Software Delivery Club Newsletter 2023-01-27


We're almost at the end of January - deep breath.

Another busy week as I prepare for an upcoming talk all about Rosegarden: A Slumbering Giant at FOSDEM '23 in Brussels in just over a week's time. In the talk I'll be exploring the motivations that a couple of young coders had for starting a project that is somehow going over 20 years later - despite neither of them now being involved in the development of it at all. Should be fun - if you're in the area then it's free to go to FOSDEM - I believe no registration is required either. Come and say hi!

Alongside that I released a new episode of the Lovin' Legacy podcast. I talked to Jacob Lafors about his Verifa's approach to implementing Continuous Delivery, the use of Value Stream Mapping and what it means to build a developer platform. A really nice chat with Jacob and I think we'll need to do it again at some point in the future as we covered a lot!

I've also been working on the Legacy Workshop - I'll be doing a trial run in a couple of weeks and will aim to run it as a webinar after that. Want to stay informed? You can subscribe to the list here:

https://legacycoding.org/workshops/

In preparation for this workshop, I've been writing React and Java all week - it also gives me the excuse to do it really badly as that's kind of the point.

Hope you enjoy the content below, and as always, drop me a line to let me know how you're getting on.

Have a great weekend,

Richard​


Defining the Bounded Context is the Key to Flow

Published on January 27, 2023

One of the core concepts of Domain Driven Design (Eric Evans) is the Bounded Context. Here’s an excellent summary of the Bounded Context in DDD and a specification of how it should relate to source code organisation and team structure. The summary states that: This ties in with the notation of what Team Topologies says… Read More »Defining the Bounded Context is the Key to Flow

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Building Software in a Post-Agile World

Published on January 26, 2023

At the moment, especially in tech, there appears to be so little time to think. Reacting seems to be the order of the day. This means people are getting fired. People are getting scared, and those still in a job are rightly worried. How can we make sense of the tech world and where it’s… Read More »Building Software in a Post-Agile World

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What is Product Engineering?

Published on January 25, 2023

When I was a Head of Engineering for a SaaS. I was notionally (and nominally) working in Software Product Engineering. My take on this was that it meant that we should focus on the product – which meant in turn, focusing on the customer. However, it never really felt like we were looking at products… Read More »What is Product Engineering?

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Learning to Fight Complexity

Published on January 24, 2023

If we acknowledge that we live in a software engineering world where complexity is inevitable, you may ask, what’s the point in trying to change anything about how we work? Additionally, with so many clamouring voices around us trying to make us see sense, how can we go from day to day, making a difference… Read More »Learning to Fight Complexity

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2023: So Where Now?

Published on January 21, 2023

This has been a tough week for many in tech. Mass layoffs announced by Google, Facebook and Microsoft total over 30,000. Many commentators seem to think that Elon Musk’s approach to his takeover has given carte blanche to tech leaders to swing the axe with the year-end review process. Also, there is evidence further down… Read More »2023: So Where Now?

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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.

Read more from The Human Software
The Human Software 281 - When Does Change Happen?

Working in software you get to see some pretty stupid stuff. And I mean crazy, stupid stuff. Decisions that float down from on high from multiple disparate spheres of influence - sales teams, other business units or just vice-presidents with a Great New Idea[tm] or a pet project. The narrative goes a little like this - the important people get to make choices and us techies have to live with consequences them. Sometimes these decisions are on a whim, an industry hype, a desperate attempt to...

Human Software 280 - London Launch Party

If you happen to be in London next week then I'll be having a little launch party on Wednesday October 15th. It's not just any pub as well, it's the pub that I used to go to when I was working in my first job in software development thirty years ago in 1995. The famous "Wheatsheaf" just off Oxford Street in London. This was the pub where many conversations got technical and many times got heated. I feel that Peter and Dominic would approve of the location. If you're in the area, please drop...

Human Software 279 - Meet The Resistance

When I first started working in software, I discovered that were some battles you could win and some you couldn't. There were some decisions that no matter how logically you argued against you them, would occur anyway because that's just the way it is. Some people think this is a naive way of being; arguing against the status quo. I believe it's hopeful and humanistic to question our environment. Naivety in the form of hope lasts throughout life. I believe ultimately that people want to do...