Tech Lead Journal

In this engaging discussion, Piotr Sarna, a software engineer and open-source enthusiast, shares insights from his book, 'Writing for Developers'. He highlights the common writing struggles developers face and offers practical tips to cultivate a supportive writing culture. Topics include overcoming writer's block, leveraging AI to enhance writing, and identifying valuable writing topics from daily work. Piotr also emphasizes the transformative power of writing for personal branding and career advancement, making it an essential skill for developers.

Sanne Grinovero, Sr. Principal Software Engineer at Red Hat and a key figure behind Hibernate and Quarkus, shares his fascinating journey in open-source development. He discusses the challenges of making Hibernate compatible with GraalVM, which sparked the creation of Quarkus. Sanne highlights how Java has evolved for cloud-native applications, maintaining its status against new programming languages. He also reflects on mentorship and community engagement in the tech landscape, showcasing the importance of adaptation in software development.

Diana Montalion, a systems architect and author of "Learning Systems Thinking," shares how thinking systems can transform tech careers. She discusses the pitfalls of linear thinking and emphasizes the need for collaborative problem-solving in complex environments. Learn the importance of metacognition and how to foster alignment among tech and product teams. Diana also highlights AI's limitations in understanding nuance, showing why human systems thinking is invaluable in today’s technology landscape.

Marcelo Calbucci, a seasoned entrepreneur and author, shares insights on Amazon’s PRFAQ framework, a strategic tool for driving innovation. He explains how this method fosters clarity and alignment through press releases and FAQs, shifting focus to customer needs. The importance of storytelling in communication is emphasized, revealing how precise writing enhances understanding. Marcelo also addresses common implementation pitfalls and practical tips for adopting the PRFAQ in any organization, making it a valuable tool for startups and product development.

In this discussion, Sriram Narayan, an independent consultant and author of 'Impact Intelligence', shares his insights on transforming initiatives into measurable business success. He highlights why many tech projects fail, debunking myths around delivery metrics and emphasizing rigorous impact measurement. Sriram introduces concepts like the 'Impact Network' and the importance of understanding both immediate results and long-term impacts. He also explores the challenge of impact attribution and the dangers of 'Measurement Debt', guiding organizations to focus on real business value.

In this enlightening discussion, Katharine Jarmul, a Principal Data Scientist at Thoughtworks Germany and author of 'Practical Data Privacy', emphasizes the critical importance of data privacy in today’s tech landscape. She delves into the concept of 'privacy by design', advocating for organizations to embed privacy measures from the start. Jarmul argues that the burden of data protection should shift from users to companies, highlighting practical techniques like pseudonymization and privacy-enhancing technologies. Her insights advocate for a more trustworthy digital future.

Sumeet Moghe, an Agile enthusiast and product manager at Thoughtworks, shares insights from his book, The Async-First Playbook. He discusses the pitfalls of excessive meetings and how async communication can boost productivity. Sumeet reveals intriguing survey results about remote work preferences and explains why companies like GitLab and Automattic thrive by prioritizing written communication. He emphasizes inclusion in async work, empowering diverse team members, and introduces the ConveRel Quadrants for effective meeting strategies.

(03:59) Brought to you by Swimm.io.⁠⁠⁠⁠Start modernizing your mainframe faster with Swimm.Understand the what, why, and how of your mainframe code.Use AI to uncover critical code insights for seamless migration, refactoring, or system replacement.Stop fearing Friday and late-night deployments!Discover how the most painful part of software development—deploying to production—can become routine, safe, and even boring.In this episode, I sit down with Valentina Servile (ThoughtWorks lead developer and author of “Continuous Deployment”) to discuss the principles, practices, and mindset shift required to achieve true Continuous Deployment.Key topics discussed:The key differences between Continuous Integration, Continuous Delivery, and Continuous DeploymentWhy “if it hurts, do it more often” is the secret to safer, faster releasesApplying Lean principles like one-piece flow and reducing batch size for higher quality and speedThe importance of removing the final manual deployment gate and automating everythingEssential minimum practices: robust automated testing, feature flags, static analysis, and zero-downtime deploymentsSeparating deployment from release with feature flags and expand/contract patternsOvercoming challenges in regulated industries, technical hurdles, and third-party integrationsThe critical mindset shift: treating production as a first-class citizen and embracing “shift left” for quality and securityCautions and advice on using AI tools in a continuous deployment workflowTune in to level up your software delivery and learn how to make deployments so routine that you’ll never dread another release.  Timestamps:(02:00) Career Turning Points(06:05) Tips for Juniors Starting Their Careers(08:00) Continuous Deployment Book(10:16) Definitions of CI, CD, Continuous Deployment(15:42) If It Hurts, Do It More Often(19:18) Why Remove The Final Manual Gate to Production(24:56) Common Challenges in Adopting Continuous Deployment(30:02) Minimum Practices for Continuous Deployment(35:17) Hiding Work-in-Progress(38:46) The Difference Between Deployment vs Release(41:40) Slicing the Work(45:10) Coordinating Changes Between Systems & Third Parties(47:58) The Importance of Backward Compatibility(50:05) The Required Mindset Shift(53:16) AI Caution in Continuous Deployment(55:35) 3 Tech Lead Wisdom_____Valentina Servile’s BioValentina Servile is a full-stack software craftswoman and Lead Software Developer at Thoughtworks.She has worked with over a dozen companies in 5 different countries, ranging from start-up to enterprise scale. Her work has been focused on clean code, distributed systems and microservices, CI/CD practices, and evolutionary architectures in a variety of tech stacks. As a technical lead, she also coordinates delivery, and ensures a shared vision around ways of working and technical health in her cross-functional teams.Valentina is passionate about creating an engineering baseline of clean code, testing and automation as the the most fundamental enabler of Agile, Lean and DevOps principles.Follow Valentina:LinkedIn – linkedin.com/in/valentina-servileBluesky – @valentinaservile.bsky.social📚 Continuous Deployment – https://www.oreilly.com/library/view/continuous-deployment/9781098146719/Our SponsorsManning Publications is a premier publisher of technical books on computer and software development topics for both experienced developers and new learners alike. Manning prides itself on being independently owned and operated, and for paving the way for innovative initiatives, such as early access book content and protection-free PDF formats that are now industry standard.Get a 40% discount for Tech Lead Journal listeners by using the code techlead24 for all products in all formats.Like this episode?Show notes & transcript: techleadjournal.dev/episodes/214.Follow @techleadjournal on LinkedIn, Twitter, and Instagram.Buy me a coffee or become a patron.

Tudor Girba, CEO of feenk and creator of the Glamorous Toolkit, dives into Moldable Development, a fresh approach to software engineering. He argues that effective software development is more about making informed decisions than just writing code. Girba highlights the inefficiency of reading legacy code and advocates for creating tailored tools to enhance workflows. He views legacy systems as untapped opportunities for value creation and emphasizes the importance of critical thinking and emotional intelligence in modern development practices.

In this engaging discussion, Barry O'Reilly, a veteran architect and PhD candidate, redefines software architecture by tackling its complexities and inherent uncertainties. He critiques traditional rigid models, arguing for a more adaptable approach that embraces chaos. O'Reilly introduces Residuality Theory, focusing on how systems can survive and evolve over time. He emphasizes the importance of humility and pessimism in architecture, encouraging innovators to rethink how they design systems in an ever-changing tech landscape.