Recently, PopUp Mainframe concluded its webinar series in conjunction with Planet Mainframe, entitled accelerating mainframe efficiency. The series, based on our 2026 “mainframe persona” theme, looked at the causes of efficiency bottlenecks from different teams’ perspectives, with separate sessions devoted to the challenges faced by a) Sysprogs and DBAs b) training teams c) development and testing teams.
We spoke at length about the market information that underpinned the topic, using survey data to illustrate industry trends in the mainframe industry, as teams tackle challenges with availability of environments, tooling, staffing, and skills.
What we also wanted was an injection of insight from leaders in the industry to add context and color to the market data and use anecdotes and illustrations to bring the discussions to life. We were thrilled with our guests, a cohort with an aggregate mainframe industry experience we’d have to measure in the hundreds of years! And, it is fair to say, they all had their say.
Roadblocks Revealed
Across the webinars, after we’d looked at market data, the next order of business was to discuss the challenges faced by various mainframe teams. Here’s what our experts explained.
SysProgs and DBAs.
“Today’s modern mainframe is a highly complex beast supporting thousands of permutations of software, data, and configurations. Managing this complexity and making robust, approved environments available is a never-ending headache for the SysProg team. Additionally, with each new threat, regulation, process improvement, or vulnerability, ensuring new security measures, controls, and processes are tested out, proven, and rolled-out is a ceaseless set of high-priority tasks. Somehow, the overworked SysProg must stay ahead of demand without compromising operational integrity.” – Mark Wilson, Mainframe Security Expert, Vertali.
Trainers.
“Having trained hundreds of young — and not so young — mainframers in my career, some that wanted to learn it and many that didn’t but ended up loving it, it is critical to have hands-on a mainframe environment for them to try out what’s being taught. It cannot be taught in slides, quizzes and badges. Learners MUST have the ability to take what’s presented to them and put it into practice in as real an environment as possible and in pushing the limits of their mainframe training. It has to be rigorous and as real-world as possible.” – Geoffrey Decker,IBM Z Champion 2022-2026. Instructor, Northern Illinois University. Leader EMMA, and Open Mainframe Project Governing Board member.
Application Development and Testing.
“Agile software delivery allows IT to adapt to changing market needs by delivering new functionality… DevOps practices allow this to occur at pace measured in days or weeks. Mainframe shops without these can be reluctant to change for fear of breaking their existing software.” – Joe Winchester, Senior Technical Staff Member at IBM, Open Mainframe Project leader, ZOWE Champion, GS UK Committee Member and AppDev Track Chair.
Professional Perspectives
Looking at the solutions, the guests further expressed their insight and offered enlightening opinions. Again, let’s split it by webinar / persona group.
SysProg / DBA
“The FastTrack facility – with its ability to move back and forth to different configurations at the click of a button – could be a game-changer in terms of efficiency. I wish I’d had this tool 30 years ago.” – Mark Wilson.
“Having a playground in which to do shadow operations and other CPU sapping DBA tasks can be extremely beneficial.” – Craig Mullins (Mainframe Database Expert at Mullins Consulting).
Training
“The ability to sign into a mainframe z/OS training environment, fully loaded with the right apps, data, and subsystems – that can be restored with push of a button – would absolutely make the job of training mainframers so much more efficient, from both the instructor’s and learner’s perspectives!” – Geoffrey Decker.
“Over my career, I could have used PopUp Mainframe many times to make my life easier on many projects. LPARs not being readily available…how difficult it is to set training environments up….” – Andy Brisland, LearnQuest Instructor.
AppDev
“To test software requires environments that can be easily spun up, isolated from the rest of the IT infrastructure. In a mainframe environment it can be difficult as they could be competing for resources … having the ability to spin up on-demand environments takes this away.” – Joe Winchester.
That’s exactly what we were going to say.
Our view? We couldn’t agree more. The whole spirit of the persona webinar series was to shine a light on the diverse challenges facing functional teams in the mainframe world.
Planet Mainframe’s Managing Editor and series host, Amanda Hendley, reinforced that view, “Planet Mainframe is at its best when it brings practitioners together to talk candidly about the challenges they’re facing. This series gave us the opportunity to hear those perspectives across several different roles and connect broader industry trends with real-world experience. We were pleased to host the conversations and give the community a forum for that exchange.”
But we will leave the last word for another informed voice, that of PopUp Mainframe development head, Bronwyn Davies, who, as the leader who both uses and creates the PopUp Mainframe technology, clarified its profound value in accelerating mainframe efficiency:
“A disposable, isolated, risk-free sandbox for z/OS which looks exactly like a mainframe LPAR … this is what enables us to innovate on a daily basis in the PopUp development team.”Search the Planet Mainframe website for recap articles and videos, and check our youtube channel soon for edited highlights of each session.
