Mark Schettenhelm
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Product Manager @bmcsoftware, Melbourne jazz, audio drama, tweets are my own who else would do it? 🇺🇸🇨🇦 follow me on Instagram and Threads @markschettenhelm
Articles by Mark Schettenhelm
“I’ve Got a Bad Feeling About This” — And Your Pipeline Should Too
“I’ve got a bad feeling about this.” It’s the most repeated line in the Star Wars saga. Han says it. Luke says it. Leia says it. C-3PO says it. Even BB-8 communicates it. It doesn’t matter who’s speaking or what galaxy-scale catastrophe is approaching — someone always has a bad feeling, and they’re almost always right. Your developers should be saying the same thing right now. Artificial intelligence-assisted code generation has arrived on the mainframe.
DevOps Insights From the 2025 BMC Mainframe Survey
Twenty years of asking mainframe professionals questions gives you a lot of perspective. When BMC kicked off our first annual mainframe survey, the iPod was still the hot new thing and DevOps hadn’t even been coined as a term yet. Fast forward to 2025, and the 20th annual BMC Mainframe Survey than 1,100 respondents weighing in across 15 industries—from financial giants to government agencies.
DevOps Insights From the 2025 BMC Mainframe Survey
Twenty years of asking mainframe professionals questions gives you a lot of perspective. When BMC kicked off our first annual mainframe survey, the iPod was still the hot new thing and DevOps hadn’t even been coined as a term yet. Fast forward to 2025, and the 20th annual BMC Mainframe Survey than 1,100 respondents weighing in across 15 industries—from financial giants to government agencies.
Explanation First, Then Code Conversion: A Practical Guide to Mainframe Optimization
Before you even think about code conversion, take a closer look at what you have—and let generative AI (GenAI) help you explain it. Here’s how to modernize your mainframe smarter, not just faster.
Do Your Developers Have the Droids They Are Looking For?
In the Star Wars movies, starfighter pilots are commonly assisted by astromechs, a type of repair droid that serves as an automated mechanic. Astromechs have many appendages — tools that can do almost anything. Pilots rely on their astromech copilots to control flight and power distribution systems while also calculating hyperspace jumps and performing simple repairs. The best example of this is the loyal R2-D2, always there for Luke Skywalker.
Do Your Developers Have the Droids They Are Looking For?
In the Star Wars movies, starfighter pilots are commonly assisted by astromechs, a type of repair droid that serves as an automated mechanic. Astromechs have many appendages — tools that can do almost anything. Pilots rely on their astromech copilots to control flight and power distribution systems while also calculating hyperspace jumps and performing simple repairs. The best example of this is the loyal R2-D2, always there for Luke Skywalker.
We’ve Seen This Before - Balancing the Cost of AI
The mainframe industry has always struggled with balancing resource costs against developer productivity. Today’s debate about the cost of generative artificial intelligence (GenAI) mirrors past discussions about developer practices and compile time, but with much higher stakes for business competitiveness. Compiles were once considered expensive, so a developer would sit at their desk for an hour or more reviewing their code to make sure that all errors were resolved before compiling again.
We’ve Seen This Before - Balancing the Cost of AI
The mainframe industry has always struggled with balancing resource costs against developer productivity. Today’s debate about the cost of generative artificial intelligence (GenAI) mirrors past discussions about developer practices and compile time, but with much higher stakes for business competitiveness. Compiles were once considered expensive, so a developer would sit at their desk for an hour or more reviewing their code to make sure that all errors were resolved before compiling again.
That New Mainframe Tool That Makes a Difference
Car mechanics are all about their tools. Their biggest expense when starting a repair shop is building a toolchest with tools that make the difference between a difficult job and one that is easy. A new miracle tool that will save time on projects and still produce quality results will make their day—and they will tell their peers all about it. Developers, does this sound familiar? Developers also compare tools and tricks, looking for ways to produce quality code faster.
That New Mainframe Tool That Makes a Difference
Car mechanics are all about their tools. Their biggest expense when starting a repair shop is building a toolchest with tools that make the difference between a difficult job and one that is easy. A new miracle tool that will save time on projects and still produce quality results will make their day—and they will tell their peers all about it. Developers, does this sound familiar? Developers also compare tools and tricks, looking for ways to produce quality code faster.
These Are Mainframe Development’s Good New Days
Sometimes, old-time mainframers get together and talk about the good old days. I was there; those days weren’t so good. I started out in college learning to be very proficient with a key punch machine; I was ecstatic when I was able to get access to an IBM® 3270 and enter my code and have it stored on disk. It was the first example I had of not accepting the status quo and being open to new technologies that would make my job easier.
These Are Mainframe Development’s Good New Days
Sometimes, old-time mainframers get together and talk about the good old days. I was there; those days weren’t so good. I started out in college learning to be very proficient with a key punch machine; I was ecstatic when I was able to get access to an IBM® 3270 and enter my code and have it stored on disk. It was the first example I had of not accepting the status quo and being open to new technologies that would make my job easier.
Refactoring Mainframe Code to Accelerate Development
Keeping mainframe development moving at the speed required by the business can be a challenge. Many monolithic applications, developed and added onto over the course of years, or even decades, are self-contained. As software development and delivery become more modernized with automation and orchestration, the cost of leaving these applications alone is growing more expensive than breaking them apart and connecting them to macro and microservices.
Refactoring Mainframe Code to Accelerate Development
Keeping mainframe development moving at the speed required by the business can be a challenge. Many monolithic applications, developed and added onto over the course of years, or even decades, are self-contained. As software development and delivery become more modernized with automation and orchestration, the cost of leaving these applications alone is growing more expensive than breaking them apart and connecting them to macro and microservices.
How to Respond Quickly to Runaway Abends
Many of us have experienced the phenomenon: New code reaches production and abends, then abends again and again. Multiple users could each be attempting the same abending transaction on their mobile phones over and over, or automated processes could be reattempting after each failure. These scenarios could create a runaway abend situation that negatively impacts performance and availability.
Shortcuts On the Path to Mainframe DevOps
Moving established mainframe development processes to DevOps can seem like a daunting task. Automation helps free developers from performing manual tasks and gain faster delivery while improving quality, but how can this be adopted at scale? Often, Jenkins is used to build a pipeline from a base framework of webhooks and APIs, but alternatives such as GitHub Actions and Azure DevOps extensions have arrived. Fortunately, each of these options can make implementation much easier than expected.
Shortcuts On the Path to Mainframe DevOps
Moving established mainframe development processes to DevOps can seem like a daunting task. Automation helps free developers from performing manual tasks and gain faster delivery while improving quality, but how can this be adopted at scale? Often, Jenkins is used to build a pipeline from a base framework of webhooks and APIs, but alternatives such as GitHub Actions and Azure DevOps extensions have arrived. Fortunately, each of these options can make implementation much easier than expected.
One Foot In Front of the Other and Before You Know It, DevOps
Mark Schettenhelm Mark Schettenhelm Lead Product Manager at BMC Published Dec 19, 2022 I am taking some time off during this holiday season and it is a good opportunity for me to engage in one of my long-time passions – ice skating. Being out at the rink I see skaters at all levels of ability. Some, it is there first time, others, like me have been doing it for… let’s say decades. Skating, like many physical activities gives me the chance to clear my mind.
Mainframe DevOps and the Mother Road
In John Steinbeck’s novel, The Grapes of Wrath, he called Route 66, a well-known United States highway, “The Mother Road.” In the novel, it was the path the Joad family took from the Dust Bowl state of Oklahoma to the state of California. Route 66 still survives in many places, but Interstate 40 has replaced a large segment of it and the roadway was decommissioned in 1985. While Route 66 was an innovation that stitched the country together, it was itself replaced. What caused this?
Mainframe DevOps and the Mother Road
In John Steinbeck’s novel, The Grapes of Wrath, he called Route 66, a well-known United States highway, “The Mother Road.” In the novel, it was the path the Joad family took from the Dust Bowl state of Oklahoma to the state of California. Route 66 still survives in many places, but Interstate 40 has replaced a large segment of it and the roadway was decommissioned in 1985. While Route 66 was an innovation that stitched the country together, it was itself replaced. What caused this?
Gathering Clues in a Fraction of a Second-Batters and Developers
I was recently at a Detroit Tigers baseball game with my fellow BMC product managers. Watching the pitchers and batters, I was struck once again by the speed with which the batter must decide whether or not to swing at the ball. In a split second, the batter must gather and process data, then act. Really, the process isn’t all that much different from how our systems respond to abends.
Notify, Then Inform with Automated Trouble Ticket Creation
Agile development is all about constantly looking at your processes to continuously improve them and make them more efficient. Take trouble ticketing, for example. In the world of trouble ticketing, it’s one thing to be notified that there is an issue, but another to actually help with it. When developers are faced with trouble tickets, they are informed of a serious issue but are not given the context and information needed to immediately start toward a resolution.
Top 4 Reasons Your Mainframe Team Needs ChatOps
In my career, I’ve witnessed workplace communication evolve with technology, transforming from scribbled messages to voicemail to pagers to email and text messages. The communication technologies that win are those that make things move faster and retain a history, while also improving focus and providing better automation. That’s why today I mainly rely on chat apps like Microsoft Teams and Slack to communicate with team members.
Top 4 Reasons Your Mainframe Team Needs ChatOps
In my career, I’ve witnessed workplace communication evolve with technology, transforming from scribbled messages to voicemail to pagers to email and text messages. The communication technologies that win are those that make things move faster and retain a history, while also improving focus and providing better automation. That’s why today I mainly rely on chat apps like Microsoft Teams and Slack to communicate with team members.
Notify, Then Inform with Automated Trouble Ticket Creation
Agile development is all about constantly looking at your processes to continuously improve them and make them more efficient. Take trouble ticketing, for example. In the world of trouble ticketing, it’s one thing to be notified that there is an issue, but another to actually help with it. When developers are faced with trouble tickets, they are informed of a serious issue but are not given the context and information needed to immediately start toward a resolution.
Know the Odds with the Right KPIs
Throughout our lives, we make decisions based on the facts at hand and the likely outcome of our actions. A classic moment in the film The Empire Strikes Back comes to mind.
Making Mainframe Git Less Daunting
Mainframe and Git were words that didn’t seem to go together not that long ago. Git’s popularity among developers in the distributed world is no mistake. Feature branches, distributed development, pull requests, and a stable community ultimately result in a faster release cycle. These capabilities facilitate an agile workflow where developers are encouraged to share smaller changes more frequently.
Experts Weigh In on Converting ISPF Diehards to the Eclipse IDE
Change can be difficult, which leads many to resist the adoption of new technologies. But while we may resist change, we can’t stay still because the world keeps moving. Mainframe development is advancing, especially with technology that makes our jobs easier and better—improvements that do no good unless we take the time to adopt them.
Experts Weigh In on Converting ISPF Diehards to the Eclipse IDE
Change can be difficult, which leads many to resist the adoption of new technologies. But while we may resist change, we can’t stay still because the world keeps moving. Mainframe development is advancing, especially with technology that makes our jobs easier and better—improvements that do no good unless we take the time to adopt them.
Adjusting To Change in Your Agile Teams
It’s been widely reported that we are in the middle of the great resignation, and our teams could be facing a shake-up, with old members leaving and new members arriving to replace them. While we appreciate a smoothly running, stable team, we must also adjust to this reality and turn it to our advantage. How do we keep the rhythm of a high-producing team going when the members change?
I Don’t Do New Year’s Resolutions-That’s Waterfall
Something about the change of a year makes us want to prepare for the next and make plans for how the new year will be better. As part of those plans, people often resolve to make big improvements at the start of the year and then quickly break those resolutions—sometimes the very next day. For this reason, I gave up New Year’s resolutions, but I am still committed to continuously improving. This is true in my own life and in software development. Let me explain.
I Don’t Do New Year’s Resolutions-That’s Waterfall
Something about the change of a year makes us want to prepare for the next and make plans for how the new year will be better. As part of those plans, people often resolve to make big improvements at the start of the year and then quickly break those resolutions—sometimes the very next day. For this reason, I gave up New Year’s resolutions, but I am still committed to continuously improving. This is true in my own life and in software development. Let me explain.
Maximize the Benefits of Your CI/CD Pipeline by Including the Mainframe
It’s hard—well, impossible actually—to predict the future. Whether you define the next few years as a return to normal or a whole new normal, either way, we have been changed. The world will need vastly increased reliable computing power for everything, delivered quickly, and it has to perform well from the start. The mainframe has been the workhorse of computing for decades and has remained so right through to today. It will continue to serve business and consumer markets well into the future.
Are You Developing Like Santa?
When we really think about the project that Santa has, to deliver a year’s worth of gifts in one night, it doesn’t add up. The project plan doesn’t make sense to us. Santa and his team of elves must produce all the toys, store them, load the sleigh, and then deliver them all in one night. It’s the ultimate waterfall project, working 364 days to prepare for a giant “release” on one day.
Are You Developing Like Santa?
When we really think about the project that Santa has, to deliver a year’s worth of gifts in one night, it doesn’t add up. The project plan doesn’t make sense to us. Santa and his team of elves must produce all the toys, store them, load the sleigh, and then deliver them all in one night. It’s the ultimate waterfall project, working 364 days to prepare for a giant “release” on one day.
“Make It Just One Bolt!” The Case for Greater Simplicity in Mainframe Code
Back in 1927, the Ford Motor Company introduced the Model A to replace the legendary Model T which had been in production for close to 20 years with few changes in design. This was a chance for Ford to start over and design a much more modern car. But in doing so, it didn’t ignore the simplicity which made the Model T such a success. As an example, the original design for the carburetor on the new engine had 14 little screws.
“Make It Just One Bolt!” The Case for Greater Simplicity in Mainframe Code
Back in 1927, the Ford Motor Company introduced the Model A to replace the legendary Model T which had been in production for close to 20 years with few changes in design. This was a chance for Ford to start over and design a much more modern car. But in doing so, it didn’t ignore the simplicity which made the Model T such a success. As an example, the original design for the carburetor on the new engine had 14 little screws.
“Make It Just One Bolt!” The Case for Greater Simplicity in Mainframe Code
Back in 1927, the Ford Motor Company introduced the Model A to replace the legendary Model T which had been in production for close to 20 years with few changes in design. This was a chance for Ford to start over and design a much more modern car. But in doing so, it didn’t ignore the simplicity which made the Model T such a success. As an example, the original design for the carburetor on the new engine had 14 little screws.
Taking a Chance with new Agile Team members
Mark Schettenhelm Mark Schettenhelm Senior Product Manager at BMC Published Nov 1, 2021 With a new ABBA album out soon, it got me thinking about all their great songs. One that struck me was “Take a Chance on Me”, a plea to well, take a chance. That feeling is one we all have felt, in relationships as in the song and at work as well. Specifically, I wonder about how we treat those that are new to our Agile Development teams. When it comes to planning, how to we hand out Stories?
Are Your Tools Keeping Up? Unclog Your Development Process
I was having trouble with a clogged bathroom sink and tried my old drain snake, which had seen much use over the years but was now broken. I kept thinking, “Oh, I can make this work; it used to work great.” But the truth was staring me in the face—it wouldn’t work now, and I was wasting time trying to force it to do something it couldn’t. After an hour struggling with trying to get it to break up the clog, I sat back and thought about the problem: I wasn’t getting the right twist.
10 Strategies for Mainframe DevOps Success
Mark Schettenhelm & Atul Bhovan BMC Sponsored content from BMC On March 4, 1933, the date of President Franklin D. Roosevelt's first inauguration, America and the world were in the depths of the Great Depression. Facing the crowd for his first address, Roosevelt had to get to the heart of the issue and provide confidence that he had a plan to get back to prosperity. In the address he said, “So, first of all, let me assert my firm belief that the only thing we have to fear is ...
We Can All Be Leaders; We All Need To Be, To Really Succeed
On the evening of January 16, 1938, Benny Goodman took the stage at New York’s famous Carnegie Hall with his big band. It was a big risk and there was some nervousness among the band members because it was the first time that a swing band played there, and many critics felt they didn’t belong in such a prestigious venue. The opening number was one of their regular numbers, “Don’t Be That Way,” which was normally very popular. But it fell flat. The band was stiff, and the audience reserved.
It Isn’t the Organism, It’s the Ecosystem That Matters
When biologists study an organism, they need to understand the ecosystem in which it lives to get a complete picture of how it adapts to changes, what it eats, and the predators it faces. This helps biologists understand how the organism grows and thrives. Mainframe developers have a similar need to understand the ecosystem in which they work. At BMC, we are acutely aware of these ecosystems.
Times Change and So Do We: Introducing BMC Compuware ISPW GitHub Actions Support
Over its long history, the mainframe has consistently adapted to changes in technology, progressing from cards to 3270s to emulators on flatscreens to Eclipse and DevOps pipelines. This continuous innovation has picked up its pace, making this a great time to work on mainframe applications. As we open up the mainframe, organizations are benefitting from common tools used by developers on other platforms.
Mainframe and Distributed: Uniting an IT House Divided
Historically, there has been a divide between mainframe and distributed teams in large organizations. In recent years, many organizations have seen significant increases in the quality, velocity, and efficiency of their software delivery thanks to the adoption of Agile development and DevOps. But while progress has been made, there are still organizations seeking to maintain the status quo, continuing on with an IT house that is divided. This approach is a mistake.
Why the Waterfall Development Methodology Has a Very Apt Name
How often do you use terms or phrases without really examining what they mean? I thought of this recently when considering what it means to develop and deliver applications using the “Waterfall” development methodology. If you work in mainframe IT, you’ve probably been familiar with the Waterfall development methodology for a long time because it’s what your team has always worked with.
SCM Conversion: Why Not Use the Best?
The thought of converting from an existing Source Code Management (SCM) tool to another can seem very risky and frightening. But, as in most things in life, once you look at it and confront the details it is nowhere near as daunting as it first appeared. That Was Then, This Is Now First thoughts might turn back to the install of your current tool. That might have been a difficult and painful process, but that was then.
Designed for Others: How to Plan for Future Maintenance
We’ve both spent a lot of time working on cars, especially Robert, who is a former auto mechanic. Ask any mechanic about cars they hate to work with, and you will come up with many examples where it appears that the designers didn’t take maintenance into consideration. The designers are focused on quick assembly, which makes sense because easier, faster assembly keeps costs down.
5 Reasons to Put Aside the ‘Green Screen’
The ISPF Green Screen mainframe interface has served its purpose, but better alternatives are here. Just as technological advances prompted the transition from cards to the green screen, for the next move forward in mainframe productivity it’s well overdue to transition to current interfaces and DevOps pipelines.
Chicken or Egg? Are We Building in Roadblocks Waiting for Feedback?
Five Questions to Ask Yourself Before Speaking With Users User feedback is vital to the success of our projects. It can help us identify which new ideas we should pursue as we develop and can keep us focused on delivering just what users need. We have all seen projects that didn’t have the right user validation and feedback. We know this information is important, but getting it, and using it effectively, can be difficult.
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