It's been a week of broken records... in Brazil with the Olympics in full swing, and in the US with Walmart's purchase of Jet.com - the largest E-Commerce acquisition in history. Remember, of course, records are made to be broken. I've pulled together another set of relevant thought pieces, news stories, and tips & tricks from the past week. Enjoy!

Industry

• It may be early to start decorating the front yard, but it is time to start thinking about ramping up for Black Friday. Paul Skeldon provides a few tips for getting ahead. Act now to prepare for Black Friday and Christmas, retailers warned – especially if you sell overseas [Internet Retailing]

• Digital transformation is placing more emphasis on E-Commerce, but that doesn't mean we're getting rid of physical stores. In fact, there's more innovation happening than it may appear. Natalie Burg explains how malls are becoming incubators for new technologies. No, Actually Malls Aren’t Dead: 3 Reasons Why [CIT]

Culture

• By definition, DevOps crosses different groups within an organization in various ways. Derek Weeks sits down for a candid interview with J Paul Reed to discuss security and releases with DevOps practices. Intersections: DevOps, Release Engineering, and Security [DZone]

• Organizational patterns can become harder to reason with as teams grow. Ben Linders provides sound advice for keeping the focus on the outputs and desired outcomes. Scaling Teams to Grow Effective Organizations [InfoQ]

Technology

• DevOps practices empower developers to ship software faster, but that also means consideration for every environment in the software development lifecycle. Liran Levy shares 7 things developers should know about production infrastructure [Tech Beacon]

• Last week I mentioned a heated Twitter debate on container standardization. As the dust settles, Matt Asay provides strong reasoning for Docker not giving it all away right away. Save the whale: Docker rightfully shuns standardization [InfoWorld]

Experience

• We're always looking at ways to optimize our site. UX mapping is a relatively new technique that navigates a persona through various interaction paths. Early concept, but it has potential. Mapping A Website's Strengths And Weaknesses With UX [Usability Geek]

• Staying on top of UX debt is just as important as minimizing technical debt. Jack Moffett provides a few key pointers, with a more comprehensive e-book linked at the end of the article. How to Avoid UX Gaps In Your Product [UXMag]