Software systems rule our world. My regular newsletter explores the human factors that make software engineering so unique, so difficult, so important and all consuming.
Friday 7th July - Modern Software Leadership
In a recent blog post, I discussed Testing for Microservices, something close to my heart currently. I'm currently finding out first-hand, how often we get persuaded that the thing we're currently doing is the only way we can do that thing. It pays dividends to stop what you're doing and look around you sometimes...
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Today I'm officially launching the countdown to my new course: Modern Software Leadership. The first group is currently planned towards the end of Q3.
The course is designed for leaders who want to become more connected to modern software development practice and get up to speed with the latest tools, techniques and organisational practices. Specifically, it's been created for those who:
* Want to work with development and operations teams more effectively
* Want a systemic and sustainable way to improve the speed and quality of software delivery
* Want better technology solutions without higher costs
* Have security concerns around the software supply chain
* Are struggling to justify the costs of more “digital transformation”
* Are unsure how to move forward with IT purchasing decisions
* Want to be able to negotiate more effectively with suppliers and vendors
The course will work in many of the techniques I've been effectively deploying for years including successful DevOps patterns, effective CI/CD, emergent architectures alongside newer concepts for better software flow including Team Topologies and other reference texts. If you want to get a flavour of what we will be included please look on the course page.
The course will take place online over three, three hour sessions in three weeks.
If you are interested have any questions then please feel free to just reply to this email.
Have a great weekend!
-- Richard
Test-Driven Development for Microservices
Published on June 26, 2023
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If you read Kent Beck’s “Test-Driven Development By Example” you will learn that writing tests first enables you to make sense of your design as you go. The book was written around the time of Service-Oriented Architectures but before Microservices were widely considered as an architectural pattern. Writing a monolithic application with classes and libraries… Read More »Test-Driven Development for Microservices
The Human Software
Software systems rule our world. My regular newsletter explores the human factors that make software engineering so unique, so difficult, so important and all consuming.
Last couple of weeks, I've been rebuilding some Windows base images in order to comply with corporate patching policies. The new images are CIS hardened which means they follows guidelines set out by the Center for Internet Security benchmark. This ultimately means that the images are restricted in what they can do, what they can access, what is installed upon them by default. These security measures work in opposition to the automation we already have in place for our customers. This is the...
Aside from being a writer, I'm also an avid film and TV watcher. This week we were blessed by the arrival of Pluribus on AppleTV. It's a speculative science fiction series written by Vince Gilligan, co-creator of Breaking Bad and Better Call Saul. He's someone who knows what they are doing when it comes to writing, producing and directing these incredibly successful series. More than that though, he picks the best people and directs them with ease. Here's a bit on when Vince Gilligan knew...
Greg Wilson of Software Carpentry fame knows how to write a headline. His recent talk Cocaine and Conway's Law is a mine of brilliant ideas and books to add to your reading list. They talk invested me immediately through his excoriation of Mark Andreessen's "Techno Optimist Manifesto" as a part of the Peter Thiel/Elon Musk narrative - work harder and longer, fix all problems via tech. Conway's Law, for those who are unfamiliar is the implicit link between social organisation of a company and...