposed lending platform between 2016 and 2018. It promised investors high returns through a lending program and its own cryptocurrency, BitConnect Coin (BCC). Users were encouraged to exchange Bitcoin for BCC and then lend it to the platform in exchange for —up to 40% monthly. substantial interest rates BitConnect used a referral system to incentivize users to bring in more investors, creating a pyramid-like structure. The platform's business model was unsustainable and relied on new investments to pay returns to earlier investors, making it a classic . The platform attracted a large user base and reached a peak market capitalization of over $2.6 billion, with thousands of users participating. Ponzi scheme BitConnect's fraudulent nature became increasingly apparent, and in January 2018, it abruptly shut down its lending and exchange platform after an “Emergency Cease and Desist Order” by the Texas State Securities Board. The value of BitConnect Coin (BCC) plummeted from over $400 to virtually zero, resulting in substantial financial losses for many investors. According to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), This entity sued BitConnect in 2021, and its founder, , has been on the run since 2022. , BitConnect American promoter, is now in jail. All that is left is the Bitconnect meme, initiated from the enthusiastic speech by Carlos Matos, a lesser BitConnect promoter. He later himself a victim who has lost over $100,000 in several scams, including BCC. BitConnect investors worldwide at least $2 billion in assets. defrauded Indian Satish Kumbhani Glenn Arcaro declared https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QC9NWwdrVNQ&embedable=true Case 3: Terra (LUNA) and UST Here, we explore the start of an eventful 2022. Terra is a blockchain protocol that still exists (somehow), along with its native currency, —now Terra Classic (LUNC). What disappeared, besides all the involved money and user trust, was their native stablecoin, ). This was an algorithmic asset that kept its 1 USD value by issuing and burning LUNA coins. LUNA Terra USD (UST when UST lost its $1 peg on May 8, leading to a panic in the market. Whales conducted a massive sell-off, causing UST's value to drop even more. Anchor Protocol, a major DeFi platform on Terra, experienced withdrawals of over $2 billion in just 24 hours. Trouble began This token had a value of $119 in April 2022, while its replacement (LUNC) is now at $0.000058 [CMC]. Despite efforts by the Luna Foundation, UST's peg could not be restored, and the Terra protocol faced a collapse of over $40 billion. Investors suffered severe losses, prompting some to file lawsuits against Terraform Labs and its co-founder Do Kwon. UST's price plummeted to $0.1 (90% less than its peg), dragging LUNA down with it. Ultimately, Terra's collapse left a trail of financial devastation, leading to delistings on multiple crypto exchanges, more crypto regulations worldwide, and legal actions against those involved in the project. Do Kwon, Terra's co-founder, in March 2023 while traveling in Montenegro using falsified documents. was arrested Case 4: Three Arrows Capital (3AC) This crash is likely intertwined with the previous one. Founded in 2012 by Su Zhu and Kyle Davies in Singapore, However, it’s now liquidated, owing approximately $3.5 billion to more than 32 companies globally. 3AC once managed up to $10 billion in assets and investments, including cryptocurrencies. because 3AC held significant investments in Terra (LUNA) tokens, which lost their value following Terra's collapse. They also invested in other tokens that performed poorly between 2021 and 2022. With investments, partnerships, and loans worth billions of dollars with various crypto companies, 3AC's financial troubles had a ripple effect in the industry. The trouble began Their bankruptcy filing in June 2022 revealed substantial debts and an absence of answers from the founders about the funds and the project’s issues. due to unpaid loans. Ordinary users of Voyager and Celsius platforms also faced financial losses, since they halted withdrawals and filed for bankruptcy. Genesis Trading would do the same in 2023 for this and other reasons. The impact extended to institutional creditors, with crypto protocols like Genesis Trading, Voyager, and Celsius suffering (each one over $1 billion) significant losses The crash of 3AC also affected some platforms and equities within their portfolio, like DeFi protocol , and some crypto exchanges, like . Despite only dealing with businesses, the fall of 3AC was devastating for retail crypto investors too. Numerous people to have lost their life savings to Voyager and , for instance. Meanwhile, Kyle Davies is on the run, and Su Zhu in September 2023 when he was trying to leave Singapore. Ardana BitMEX and FTX claimed Celsius was arrested Case 5: FTX and FTT Token FTX was, likely, the last “big domino” to fall in 2022 after the ripple effect caused by Terra. They even sponsored several sports teams and organizations in the US. And its fall has already to Terra's collapse as well. At its peak in July 2021, FTX was the third-largest cryptocurrency exchange globally, with over one million users. been linked Their crisis began in November 2022, when CoinDesk revealed that FTX's partner firm, Alameda Research, held a significant portion of its assets in FTX's native token (FTT). Following this revelation, rival exchange Binance announced its intention to sell its FTT holdings, leading to a spike in customer withdrawals from FTX. However, FTX couldn't meet the demand for these withdrawals. Binance initially signed a letter of intent to acquire FTX, but it withdrew the offer the next day due to concerns about mishandled customer funds and U.S. agency investigations. Without more options, FTX filed for bankruptcy. In December 2022, FTX's founder, Sam Bankman-Fried (SBF), was arrested by Bahamian authorities at the request of the U.S. government for financial offenses. The company's assets were frozen, while the bankruptcy proceedings revealed (of around $3 billion), misuse of customer funds, and a lack of financial controls within FTX. massive debts Several institutional investors, Sequoia Capital, CoinShares, BlockFi, and Genesis Trading faced losses due to their stakes in FTX. The collapse of FTX had a significant impact on the cryptocurrency market, causing declines in various cryptocurrencies' values and raising concerns about investor protection and regulatory oversight. including The latter two companies filed for bankruptcy in 2023, indeed. Their losses at $2.8 billion (Genesis) and over $1 billion (BlockFi). These events, again, caused the for a lot of people. SBF is currently in the US. are estimated loss of life savings on trial What can we learn from crypto crashes? Avoiding cryptocurrency crashes and minimizing risks as a retail crypto investor requires careful consideration and a disciplined approach. While it's impossible to eliminate all risks, here are some strategies to help you navigate the volatile cryptocurrency market and reduce the chances of experiencing significant losses: Don't put all your funds into a single project. Diversifying across different assets can help spread risk. Invest in well-established cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin and , alongside smaller, promising projects. Diversify Your Portfolio: Obyte don’t store your funds long-term with centralized entities like online wallets (exchanges) or even financial platforms that you may think are “decentralized” just because they work with cryptocurrencies, but don’t provide you with private keys (e.g. Celsius and Voyager). If they have issues, your funds will have issues, and withdrawals will be halted indefinitely. Keep custody of your funds: . Obyte is an excellent store of value as it provides unmatched resistance to censorship due to absence of any powerful actors such as miners. Store your capital in assets issued on truly decentralized platforms like Obyte Before investing in any cryptocurrency, conduct extensive research. Understand the technology, use case, team, funding methods, and community behind the project. Make informed decisions based on solid information rather than hype. If it looks too good to be true, it’s likely not true. Research Thoroughly: : Consider using risk management tools like stop-loss orders, which automatically sell your assets if they reach a certain price level. This can help limit potential losses. Use Risk Management Tools : Define clear investment goals and timeframes. Are you looking for short-term gains, or are you in it for the long haul? Set realistic expectations and avoid chasing quick profits. Set Realistic Goals Keep up with cryptocurrency news and market trends. Be aware of any regulatory changes or major developments that could impact the market. Stay Informed: Remember that the cryptocurrency market is inherently speculative and volatile. While there are opportunities for substantial gains, there are also risks involved. By maintaining a cautious approach, you can reduce the likelihood of experiencing major losses during potential crypto market crashes. Even on this unlucky day! Featured Vector Image by Freepik

Friday, the 13th and Crypto: Uncovering Valuable Lessons from Major Market Crashes

শুক্রবার, 13 তম এবং ক্রিপ্টো: প্রধান বাজার বিপর্যয় থেকে মূল্যবান পাঠ উন্মোচন

Freitag, der 13. und Krypto: Wertvolle Lehren aus großen Marktcrashs ziehen

Viernes 13 y Cripto: Descubriendo lecciones valiosas de las principales caídas del mercado

Vendredi 13 et Crypto : découvrir de précieuses leçons des krachs majeurs du marché

शुक्रवार, 13वां और क्रिप्टो: प्रमुख बाज़ार दुर्घटनाओं से मूल्यवान सबक उजागर करना

13日の金曜日と仮想通貨：大規模な市場暴落から得た貴重な教訓

13일의 금요일과 암호화폐: 주요 시장 붕괴에서 귀중한 교훈 발견

Sexta-feira, 13 e criptografia: descobrindo lições valiosas das principais quedas do mercado

Пятница, 13-е и криптовалюта: извлекаем ценные уроки из крупных рыночных крахов

13'üncü Cuma ve Kripto: Büyük Piyasa Çöküşlerinden Değerli Dersler Çıkarmak

Thứ Sáu ngày 13 và tiền điện tử: Khám phá những bài học quý giá từ những vụ sụp đổ thị trường lớn

13 号星期五和加密货币：从重大市场崩溃中汲取宝贵的教训

The $30,000 Bequest, and Other Stories by Mark Twain, is part of the HackerNoon Books Series. You can jump to any chapter in this book . CHAPTER III here CHAPTER III The little newspaper which Aleck had subscribed for was a Thursday sheet; it would make the trip of five hundred miles from Tilbury's village and arrive on Saturday. Tilbury's letter had started on Friday, more than a day too late for the benefactor to die and get into that week's issue, but in plenty of time to make connection for the next output. Thus the Fosters had to wait almost a complete week to find out whether anything of a satisfactory nature had happened to him or not. It was a long, long week, and the strain was a heavy one. The pair could hardly have borne it if their minds had not had the relief of wholesome diversion. We have seen that they had that. The woman was piling up fortunes right along, the man was spending them—spending all his wife would give him a chance at, at any rate. At last the Saturday came, and the arrived. Mrs. Eversly Bennett was present. She was the Presbyterian parson's wife, and was working the Fosters for a charity. Talk now died a sudden death—on the Foster side. Mrs. Bennett presently discovered that her hosts were not hearing a word she was saying; so she got up, wondering and indignant, and went away. The moment she was out of the house, Aleck eagerly tore the wrapper from the paper, and her eyes and Sally's swept the columns for the death-notices. Disappointment! Tilbury was not anywhere mentioned. Aleck was a Christian from the cradle, and duty and the force of habit required her to go through the motions. She pulled herself together and said, with a pious two-per-cent. trade joyousness: Weekly Sagamore “Let us be humbly thankful that he has been spared; and—” “Damn his treacherous hide, I wish—” “Sally! For shame!” “I don't care!” retorted the angry man. “It's the way feel, and if you weren't so immorally pious you'd be honest and say so.” you Aleck said, with wounded dignity: “I do not see how you can say such unkind and unjust things. There is no such thing as immoral piety.” Sally felt a pang, but tried to conceal it under a shuffling attempt to save his case by changing the form of it—as if changing the form while retaining the juice could deceive the expert he was trying to placate. He said: “I didn't mean so bad as that, Aleck; I didn't really mean immoral piety, I only meant—meant—well, conventional piety, you know; er—shop piety; the—the—why, know what I mean. Aleck—the—well, where you put up that plated article and play it for solid, you know, without intending anything improper, but just out of trade habit, ancient policy, petrified custom, loyalty to—to—hang it, I can't find the right words, but know what I mean, Aleck, and that there isn't any harm in it. I'll try again. You see, it's this way. If a person—” you you “You have said quite enough,” said Aleck, coldly; “let the subject be dropped.” “I'm willing,” fervently responded Sally, wiping the sweat from his forehead and looking the thankfulness he had no words for. Then, musingly, he apologized to himself. “I certainly held threes— it—but I drew and didn't fill. That's where I'm so often weak in the game. If I had stood pat—but I didn't. I never do. I don't know enough.” I know Confessedly defeated, he was properly tame now and subdued. Aleck forgave him with her eyes. The grand interest, the supreme interest, came instantly to the front again; nothing could keep it in the background many minutes on a stretch. The couple took up the puzzle of the absence of Tilbury's death-notice. They discussed it every which way, more or less hopefully, but they had to finish where they began, and concede that the only really sane explanation of the absence of the notice must be—and without doubt was—that Tilbury was not dead. There was something sad about it, something even a little unfair, maybe, but there it was, and had to be put up with. They were agreed as to that. To Sally it seemed a strangely inscrutable dispensation; more inscrutable than usual, he thought; one of the most unnecessary inscrutable he could call to mind, in fact—and said so, with some feeling; but if he was hoping to draw Aleck he failed; she reserved her opinion, if she had one; she had not the habit of taking injudicious risks in any market, worldly or other. The pair must wait for next week's paper—Tilbury had evidently postponed. That was their thought and their decision. So they put the subject away and went about their affairs again with as good heart as they could. Now, if they had but known it, they had been wronging Tilbury all the time. Tilbury had kept faith, kept it to the letter; he was dead, he had died to schedule. He was dead more than four days now and used to it; entirely dead, perfectly dead, as dead as any other new person in the cemetery; dead in abundant time to get into that week's , too, and only shut out by an accident; an accident which could not happen to a metropolitan journal, but which happens easily to a poor little village rag like the . On this occasion, just as the editorial page was being locked up, a gratis quart of strawberry ice-water arrived from Hostetter's Ladies and Gents Ice-Cream Parlors, and the stickful of rather chilly regret over Tilbury's translation got crowded out to make room for the editor's frantic gratitude. Sagamore Sagamore On its way to the standing-galley Tilbury's notice got pied. Otherwise it would have gone into some future edition, for do not waste “live” matter, and in their galleys “live” matter is immortal, unless a pi accident intervenes. But a thing that gets pied is dead, and for such there is no resurrection; its chance of seeing print is gone, forever and ever. And so, let Tilbury like it or not, let him rave in his grave to his fill, no matter—no mention of his death would ever see the light in the . weekly Sagamores Weekly Sagamore About HackerNoon Book Series: We bring you the most important technical, scientific, and insightful public domain books. This book is part of the public domain. Mark Twain (2004). The $30,000 Bequest, and Other Stories. Urbana, Illinois: Project Gutenberg. Retrieved October 2022 https://www.gutenberg.org/cache/epub/142/pg142-images.html This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included with this eBook or online at , located at . www.gutenberg.org https://www.gutenberg.org/policy/license.html

Tilbury's letter had started on Friday

The War of the Worlds, by H. G. Wells, is part of the HackerNoon Books Series. You can jump to any chapter in this book here . VIII. FRIDAY NIGHT VIII. FRIDAY NIGHT The most extraordinary thing to my mind, of all the strange and wonderful things that happened upon that Friday, was the dovetailing of the commonplace habits of our social order with the first beginnings of the series of events that was to topple that social order headlong. If on Friday night you had taken a pair of compasses and drawn a circle with a radius of five miles round the Woking sand-pits, I doubt if you would have had one human being outside it, unless it were some relation of Stent or of the three or four cyclists or London people lying dead on the common, whose emotions or habits were at all affected by the new-comers. Many people had heard of the cylinder, of course, and talked about it in their leisure, but it certainly did not make the sensation that an ultimatum to Germany would have done. In London that night poor Henderson’s telegram describing the gradual unscrewing of the shot was judged to be a canard, and his evening paper, after wiring for authentication from him and receiving no reply—the man was killed—decided not to print a special edition. Even within the five-mile circle the great majority of people were inert. I have already described the behaviour of the men and women to whom I spoke. All over the district people were dining and supping; working men were gardening after the labours of the day, children were being put to bed, young people were wandering through the lanes love-making, students sat over their books. Maybe there was a murmur in the village streets, a novel and dominant topic in the public-houses, and here and there a messenger, or even an eye-witness of the later occurrences, caused a whirl of excitement, a shouting, and a running to and fro; but for the most part the daily routine of working, eating, drinking, sleeping, went on as it had done for countless years—as though no planet Mars existed in the sky. Even at Woking station and Horsell and Chobham that was the case. In Woking junction, until a late hour, trains were stopping and going on, others were shunting on the sidings, passengers were alighting and waiting, and everything was proceeding in the most ordinary way. A boy from the town, trenching on Smith’s monopoly, was selling papers with the afternoon’s news. The ringing impact of trucks, the sharp whistle of the engines from the junction, mingled with their shouts of “Men from Mars!” Excited men came into the station about nine o’clock with incredible tidings, and caused no more disturbance than drunkards might have done. People rattling Londonwards peered into the darkness outside the carriage windows, and saw only a rare, flickering, vanishing spark dance up from the direction of Horsell, a red glow and a thin veil of smoke driving across the stars, and thought that nothing more serious than a heath fire was happening. It was only round the edge of the common that any disturbance was perceptible. There were half a dozen villas burning on the Woking border. There were lights in all the houses on the common side of the three villages, and the people there kept awake till dawn. A curious crowd lingered restlessly, people coming and going but the crowd remaining, both on the Chobham and Horsell bridges. One or two adventurous souls, it was afterwards found, went into the darkness and crawled quite near the Martians; but they never returned, for now and again a light-ray, like the beam of a warship’s searchlight swept the common, and the Heat-Ray was ready to follow. Save for such, that big area of common was silent and desolate, and the charred bodies lay about on it all night under the stars, and all the next day. A noise of hammering from the pit was heard by many people. So you have the state of things on Friday night. In the centre, sticking into the skin of our old planet Earth like a poisoned dart, was this cylinder. But the poison was scarcely working yet. Around it was a patch of silent common, smouldering in places, and with a few dark, dimly seen objects lying in contorted attitudes here and there. Here and there was a burning bush or tree. Beyond was a fringe of excitement, and farther than that fringe the inflammation had not crept as yet. In the rest of the world the stream of life still flowed as it had flowed for immemorial years. The fever of war that would presently clog vein and artery, deaden nerve and destroy brain, had still to develop. All night long the Martians were hammering and stirring, sleepless, indefatigable, at work upon the machines they were making ready, and ever and again a puff of greenish-white smoke whirled up to the starlit sky. About eleven a company of soldiers came through Horsell, and deployed along the edge of the common to form a cordon. Later a second company marched through Chobham to deploy on the north side of the common. Several officers from the Inkerman barracks had been on the common earlier in the day, and one, Major Eden, was reported to be missing. The colonel of the regiment came to the Chobham bridge and was busy questioning the crowd at midnight. The military authorities were certainly alive to the seriousness of the business. About eleven, the next morning’s papers were able to say, a squadron of hussars, two Maxims, and about four hundred men of the Cardigan regiment started from Aldershot. A few seconds after midnight the crowd in the Chertsey road, Woking, saw a star fall from heaven into the pine woods to the northwest. It had a greenish colour, and caused a silent brightness like summer lightning. This was the second cylinder. About HackerNoon Book Series: We bring you the most important technical, scientific, and insightful public domain books. This book is part of the public domain. H. G. Wells (1992). The War of the Worlds. Urbana, Illinois: Project Gutenberg. Retrieved October 2022, from https://www.gutenberg.org/files/36/36-h/36-h.htm This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org , located at https://www.gutenberg.org/policy/license.html.

The War of the Worlds: Chapter VIII. FRIDAY NIGHT

Many numbers get floated on where Bitcoin is eventually heading. While I agree with many of them, I think we can draw some actual reasoning to price surges that will come with time. So here are four reasons why in my opinion, Bitcoin will hit $250,000 per coin. Of course, this isn't financial advice. 1. More attractive than comparative inflation hedges Let's start by looking at the market cap of another inflation hedge: Gold at the time of this writing has a market cap of over 10 Trillion USD. Bitcoin meanwhile has a market cap of just under 1.1 Trillion USD. The inflation rate of Bitcoin over time gets cut in half every four years and has a capped supply at 21Million. Coins The inflation rate of gold has stayed steady, and when prices climb, so does production. The total supply of gold is unknown and technology for gold recovery keeps improving. The actual monetary value (not taking jewelry and gold bars into account) of Gold sits somewhere around 4.3 Trillion USD. If Bitcoin captures the same monetary market cap, it will be over $250k per coin. I believe that investors are starting to understand the movement of digital assets that are scarce in nature but have a growing user base. Their value is similar to tech companies whose value increases upon realizing a larger user base, adoption, and network effect. Bitcoin is accessible to almost everyone. Like $1 dollar has 100 cents, Bitcoin can be fractionalized into 100 Million pieces called  Satoshis (SATS). With Bitcoin, you can transfer value like an email and in any volume. Try doing any of those fast and cost-effective transactions with gold. Gold held perceived value and isn’t considered a currency and I’d put Bitcoin into the same category as a store of value. Yet gold achieved normality and adoption even though use is cumbersome, and gold isn’t easily divisible. Humanity through time had a concurrent opinion of gold giving it value. The same is happening now as humanity is arriving at a consensus for present and future, that Bitcoin is the Alpha store of value asset. And in the end I believe Gold will be inferior to Bitcoin. 2. Rate of adoption and network effect Bitcoin has a higher rate of and network effect than cell phones and the internet over their first 12 years of inception. On the other hand, gold has almost no network effect and a declining user base. This leads me to believe we will see monetary parity with BTC and gold on monetary value levels. adoption Bitcoin hit a market cap of over 1 Trillion in 12 years; while US tech giants like Facebook, Amazon,  Apple, Netflix all took up to 20 years to reach that point. 3. Changing of the guard Bloomberg took a survey in which 90% + of millennials chose Bitcoin over gold as a store of value. The changing of the guard in the workforce will undoubtedly be a rising tide that can carry the USS Bitcoin to new all-time highs. According to Millionaire survey Half of the millennial millionaires have at least 25% of their net worth in digital assets. CNBC The younger generations believe in the decentralized, and trustless operating system of the Bitcoin network; electing to put their money and faith in a mathematical framework that is free of politics and human error. 4. Mainstream wave(s) of adoption: Turn on the TV and you'll see Matt Damon in a crypto.com ad; the former staples center will now be called " arena". The Miami Heat will play  In " arena". There's no shortage of mainstream coverage and below are a few of the high-level happenings, and long term bullish news. Crypto.com FTX Elon musk holds Bitcoin. Similarly, Tesla (NYSE:TSLA) and SpaceX, hold part of their treasury in BTC. Publicly traded Microstrategy (NYSE:MSTR) owns about 5 Billion USD worth of BTC for their treasury reserves. Some of the notable investors flocking to Crypto and Bitcoin include: Paul Tudor Jones Carl Icahn Cathie Wood Ashton Kutcher Mark Cuban Even Kevin O'Leary from ABC's Shark Tank, a notable protractor has changed tunes and now has a 7% of the personal allocation of his net worth in digital assets. O Leary also spoke at BTC 2021, and is an evangelist for institutional exposure to digital assets. O'Leary recently said "this is not going away, this is the new asset class" The first futures Bitcoin ETF (exchange traded fund) was approved this year. Wall street now await a spot Bitcoin ETF where the fund will be backed by real Bitcoin. being paid or to be paid in Bitcoin Notable athletes Aaron Rodgers Odell Beckham Junior Tom Brady Trevor Lawrence Sean Culkin Russel Okung Some Notable : Businesses accepting Bitcoin PayPal Cash app Shopify Microsoft Overstock Dallas Mavericks Oakland A's Burger King AT&T KFC Miami Dolphins Subway Virgin air Norwegian Air Cheap Air Amazon Quiznos AMC El Salvador becomes the First Nation to make Bitcoin legal tender. They were followed by Ukraine. El Salvador is building 20 schools with some of its BTC profits and has bought the recent dip. They're creating a Bitcoin economy, and 100% renewable Bitcoin mining powered by solar, and CHP (combined heat power) of their volcano. proposing similar Pro Bitcoin legislation: Other Nations Tonga Columbia Mexico Panama Brazil Paraguay Germany just the "fund allocation act" and want to be crypto friendly and harbor innovation.  This allows open ended funds to allocate up to 20% of holdings into digital assets. announced Bank adoption: Blockdata, an analytics firm, says in a recent that 55% of the world's top 100 banks have invested in the crypto or blockchain space. study Below is a that all have over $200 Million invested in digital assets. list of banks Standard Chartered BNY Mellon Citibank UBS BNP Paribas Morgan Stanley JP Morgan Chase Goldman Sachs. BNY Mellon America's oldest Bank is offering Bitcoin and digital asset custody to their clients. With all that said, it's easy to see the tides turning on the Bitcoin tsunami  that is just starting. The use case advantage fundamentals, network effect, and a more receptive younger generation all seeing mainstream adoption will influence Bitcoin hitting 250k per coin. I don't know when, and the road to there won't be straight up. It'll be 3 steps forward and 4 steps back in some cases. I would guess we will go through at least another Bitcoin halving to get there comfortably. As my good friend Tushar would say " just my two sats" Sources With hyperlink : (Buy bitcoin worldwide.com) , , (99Bitcoins.com), (City A.M.), (Cointelegraph), (Forbes), (Business insider), (coingape), (Michael Levin) BTC ATHLETES CNBC Millionaire study Bloomberg BTC VS GOLD Businesses accepting BTC Nations looking to adopt BTC Blockdata Study German Announcement Banks who have the most in crypto Rate of adoption Dual Adoption Curve and chart

4 Reasons Why Bitcoin Will Breach $250k Despite The Black Friday Sale

Studying the market trends is a part of the job for online eCommerce businesses. The year 2020 has proved to be a turning point in the eCommerce industry due to the Covid-19 pandemic. The eCommerce platforms dominated traditional offline shopping all over the world due to the restrictions. Now, the same trend is expected to be continued in the 2021 holiday season as well. What is Black Friday & Why is it Important? Black Friday refers to the day right after the Thanksgiving holiday that witnesses heavy sales. It is considered as the starting day of the holiday shopping season that continues with some of the significant days such as Cyber Monday, Single’s Day, etc. Black Friday Sales are the most awaited days for online shoppers. Most of the . It is crucial for eCommerce business owners to evaluate the expected market trends to amplify their sales during the holiday season. November and December are considered the hottest seasons for online shopping and thus provide with plenty of sales opportunities. Hence, preparing online stores for the holiday season is inevitable! eCommerce platforms experience spikes in sales on Black Friday eCommerce platforms Studying Black Friday 2021 trends predictions will help the online store owners to benefit from this golden sales opportunity and leverage the traffic for revenue. Black Friday 2021 Predictions and Marketing Strategies Here are the Black Friday 2021 marketing strategies as per the predictions that you must consider for your online store to boost your sales. Improve Your Store As per the reports, the eCommerce marketplace is expected to continue its dominance over the offline market during the 2021 sales season as well. Therefore, online marketers are advised to stay well prepared for the upcoming spike in the sales graph. Make sure that your store is ready to provide dozens of reasons to make a purchase. Ensure that your store is equipped with a flawless smooth navigation interface and performance, making it easy and trustworthy for the visitors to place orders. Site Experience: Do an SEO audit of your store and make sure that your store is ready to rank during the sales season. SEO Optimization: Spread Awareness Shoppers are expected to place early orders to avoid delays in delivery due to Covid-19 restrictions. Therefore, a spike in the eCommerce platform sales is expected for a couple of weeks during Black Friday. Online store owners must plan to run ad campaigns to brand awareness much before the holiday season to warm up their audience and re-target them during the Black Friday season. Social Media is one of the most profitable marketing tactics during holiday sales. People enjoying their leisure time scrolling on social media are more likely to get interested in shopping. Social Media: You can prepare a list of your customers’ email addresses and can target them during the sales season with heavy discounts, offers, and deals. One clever way to retarget customers is to distribute coupons and discount codes that can be used during holiday sales. Re-targeting: Win Customers’ Reviews Customers’ Reviews can play a vital role in winning visitors’ trust to make a purchase on your store. According to one survey, 85% of online shoppers consider reading tens of reviews about the product before making any purchase. Product reviews and feedback in your store will also help confused customers to make choices between multiple similar items in your store. It will add a sense of trust to the products and will make it easier for the customers to trust the legitimacy of the product or service that you are selling.
. You can try asking for honest reviews and feedback from your existing customers. This will help you to provide visitors with honest reviews about your product or service that will boost your sales by 4-5%. Ask for Reviews: Spamming 5-star reviews on your store to get customers’ attention over the product is not a good idea. Ironically, it may go against your sales and may make the visitors doubt the legitimacy of your store. Don’t Spam 5-Star Reviews: Flash Sales You can win customers by offering deals or discounts for a specific period of time during the flash sale and can create a sense of excitement. Flash sale is one of the most successful sales strategies used by many of the renowned eCommerce platforms during the sales season. Offer deals and discounts for a limited period of time in your store. You can try adding deals and offers with a counter like “Hurry! Offer ends in xx:xx Hours” to convince the visitors that the deal is limited and worth making a transaction. Limited Time Offer: You can try offering freebies such as free delivery services, free installation service, free extended warranty, etc. along with your products to persuade your visitors to make a transaction on your store. Offer Freebies: Give Financial Freedom Price is one of the foremost deciding factors for making any purchase online. Providing financial freedom to your customers can help you to win customers by providing them financial flexibility. You can partner with finance companies or banking organizations to provide the ‘Buy Now, Pay Later’ facility in your store. This will help your customers purchase the products by paying a specific upfront payment and dividing the rest into monthly instalments as per their convenience. Buy Now, Pay Later: Looking at the diversified payment options available, it is important to support most of the payment options on your eCommerce store for your customer’s convenience. Multiple Payment Options: Debit Cards, Credit Cards, Net Banking, E-Wallets, Mobile wallets and Partial Payments are some of the must-have payment options for your eCommerce site to maximize payment convenience. Conclusion Black Friday is coming soon with its golden sales opportunity for online stores to achieve new heights of success. Online store owners must follow a proper marketing strategy to make the most out of this holiday season.

Black Friday 2021: Golden Sales Opportunity for eCommerce Stores

This Black Friday, I’ve gathered a few WordPress Black Friday Deals for you. You’ll find out 3 WordPress deals categories: plugins, themes, & hosting providers. So here we go! WordPress Plugins Deals WP Rocket Dates: Nov 23 - Dec 1 Deal: 30% Off Grab WP Rocket Deal Crocoblock Dates: 24th Nov - 1st Dec Deal: 40% off WordPress plugins, 35% discounts on Yearly Subscriptions, 30% off Lifetime Coupon code: BFCrocoblock2021 Grab Crocoblock Deal Elementor Dates: Nov 22 - Dec 2 Deal: up to 50% Off Grab Elementor Deal UpdraftPlus Dates: 24th Nov - 3rd Dec Deal: 20% off UpdraftPlus Premium Coupon code: 20BFCOB Grab UpdraftPlus Deal WP-Optimize Dates: 24th Nov - 3rd Dec Deal: Get 20% off any WP-Optimize Premium package Coupon code: 20WPOBFCOB Grab WP-Optimize Deal Theia Post Slider Dates: 22 Nov 2021 - 30 Nov 2021 Deal: up to 50% Off Grab Theia Post Slider Deal Formidable Forms Dates: Nov 22 - Nov 30 Deal: up to 65% Off Grab Formidable Forms Deal SEOPress Dates: Nov 24 - Dec 1 Deal: Buy SEOPress PRO + Insights for $99 instead of $138! Almost 30% off! + Win an Amazon gift card of $300! Grab SEOPress Deal RankMath Dates: Nov 22  Nov 27 Deal: up to 50% off Grab RankMath Deal AdminColumns Dates: Nov 24 - Nov 30 Deal: 25% Off Coupon code: BlackFriday21 Grab Admin Columns Deal Dokan Dates: Nov 17 - Dec 2 Deal: up to 50% Off Grab Dokan Deal WordPress Themes Black Friday Deals Blocksy Dates: Nov 20 - Dec 3 Deal: up to 40% Off Coupon code: BFCM2021 Grab Blocksy Deal Astra Dates: Nov 22 - Dec 3rd Deal: up to 63% Off Grab Astra Deal OceanWP Dates: till Dec 2 Deal: up to 55% Off Grab OceanWP Deal TemplateMonster Dates: Nov 22 - Nov 28 Deal: up to 50% Off Grab TemplateMonster Deal WordPress Hosting Deals 2021 Cloudways Dates: Nov 23 - Dec 1 Deal: 40% Off on all hosting plans for 4 months Coupon code: BFCM2021 Grab Cloudways Deal WP Engine Dates: Nov 22 - Nov 30 Deal: 5 months Free on annual shared plan Coupon code: cyberweek2021 Grab WP Engine Deal DreamHost Dates: Nov 22 - Nov 30 Deal: up to 94% Off Grab DreamHost Deal Sum Up Hope these WordPress deals were helpful and you’ve bought what you’ve been looking for. Please share in the comments below your shopping list. 😊

15+ Top WordPress Black Friday & Cyber Monday Deals 2021

A bird in the hand may be worth two in the bush – but with TradingView’s and discounts of up to 60%, it’s the perfect time to grab those two avians once and for all. Use this chance to buy any subscription at the company’s lowest possible price: you can compare the features of each plan . Black Friday Sale here Don’t miss the unique opportunity to be part of the world’s largest community of traders – over 30 million monthly users – and gain access to all the features of the platform for more accurate market analysis and better trading results. Benefits of TradingView Premium Highest data accuracy and access to all markets 25 indicators per chart 8 charts in one layout 400 server-side alerts Second-based intervals 4 times more data on the charts (up to 20 thousand bars) The ability to publish invite-only scripts If you don't need all those features just yet, then there’s always the Pro and Pro+ subscriptions to consider too. Have an explore and find the plan that’s perfect for you. About TradingView TradingView is the planet’s largest social network for traders and investors, as well as a platform for analysis, charting, and trading. Chat with millions of traders from all over the world, discuss trade ideas and submit orders to exchanges. Have fun using our platform on your smartphone or any other device – something that was once only possible on high-powered trading stations. Download the app on your phone or install the TradingView Desktop version and start working like a true trading professional today.

The Most Anticipated Black Friday Sale of the Year is Here

Startups are hard and the road to success is often winding and unexpected. Some days, you feel like a genius; others, you wonder what in the world you were thinking when you decided to become an entrepreneur. Do not give up hope! Many of us have been there before and we can help guide new founders on their journey through our experiences. I am currently building a company that offers women a hack to make self-breast examinations a habit along with a mobile application [ ] and with a wearable device [ ]. In this journey, we started by building an online community which is not an easy thing to do. To do so we had to improvise and build something people can come back to engage. So here is how I did it with available here coming soon no-code & no-talent tools! See the full table from . here TL;DR Black Friday is coming up, and I've decided to put together a list of the tools that I use for my pre-revenue startup. These are all things that have helped me save money or time in some way, so hopefully, they can do the same for you! Step 0: List Building I'm sure you've heard the saying, "build your list before you build your product". Do you know what else they also say? “Buy emails with targeted data providers”. Uhm… You can always do that as a reach-out strategy but that is not a list building. You need to build a list where people check the box that says  “I want to receive updates and see more content like this”. Because you need to build a community before your product, not a prospect list. That community will lead you to your product development. One of the useful hooks to start a community is to make people see the value and ask for more. So my advice is to create a bunch of guides, freebies, and e-books with opt-in/lead generation parts at the beginning. Just build these, build a catchy social media post and push so minimum amount of ads with constant organic marketing too! My pick for this purpose is . You can build freebies with lead-gen forms, connect your domain, push ads to that doc, see analytics and collect leads easily. Not just that, but also build many other things at once with great branding and design without doing any editing. It’s hard to explain, you have to try to dive in. Decktopus Step 1: SEO In the old days, SEO was a dark art reserved only for those with years of experience and intimate knowledge. Today, it's as easy as running a Google search to find free SEO tools that will make your site rank higher. The first step of your SEO journey is to get the right tools. Tools are essential for success, so it's important that you have all of them on hand before starting. Never jump into doing boring and hard tech-required things from the first days. Here are 2 things you should do while your list is building itself. Do a full web search with your niche keyword Including Reddit, Instagram, Twitter, Shopify, Etsy, quora, google, medium, and everyplace you can think of this will help you see what people are saying about it, what are they asking about the topic, and what kind of niches people target (Shopify and Etsy really give this insight). With this information, you will be able to build a content strategy for social media, and your blog. Don’t forget to appear on every question on Reddit and Quora. My pick is . I know it’s not ahrefs or Moz but at this point, you don need to go hard on yourself. Just make sure you answer the right questions in the right way, everywhere. TopicMojo Check their Black Friday deal&LTD from here: & https://topicmojo.com/pricing https://appsumo.com/products/marketplace-topicmojo/ Build your blog For this one, go full no-code. The only thing you have to worry about is your strategy and nothing else. And my biggest suggestion is to use something a lot of people use to get help when you need to and also use a website builder a lot of blogger and small businesses use. That means they have great integration and business support tools. Target your keyword and answer questions with authentic content. CONSISTENTLY. Don’t judge me with pricing but my pick is They have major integration, their own e-mail marketing tool, their no-code membership builder, forum, blog, and many more… They send a 50% discount after you sign up so, no worries. Wix . Go social I will not even start with this one. Just craft a content strategy from the first step, go to , pick a template and post it on social media. Canva Step 2: The Pitch Going from idea to company is an exciting process. The only thing more exciting than starting a business is pitching your ideas in front of investors. This can be equally as scary but also should be done professionally. Build your pitch deck This step can be done with Decktopus mentioned earlier. And generally done better and easier. It has great layouts and embedded booking pages, and websites inside the platform so that potential investors click to visit your website and book a time to discuss further. Pick: Decktopus Have a booking link You will need a booking link because you will need to talk with a lot of people for both fundings and for partnership. Calendly is fine but it’s a little salty. I love using , a product of Appsumo which has a lifetime deal and I just love how easy it is both for you and both for the person booking a time. TidyCal Find real mail addresses Rather than purchasing bulk emails from weird and expensive data companies. Try going for personal mail verification and finder tools. is really easy to use and has a great free quota for starters. If you need more than that you can always upgrade. Hunter.io Track your reach out emails I just can’t explain how much I love this tool for both my company and for my wallet. It’s so affordable and I just simply love it. It tells you who opened your email address, who clicked on links, and who didn’t so that you can resend your mail. My pick is . Mailtrack.io I hope you found this list of tools useful and that they help save some time or money for your startup! Whether it’s a tool to find the best deals on Black Friday, or a way to create an MVP without any coding knowledge, or just a simple affordable booking service – there are plenty of ways these tools can make life easier. If you enjoyed this, I appreciate it if you share it on social! Your favorite community girl!

The Tools I Use for My Pre-Revenue Startup [BLACK FRIDAY EDITION]

Black Friday is around the corner, and marketers are gearing up for the big day with a lot of enthusiasm. It is the day after the American Thanksgiving and marks the start of the Christmas holiday shopping season for customers. Retailers are enthusiastically seen taking advantage of this day by extensively promoting their stores and offering enticing deals to attract customers to buy from them. The heavy discounts offered by marketers work beautifully in attracting huge crowds to every store, both online and offline. This makes Black Friday(BF) one of the busiest days for retailers. Every marketer wants to take advantage of this day to increase their sales and boost their profit. As a result, the competition amongst businesses increases too. And why wouldn’t it be? After all, the more customers you can attract, the more money you can make. If you, too, want to make the best out of this year, it’s time to start strategizing on your marketing campaigns now. If you’re not sure where to begin, here are a few amazing Black Friday strategies that you can try out for maximum profit. So let’s check them out. Black Friday 1. Create Anticipation Every marketer wants to see customers lining up in front of their stores on Black Friday, waiting for the sale to begin. I am sure you want that to happen to your store too. If yes, then try to create anticipation amongst your audience. It is one of the marketing ingredients that is rapidly becoming a value-generating force for businesses. Let your audience know about the products that will be on sale. That way, you prepare them to make the purchase even before the sale starts. There are several ways of doing that. For example, you can create some teaser content to give them a sneak-peak of what’s going to be on sale. Then promote the content on social media rigorously to increase your reach. According to , there were more than 3.96 billion social media users in 2020. This makes about 51% of the world’s population. sources So imagine the impact you can make if you can reach out to even one-fourth of these users. This tactic is especially helpful if you have an that delivers to customers across different countries. online store You can also collaborate with micro-influencers to promote the sale. The advantage of teaming up with influencers is the free access to the influencer’s already existing massive audience. It’s a great way to easily make more people know about your sale. 2. Use FOMO Another brilliant way to boost your Black Friday sales is to create urgency. Implementing in your marketing strategy is the best way to do that. FOMO You must have already seen marketers using this concept to . For example, you must have seen businesses highlighting deals like limited period offers, fewer products remaining, etc. Sometimes they even add a countdown timer to show that an offer is running out. boost their sales All of these are nothing but examples of FOMO. When people see that a product or sale or any deal is running out, they start feeling the fear of missing out on the opportunity. So they try to grab it before they lose it. It’s basically a psychological phenomenon in which people start feeling anxious for not having something that others have. As a result, they end up making the purchase. reveal that 60% of people make purchases because of FOMO, mostly within 24 hours. So using this strategy in your Black Friday marketing strategy can help you see a massive surge in your sales. Sources 3. Create Evergreen Benefit Offers Black Friday is about the massive discounts that make your users so excited. But why do you want to limit yourself to just the traditional offers and kill the fun? Be more creative and find new ways to create hype. One way of doing that is to create evergreen benefits with your offers. For example, you can highlight a few benefits like free shipping, bonus points, rewards, gift cards, money-back guarantee, easy return, etc. People love such benefits and are willing to buy more because of them. According to , 79% of US consumers said that free shipping would make them more likely to shop online, and 92% of consumers will buy something again if returns are easy. sources So highlighting these benefits will not only amplify your promotions but will also massively grow your sales. It will help you make your users feel overwhelmed, and they will come running to your store to buy your products. 4. Offer a New Deal Every Hour Another excellent idea to use for your Black Friday marketing strategy is to offer a new deal every hour. It’s a great way to keep the excitement going and also to bring back users to your store for more purchases. So if you are offering 30% off on all products in the current hour, surprise your users by offering a 40% discount or higher on your products in the next hour. To make the tactic work better, create different homepage banners for your hourly deals. You should also consider having different posts ready for your social media campaigns for each of these deals. And don’t forget to schedule or automate your posts beforehand. You’ll be too busy to find time for social posting on the BF day. So these are some effective marketing strategies to try out for this Black Friday. There isn’t much time left for the big day to begin. So start working on your marketing campaign now if you want to make the best out of it.

4 Amazing Black Friday Marketing Strategies to Follow in 2021

2020 isn’t the year everyone thought it would be. The year that was promised to bring forth the ‘best decade ever’, has in fact propagated global lock-downs and bad news. It hasn’t been fun, which is why everyone is looking forward to 2021. There’s almost an impregnable belief that has developed among all of us: the remaining months of 2020 aren’t going to get any better. At .Tech Domains, we wanted to do something that’s an exception to this rule. Normally, we’d roll out crazy Black Friday discounts and call it a day. But this year, we had a near-ubiquitous epiphany. We wanted some change. So, we decided to Break The Code for Black Friday 2020. How Do We #BreakTheCode For Black Friday? Head on over to to sign up and geek out over six distinct game rooms which promise some mind-blowing prizes too! breakthecode.tech Each game room has puzzles, ciphers, tests of logic, trivia; peppered with a little bit of scavenger hunt too. Once you start playing, you may not want to stop till you make it to the end. While each game room offers prizes, the ultimate winner of all six game rooms will be announced on 2nd December. We believe it’s the perfect way to bring in the festivities ‘tis season. After all, holidays are not just about holiday deals, but also about the experience of spending time with friends and family. And that’s what you can do; invite your friends and family as well to join the game if they’re up for a challenge! What Are The Prizes? Black Friday wouldn’t be Black Friday without something up for grabs! Beat these game rooms and stand a chance to win prizes worth $15000. Yes, we typed that right. Prizes include: $5000 Custom Gaming Rig a Macbook Pro a PlayStation 5 Digital Edition an Oculus VR Gaming Headset a Samsung 49” curved gaming monitor and much, much more. There’s only one catch: do you have what it takes to Break The Code? If you think you do, head over to and play now! breakthecode.tech

#BreakTheCode To Win Prizes On Black Friday 2020, Instead Of Lining Up To Buy Them

This year, no one will go without a present – our Black Friday sale is fast approaching with discounts of up to 60%. From November 23 to December 1, you’ll have the opportunity to purchase a subscription at our lowest possible price, and – on top of that – this year you'll also have an extra month thrown in for free as well. This means you can get your hands on the web’s best charting and financial analysis tool at a  fraction of its usual cost. ‘What are the benefits of a subscription?’ we hear you ask. Well, a Premium plan includes: Highest data accuracy and access to all markets 25 indicators per chart 8 charts in one layout 400 server-side alerts Second-based intervals 4 times more data on the charts (up to 20 thousand bars) The ability to publish invite-only scripts If you are unsure which subscription to purchase, it’s best to compare plans . here It’s probably also worth pointing out at this point that, aside from the world-class charts, we now also , broadcasting, webinars, as well as recording videos about trading and investing. support live streaming A bit of background on us: TradingView’s the world’s largest and most active social network for traders and investors. Our platform lets you conduct technical analysis and watch trading recommendations for currency pairs, , stocks, bonds, and other instruments from professional traders. cryptocurrencies Whether you’re working with basic charts or when creating uber complex spreads, you can find the tools you need with us. At the same time, you can also chat with millions of traders from around the world, discuss trading ideas, and even submit orders to exchanges. All of this can be run on an iPad or similar device when once they took up vast workstations. Come check us out and, if you’re interested, now’s the time to get a plan, as our Black Friday offer expires December 1.

[Announcement] This Year's Black Friday Sale is Better Than Ever!

When you think of Black Friday, you might think of getting trampled at Walmart trying to snag a half-price TV or the latest toy phenom for your kids. (“Baby Yoda purchase, you must.”) This year is a bit different though — COVID-19 has upended the economy and new social distancing measures have changed the in-person shopping experience. Some experts say the writing is already on the wall: Black Friday, the most important shopping day of the year, is either or . Nobody wants a crowd of people rushing around their store in 2020, and small businesses already feeling the pinch from months of lower sales volumes aren’t gonna be able to offer the same level of discounts. dying already dead Online shopping though? That’s a completely different story. For ecommerce and DTC brands, Black Friday and Cyber Monday 2020 are poised to be bigger and more competitive than ever before. Not only have during the pandemic, shows that 69% of holiday shoppers will be doing more shopping online this year. Plus, a whopping 77% of people say they will be browsing for more gift ideas on the internet instead of in-store. Turns out, folks are happy to stay home in their turkey stretch pants and see what’s available, rather than line up outside in the freezing cold at 5 AM and hope they get a doorbuster deal. online shopping sales doubled research from Google Every year, online sales for Black Friday and Cyber Monday break new records. 2020 looks to be no exception. (Source: ) Statista This is a major opportunity for small and medium-sized businesses that are already . Shoppers will be actively looking for deals in categories like clothing, health, beauty, food, electronics, and subscription services—and they won’t just be looking on Amazon, either. This year, more people are showing an openness to try new brands, experiment with new products, and make an effort to shop local. set up to sell online While big name stores get the largest piece of the revenue pie, there’s still a lot of opportunity for small and medium sized businesses. (Source: ) Is Black Friday Dead? But you can’t just put out a simple discount and hope online shoppers take notice. To get the most out of this Black Friday weekend (which is coming up fast, btw!), you need to that are worthwhile for your customers, to stand out from the competition, and to get more clicks. This article is the perfect read for marketers who are still working on their strategy for the big weekend, or still mulling over which deal they want to promote. Use these tips from the leading ecommerce experts to develop your game plan and boost your online sales. set up meaningful deals craft compelling messaging use psychological triggers Expert Tips to Win More Online Sales on Black Friday and Cyber Monday Set Up Clear Communication on Deals Like pumpkin spice lattes, every year the Black Friday deals tend to start a little bit earlier. This year is no exception, with brands like Home Depot, Walmart, and Macy’s having their sales would be starting as early as October (well over a month before the actual calendar date). already announced Ben Jabbawy, Founder and CEO of , says that while this puts less pressure on the Black Friday weekend itself, it also creates a new challenge for marketers. Online shoppers will be less likely to make a purchase if they think a better deal is still coming down the pipe. Privy "What was all concentrated on one day will now spread out and continue to grow. Because of that, I think the consumer is going to be more numb and confused about Black Friday. If everyone’s emailing their customers earlier this year to try to get the wallet share—as a consumer, I’m like, well, should I wait? Or should I buy now?" Ben suggests the best way to reassure your customers is to be upfront and clear with your communication. Having a show up on your website can help you neatly explain what deals will be available, and when they expire. popup or sticky bar "My common advice is just don’t make the customer think. Immediately greet all traffic in the holiday season with a notification or a screen takeover. Reduce friction and just make it clear what you’re doing up front. Clear communication." Ben suggests the best way to reassure your customers is to be upfront and clear with your communication. Having a show up on your website can help you neatly explain what deals will be available, and when they expire. popup or sticky bar Use Dollars Off, Not Percentages Discounts are the most common perk associated with online shopping during Black Friday weekend. (Well, that and cans of . Yum.) It’s not uncommon to see brands offer site-wide discounts like “40% OFF ALL PURCHASES” or global coupon codes that visitors can apply at checkout. unicorn meat But Patrick Campbell, CEO of , says that in order for your discount to hit the sweet spot it needs to be framed so customers can visualize how much cash they’re actually saving. This is especially important during COVID-19, when so many people are being more prudent with their purchasing. Profitwell "With discounts, the instinct is to do a percentage off. But it’s almost always better to use a physical dollar amount off (or a buy one, get one free) instead. Percentages tend to work worse unless you’re doing a really high amount, like 70% off. The reason is the human brain… I can very quickly and very concretely imagine a hundred dollars. Whereas a percentage is harder." This example from Belk shows how confusing it can be to shoppers when you offer a percentage off instead of an actual dollar amount. Not only am I unsure how much money I’m saving here, but I’m also unclear how to even claim this offer on their website. (It says “Get coupon” in the top banner, but then “Doorbuster prices so low you don’t need a coupon!” below. You’re tearing me apart, Belk!) Make a Personal Connection with Customers COVID-19 has changed the world in so many large ways that we’re still coming to terms with many of its effects. Millions of people have lost their jobs, and since the beginning of the pandemic. For many entrepreneurs, this means it’s going to be very difficult to offer discounts or free items over the Black Friday weekend. over 150,000 small businesses have closed But that doesn’t mean you’re out of options. Vivian Kaye, Founder and CEO of , says there are other ways to show your appreciation for shoppers during these difficult times. KinkyCurlyYaki "COVID has made everyone feel lonely and isolated. Try doing things that make your customer really feel like you’re paying attention and you did this just for them. Remind them that you are also a human being—you are not Amazon. Customers will remember those personal touches, like a handwritten note you include with their package." This is something the does on the regular when they ship out orders, and their customers absolutely take notice. If you’re able to interact in ways the impersonal big box stores will never be able to match, you’ll be able to build stronger long-term relationships with shoppers. Vanness Pen Shop For more expert tips to tackle this year's Black Friday and Cyber Monday, check out the full post . Get Ready for an Unprecedented Black Friday Weekend No matter what happens this Black Friday weekend, one thing is for sure: it’s going to be different. More shoppers will be staying at home and doing their shopping online, which means marketers have to be ready with their most competitive deals, compelling messaging, and optimized landing pages. (Also, you’re going to need coffee. Lots of coffee.) very Originally published by Luke Bailey at https://unbounce.com on Oct. 22, 2020.

The Best Black Friday Tips You Will Read This Year

If we had to choose the most used word of November, that word would be SALE. The Black Friday fuss is picking up the pace. Cities all around the globe are dressing up in discount advertisements, and inboxes everywhere are blowing up with cliche super deals like ‘save big.’ Black Friday online sales generated an astounding in revenue in 2018. This year Americans are expected to spend on both Black Friday and Cyber Monday. That's more than the of 85% of countries in the world! $6.2 billion over $87 billion annual government budgets No doubt, discounts do wonder. On the other side, they make people buy things which they don’t need. Did you know that around ? 52% of people who shop on Black Friday later regret their purchase To help you avoid any regrets about your pre-Christmas shopping and get the most of them in 2020, we made a list of the Check out the list, take your pick, and don’t miss the festive deals! thirteen essential tools to bring more productivity and balance to your working hours. 1. Slack Slack is one of the most recommended communication and collaboration apps, and for a good reason. The tool ensures effective teamwork for both small teams and extra-large businesses. Slack users send instant messages, organize conversations, share files, own archives, and so much more. Also, Slack is integrated with a bunch of other services, and it notifies you when something noteworthy happens in any of your workspaces. 2. Trello Trello is irreplaceable when it comes to task management. It helps teams work as a single organism while also keeping personal productivity high. Trello’s dashboard with its cards, lists, and boards turns your working routine into a captivating game. Choose cards, complete unresolved tasks, and move to your goal with double speed! 3. NetHunt A CRM-system is a must-have tool for sales and marketing teams of all sizes. Besides storing and organizing unlimited customer data, NetHunt CRM also helps improve productivity by automating repetitive tasks and letting you work on the go! It’s intuitive picky design, numerous integrations with GSuite apps, and an excellent mobile version will put maximum productivity in your working hours! By the way, in 2018, retailers sent on Black Friday and another 4.1 billion on Cyber Monday. CRM will help you not only deliver your messages to customer inboxes, but also measure the effectiveness of every email campaign. 3.5 billion emails 4. Ninja Outreach Today, say that influencer marketing is equally good or better than other digital marketing channels. On average, businesses make for every $1 spent on influencer marketing. Ninja Outreach uncovers access to millions of influencer accounts to help you reach your target audience. The service also offers a built-in CRM and automated email outreach campaigns. 89% of marketers $6.5 revenue 5. Intercom In 2019 businesses just can’t ignore chatbots. While answering 80% of standard questions, chatbots by up to 30%. Intercom is a well-known chatbot and messaging tool that helps you convert leads while they are still hot. Intercom guarantees an excellent user experience at every stage of customer interaction with your brand, 24/7. cut operational costs Use Intercom to create personalized live chats and reach out to your potential customers at the moment when they have a high purchase intent. 6. Hootsuite Businesses hire Hootsuite to consolidate all social media activities in one place. But, how does it work? Hootsuite gives an overview of your social media performance without the necessity of surfing between numerous business accounts. Hence, you can make precise and fast decisions on optimization. Hootsuite gives you keys to a control room where you can keep your social media presence active 24/7. On top of that, Hootsuite eliminates guesswork by suggesting the best time to put up your posts on different social media platforms. Schedule hundreds of social media posts at once, track engagement, and keep performance high without additional time investments. 7. PromoRepublic PromoRepublic also works wonders; it switches social media management to the ‘Autopilot’ mode. What makes this tool stand out among competitors is its enormous library with 100,000+ visuals and hand-crafted templates. If you’re not a fan of ready-to-use images, create your own visuals with an integrated graphics editor. Craft beautiful and catchy social media posts in minutes, and save time with planned publishing. 8. Toggl Hundreds of distractions hit us during the day, this is why our time needs control. Toggl is a simple time tracker that helps avoid distractions and get your tasks done. With Toggl, you may set time trackers and record time for different tasks. At the end of the day, you will get a report on your performance spotlighting time invested in various activities. Fantastic productivity is guaranteed! 9. Todoist Todoist is a favorite task management tool for those who like to put check marks on checkboxes. Todoist gives you an overview of all the projects on your plate and organizes them into tasks to be done. The app also allows you to prioritize your assignments, set daily and weekly goals, and overtake your deadlines. Todoist developers have been on a mission of bringing peace to people’s minds. Sounds like a perfect plan, right? 10. FocusList Do you plan your day ahead? If you do, then FocusList is a daily planner you can’t pass up! With FocusList, you choose the best time estimates for every task in your daily agenda. Then you split one task into small time-sessions and move forward until the job is complete. In stats, you will see the history of your sessions, how much time you worked, and decide whether the results are in line with your estimates. 11. ProofHub As a project management tool, Proofhub helps teams plan, organize, and deliver projects of all sizes on time. It brings the whole team to the same page, ensuring effective teamwork and communication. With ProofHub, you can measure the success of your chosen projects and forecast the approximate time left to bring the project to life. Our advice: keep the Proofhub’s name in mind when looking for a tool to manage projects efficiently. 12. Grammarly There is no need to introduce Grammarly. This app was brought to life by the brilliant idea of reducing the number of spelling and grammar mistakes that people make every day. You can use Grammarly’s basic functionality for free (both on your desktop and mobile devices). However, its premium version is something to run after on Black Friday! As a user of Grammarly Premium, you’ll enjoy a more in-depth check of your punctuation, sentence structure, and style, vocabulary enhancement suggestions, advice on better content readability, plagiarism detector, and more. 13. Brain.fm Brain.fm is a productivity app like no other. It helps you relax or activate your brain with the help of …music! Brain.fm is a collaboration between scientists, musicians, and developers who discovered a way to stimulate productivity with the help of functional music. Different types of Brain.fm music will inspire you to finish more tasks, feel more relaxed, or get better sleep. Ready to try? Then take your headphones and keep an eye on the Black Friday deals! Now share your favorite productivity picks that are a must-buy on Black Friday!

13 Productivity Tools for Your Team to Watch on Black Friday

There seems to be a debate that has gone on for quite some time now on the Twitters about whether or not you should do Friday deploys, and whether there should be Friday moratoriums, etc.  There are a lot of accusations being thrown around about fear, testing, time to recover, and the like.  To be very clear, I am not a big fan of Friday deploys.   That opinion is not based on merely how I about deploying on Friday, but also based on the science of it, as well as my learned experience. feel With a title like “Deploy on Fridays, or Don’t”, I realize the expected continuation of that statement would be “...I don’t care”.  However, nothing could be further from the truth.  Let me explain. My advice to anyone who will listen is, if you’re cautious about your Friday deploys, don’t feel bad, and don’t let anyone make you feel bad. Shaming It is pretty disconcerting to see a like Kelly’s where the vast majority of the comment thread are attempts to shame anyone for having that opinion.  The arguments basically boil down to some variant on tweet Deploying shouldn’t be scary You should be confident in your deploys You lose 20% of your productivity without deploying on Friday You just need more tests Those are all interesting ideas, and they reflect a very interesting type of smug optimism.  They are often “backed up” by quoting or the .  They eventually arrive at a compromise that you should do the best you can, and keep maturing your deployments until you can deploy anytime you like 365 days with “confidence”.  There is also acknowledgement that this can be hard, and having worked with a number of clients and companies over the years, with this I agree. Accelerate State of DevOps report However, here are most of the problems with the logic: Quality Engineering Even Elite performers have change failure % > 0 Mores are not Moratoriums All days are not the same Lastly there is some strange argument that choosing not to deploy on Friday "Shouldn't be a source of glee and pride". That one I haven’t figured out yet, because I have always had a lot of glee and pride in being extremely (overly?) of the engineers who either work for me, or with me.  I don’t expect that to change. protective of the work/life balance Quality Engineering While working at Salesforce, I had the opportunity to learn a lot about .  This was also the time when I read This was a book that changed my life, and I say that confidently.  One of the things I loved about that book was the idea that the more testing that was done, the more confident you could be in the artifact you were deploying.  When pitching CI/CD pipeline proposals to executives, they would ask how confident we could be in our artifacts, and I would respond with “How much do you want to spend?”.   The more money they were willing to spend, the better testing we could do, and therefore, the more confidence we would have.  One of the other things Continuous Delivery taught me was how important it is to have fast feedback.  Ultimately, your confidence when deploying to production is going to be some compromise between those two.  If you do automated testing for 15 hours, you should obviously have more confidence than if you do so for 30 seconds. quality Continuous Delivery by Jez Humble and Dave Farley. One thing that was present in the book however, was any notion that you could be 100% confident in what you tested.  That is, you could not the quality of that artifact tested.   Now, Salesforce has a very mature testing pipeline.  There were literally hundreds of thousands of tests that were being run more than 5 years ago and yet, they had a quality engineering discipline, but not a quality assurance discipline.  Why? not assure Because one cannot assure quality in software.  In manufacturing, if I am making shampoo, I can have quality assurance test for quality.  QA takes a statistically representative sample of each bottle of shampoo coming down the line, and test to make sure that the chemical composition of what is being produced is within the tolerances as described by the quality specifications.  They statistically assure the company that the quality is consistent. In software, you cannot do this.  You can not take a random sample of code coming through your continuous delivery pipeline, test those lines of code, and then assure that when that code is deployed to production, it will perform at a level consistent with what has been defined. Therefore it is foolish to lecture people that they should be deploying on Fridays, because they just need to “be confident in their code”, or “write more tests”.  How many people dispensing this advice have hundreds of thousands of tests being run on their code?  How many people have 100% code coverage in their tests (if this sounds appealing: please don’t do this, the last percentage points will suffer from the laws of diminishing returns)? What I did not take from Jez and Dave’s book, is that you should fool yourself into thinking that you should be 100% confident in everything you push, just because you have tests.   Thankfully, Jez continues to talk (along with Nicole, Gene, and others) about tests in the State of DevOps report. DORA Report The DORA Report is often referenced as proof that you should deploy on Fridays, just like any other day.  Because it provides data to help classify organizations, including defining how higher vs. lower performing organizations deploy, it’s useful to look at in cases like this. For instance: Elite performers - mean change failure rate 7.5%, recovery < 1hr, deploy multiple times a day Low performers -  mean change failure rate 53%, recovery > 1w, deploy > 1 month So, assuming that the advice being dispensed is saying “just become an elite performer”, which is in no way a trivial exercise, they still have a mean change failure rate of 7.5%!  Does that sound like they will not have any failures during deploys?  That’s one way to make Friday afternoon more exciting!  I realize the mean recovery time is < 1 hr, but that is also the .   What does the distribution look like?   Is there a cluster at 10 hours?  Is there a cluster at 2 minutes?  I don’t know.  But regardless, there is no guarantee of any deploy being failure free, because even the elite performers have failures. mean We also know that change is the leading cause of outages.  I’ve seen estimates as high as 75+% of all incidents are at the change boundary.  As a friend has said “introducing a change boundary in the 4-6 remaining hours before the whole team is off for 50+ hours seems … like not a high probability play”.  But, let’s use the 7.5% change failure rate for elite performers.  Do you wear a seatbelt in the car? Yes? Why? What if you had a 7.5% chance of a minor accident?  What % chance of a major accident would make you wear a seatbelt?  If your argument is that accidents are out of your control, I’d like to introduce you to complex distributed systems… To put it another way, at Google when you violate your SLO, what is slowed down?  Releases.  Not more tests, not more monitoring, releases. The other problem is that it’s not even for you to cause an outage for your weekend to be interrupted.  I learned long ago to be very careful about when I did firewall upgrades.  Why?  Because every firewall upgrade was generally accompanied by days of spurious correlations about whether something was affected by the upgrade.  “Dave, I can’t print, didn’t you recently upgrade the firewall?”  “Neither the network traffic for your laptop, nor the printer goes through the firewall.”  “But couldn’t…”  “No”. necessary Having the capability is necessary Now choosing not to deploy on Fridays is very different than having the capability to deploy on Fridays.  You should have the capability to deploy at any time.  Things break, code needs to be shipped.  You should absolutely be developing this capability if you do not have it. I have worked with elite performers.  We still chose to be very careful about our Friday deploys. We also chose to make sure our feature flagging, blue/green, and dark launching capabilities were robust.  We had developers deploying their own code whenever they wanted.  We deployed multiple services multiple times a day.   Every day. But when Friday afternoon came, if someone was going to push a deploy, they would consider if that was necessary, or if it could wait until Monday.   After all, there were other things to do. Cultural Norms are not Moratoriums Being choosy about deploying on Friday is not the same as a moratorium.  Moratoriums generally require some kind of change advisory board to approve special cases for releasing during the moratorium.  Instead, minimizing risk during times where the results of a failure can have outsized impacts is part of the communication and respect we see in DevOps.   If the core of DevOps is , then considering the impact our actions can have on others is exactly that - empathetic.  Besides, change advisory boards are useless! Moratoriums empathy Netflix I was happy to learn that I’m not the only one who has worked at places that were cautious about their Friday deploys when Aaron Blohowiak tweeted about Netflix: Even the tech giant Netflix has a cultural norm to avoid Friday afternoons.  Not a moratorium, but part of the . culture of the company Another great example from Netflix is the Chaos Monkey.  The Chaos Monkey runs so that people will be more available to respond should something untoward occur.  Is that because Netflix doesn’t do enough testing?  Or maybe their monitoring is not good enough to run on the weekend?  If every hour of every day is exactly the same as every other day, this would make no sense.  Instead, they run the Monkey when people are around to address problems, not when they have other commitments. during business hours Complex Distributed Systems The fact remains that generally we are working on complex distributed systems, and the causes of outages are often elusive.  Often when we discover the nature of a problem, it is only obvious in hindsight. A number of years ago, I was rebuilding a SQL proxy tier at a company.  We were automating our proxy builds, and deploying new versions of the software.  We used these proxies to keep the short lived nature of our PHP application requests from opening thousands of requests per second to the database.  The cost of connection initiation and teardown was not free, so we had an intermediate tier that was designed to take this kind of load much more effectively than the database itself. I was building the new tier but was not sending any traffic to it because the weekend was coming.  After everything was built, things seemed calm.  Until about an hour later, when the database started having problems.  Connections were randomly timing out.  We looked and saw that the database was often hitting max connections and as a result, many requests were not making it through.  Ultimately we determined this was because my new tier had opened connections to the DB, even though they were not being used and that had pushed us over the limit when a certain class of traffic appeared.  Seems pretty obvious in hindsight and we ultimately determined what happened through monitoring. But the facts were: This was a new tier that had taken production traffic never It was in a brand new VLAN that had never seen production This was a new version of the software The databases had been running fine the entire time this tier was being created The new tier had all the latest monitoring on it and showed no signs of problems The tier it was replacing also showed no signs of problems And yet the database was dropping connections, and it was an all hands on deck situation on a Friday afternoon when most people were thinking about their weekend.  Thankfully, it was relatively easy to resolve. Are these types of things common with releasing new software?  No, but they happen. Four Day Work Week So, if we’re not going to deploy on Friday afternoons, what do we do with that time?  Do we just give everyone Friday off?  Less shipping means no work?  One thing we can do is be protective of our employees through work life balance and reduction of stress. I have read with great interest about .  Among the validated results of moving to a four day work week were: Four day work week experiments Boosted productivity 24% improvement in work life balance Being protective of employees is something of which I’ve always been very supportive.  Whether it’s booting the person off Hangouts who had a blanket over their head and a hot bowl of soup in their hands, or insisting people take the day off when they’ve been up all night troubleshooting an especially difficult issue after a bad deploy. I realize most companies are not going to investigate a four day work week, but Friday afternoons can be used for: Demos and retrospectives Writing documentation Mentoring 20% time or exploration time Working in the staging environment Backlog grooming and prioritization ! Team lunches At one of the companies I worked for, most of the Ops team would go out for lunch every Friday.  That meant lots of Friday morning deploys, and then lots of great collaboration in the afternoon. If you’re working with a globally distributed team, do you do a Friday afternoon deploy on the west coast of the United States?  That’s almost the next day in most parts of Europe.  Most Europeans are not excited to be called back to work late in their evening to help figure out why 8% of traffic is getting 500 errors after a Friday afternoon deploy. Weekends (all days are not the same) One of my favorite things about working at Salesforce was the number of people who chose to wear Hawaiian shirts on Friday.  This is something I’d done on and off over the years ever since the release of as a way of recognizing the specialness of Friday. Office Space If the argument is that releasing new software is the same regardless of the day, that ignores what people do on weekends.  People make plans to go away, they go camping, they go to the opera, they read books in a hammock by the shore.  They go to their kids soccer games, they work in the community garden, etc.  Do some of those things happen occasionally on a Tuesday night?  Sure they do.  But the vast majority of weekend travel happens on the and doing activities that can jeopardize that doesn’t show a lot of respect for your coworkers, or your employees’ work/life balance.  They need to take this  time to rest and recharge. weekend This is one of the reasons I always liked on-call rotations that rolled over on a Thursday.  I always wanted my teams to be able to take a Friday off to get away for a three day weekend.  The more downtime in a block, the better. If the argument is that not shipping on Friday afternoon is going to hurt productivity, remember the old Agile adage “you have to go slow to go fast”.  Driving a system at 100% capacity is actually a way to reduce your throughput, not maintain it. Does this mean that you should never deploy on Friday?  Of course not.  That also does not mean you shouldn’t consider what you’re deploying. It may seem to make sense when someone says “We scheduled the move from Oracle to Postgres for 4 hours, so if we start at 1 p.m., we should be done in plenty of time.”   My answer to that logic is: NOOOOOOOO. You should be able to, but you don’t have to deploy on Friday afternoon.  You should not be shamed for having a culture that respects Friday as being different. It different. is Deploy on Friday’s or Don’t.  The choice is up to you.

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