REdeploy (for the first time)

The inaugural REdeployConf wrapped up yesterday (as I write this). I’m already feeling withdrawal from intense learning and conversations. I’ll attempt to summarize them in this post. The RE in REdeploy doesn’t mean “again” (lo, it is the first of its kind). RE stands for Resilience Engineering. It is a newish field, focused on sociotechnical … Read moreREdeploy (for the first time)

Systems and context at THAT Conference

It’s all that THAT Conference is not THOSE conferences. It’s about the developer as more than a single unit: this year, in multiple ways. I talked about our team as a system — more than a system, a symmathesy. Cory House said that if you want to change your life, change your systems. As humans, our greatest power … Read moreSystems and context at THAT Conference

Functional principles come together in GraphQL at React Rally

Sometimes multiple pieces of the industry converge on an idea fromdifferent directions. This is a sign the idea is important. Yesterday I spoke at React Rally (video coming later) about theconfluence of React and Flux in the front end with functionalprogramming in the back end. Both embody principles of composition, declarativestyle, isolation, and unidirectional flow … Read moreFunctional principles come together in GraphQL at React Rally

Post-agile: microservices and heads-up development

Notes from Craft Conference 2015, Budapest. Craft conference was all about microservices this year.[1] Yet, it was about so much more at the same time — even when it was talking about microservices. lobby of the venue. Very cool, and always packed Dan and I went on about microservices in our opening keynote,[2] about how it’s not … Read morePost-agile: microservices and heads-up development

GOTO Amsterdam: Respect the past, renew the present

GOTO Amsterdam started with a retrospective on Java, and ended with the admonition that even Waterfall was an advancement in its time. The conference encouraged building on the past, renewing and adding for growth. As our bodies renew themselves, replacing cells so we’re never quite the same organism; so our software wants renewal and gradual … Read moreGOTO Amsterdam: Respect the past, renew the present

Limitations of Abstraction, and the Code+Coder symbiosis

Notes from #qconnewyorkI went into programming because I loved the predictability of it. Unlike physics, programs were deterministic at every scale. That’s not true anymore – and it doesn’t mean programming isn’t fun. This came out in some themes of QCon New York 2014. In the evening keynote, Peter Wang told us we’ve been sitting … Read moreLimitations of Abstraction, and the Code+Coder symbiosis