There was no newsletter last week because I was still processing the previous weekend at FOSDEM. It was an interesting few days for sure and I was glad to attend but it certainly gave me a lot of food for thought.

I first presented (or at least stood behind a desk and talked to people about) Rosegarden at Linux Expo 2003 - so I'm no stranger to Linux conferences and I generally love the energy. One thing I've noticed is that there is an ever closing gap between 'industry' and 'open source'. It doesn't take a genius to work this out since Microsoft bought GitHub it was likely on the cards. There is certainly a less divided and snobbish feeling these days about 'industry' which is good to see and hear.

The React Documentary pulls some similar moves - it's a corporate video with a OSS heart - or vice versa - and it's definitely worth a watch to find out how it came about, the way it almost failed, what it gets right and where it's going.

I also spoke last week to Stephen Townsend on the podcast about observability and customer needs. A really enjoyable chat which you should definitely check out if you're interested. He also provided the wonderful artwork you can see below (themed on his own brilliant podcast - Slight Reliability).

I also posted about delivery of high quality software and the need to rethink our fixation with PRs. I would love to hear from you if you're using Trunk Based Development as well because a follow-up on deployment modes needs to be written too :)

If you want to catch up with the Rosegarden talk you can watch it via my talk page here.

Wishing you a wonderful weekend!

-- Richard

p.s. if you're interested there's a live stream of the first UK Rust Conference going on right now. I love Rust :)

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​Observability Engineering and Customer Needs with Stephen Townsend​

Published on February 16, 2023

Recently I spoke to Stephen Townsend of the excellent Slight Reliability podcast about monitoring and customer insights in software deployment. We discussed whether building a successful software product is more than just a technical exercise in observability. We find out how to gain more insights into the business direction of our product by judicious deployment… Read More »Observability Engineering and Customer Needs with Stephen Townsend​

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​They Made a Documentary about React​

Published on February 14, 2023

That’s right, a feature-length picture – The React Documentary. It’s worth a watch not just for finding out a little bit about the React framework itself, but also how it took a chance and also for how open source can help organisations understand themselves a little better. As someone (like so many) who picked the… Read More »They Made a Documentary about React​

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​How to Deliver High-Quality Software, Faster without Feature Branches​

Published on February 7, 2023

The need for high-quality, secure software is greater than ever. Customers and regulators alike demand speed, confidence, security and accountability in software delivery. Keeping a steady flow of changes through to production, while ensuring safety and reliability is paramount. Feature branches are a popular way of increasing the speed of feature flow by making it… Read More »How to Deliver High-Quality Software, Faster without Feature Branches​

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