DevOps at is the heart of modern software systems. In my regular newsletter, I dive into the human factors that make successful engineering organizations where teams and platforms thrive at the heart of your socio-technical systems. From leadership to team setup, maximizing performance, tools and techniques.
The Human DevOps - 5th May 2024 - Human Software
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It's the start of the party season in the Netherlands. Last weekend started with King's Day and it's Bevrijding's Dag today: liberation day. This marks the start of the summer period and it also marks the start of an important personal milestone. I've been writing a novel about software development and humans since the end of last year, and May 1st marked the end of the first draft. I was truly inspired after reading the Unicorn Project, and while I loved the Five Ideals it presented, I wanted to dive deeper into the lives of the characters and their families. Therefore, I decided to write something personal and something that resonated with my experiences in software engineering and DevOps. I wanted to explore the effects on individuals, families, and friends. So, last autumn, I started writing, and last week, I reached the end of the first draft. I will celebrate briefly before launching into the second draft. If you'd like to hear more about it you can head over to the book webpage - there's not much there but it gives you a few clues :) Enjoy the rest of your weekend! -- Richard Do you need to be a public speaker to be a great engineer?Published on May 5, 2024 I have observed that companies use industry conferences for different purposes. Sending engineers and architects to (often far-flung) events to attend as a reward, sending them there to learn and report back, or sending them there to speak. Big conference trips are showcases for projects, talent and networking. We learn from other companies about how… Read More »Do you need to be a public speaker to be a great engineer?
People Silos: Revisiting Conway’s LawPublished on April 30, 2024 Conway’s Law is a powerful underlying philosophy that informs how modern software organisations organise. Any system you build is actually a mirror of the system you use to build it. Therefore, the corollary is that it’s possible to design an organisation that informs your target architecture. This learning should be table-stakes for any software development… Read More »People Silos: Revisiting Conway’s Law
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Human DevOps
DevOps at is the heart of modern software systems. In my regular newsletter, I dive into the human factors that make successful engineering organizations where teams and platforms thrive at the heart of your socio-technical systems. From leadership to team setup, maximizing performance, tools and techniques.
The period after the summer holiday is always a busy one. What have you been up to? A lot of what has been on my mind is my mind. And not only my mind but the minds of those around me. There is an increasing neurodivergent component in my family, so for me, it's been really hard to think or read or write about anything else! Against this backdrop, I've been back to working as a DevOps engineer, writing Terraform, Python and Ansible and having design discussions. While I still enjoy it, I...
September took me to London to attend a couple of conferences. The first was the Team Topologies-aligned Fast Flow conference , preceded by a workshop with the Team Topologies core team. I also popped into the Design Museum when I was in the area, an inspirational space if you're ever in London. The Design Museum in Kensington, London. As part of the work I do, I sometimes bump into like-minded folks. While I didn't catch up with them at Fast Flow Conf, a few days ago I enjoyed chatting with...
How was your summer? Does it feel like it's still happening, or are you already back in the thick of things? It's been a bit of both for me over the last few weeks. I've been in and out of holiday mode. The weather is still hot, but the office is in action. Next week, I'm off to London, where I'll be attending the second edition of the Fast Flow Conference with the Team Topologies organisation and heading to SaaS CTO Conference to meet with tech leaders and find out what's got them worried...