A bit of inspiration most weekdays for building YOUR Platform.

Kayaks and Platforms

Recently we purchased a few used kayaks that had been built 20 years ago from Pygmy Boats kits. (Unfortunately, Pygmy is not longer supplying kits, bu… ...more

October 30, 2024

Support from the top

In a recent discussion with Matthew Rassi about Lean, I asked Matthew if he has ever witnessed Lean being successful in organizations where there is n… ...more

October 23, 2024 #levels #management

How to ask for help

Modern systems are too complex for any of us to know everything about them. Many of the problems we encounter we have never seen before. Communities b… ...more

October 21, 2024

When edge nodes grow up

Yesterday we discussed how to partition functionality in hierarchical distributed systems. In the past, it was difficult to do much at the edge nodes … ...more

October 15, 2024 #partitioning

Does consistency matter?

If you have a single developer on a single project, then perhaps consistency does not matter too much. However, if you want to scale, either products … ...more

October 08, 2024 #consistency

When things go wrong ...

What do we do? Do we focus on who/what to blame? Or do we figure out a path forward. How we are going to prevent this problem in the future? Not by sh… ...more

September 26, 2024 #process #errors

Do you own your deployment?

Saturday morning, I got a call from a customer -- something was not working due to a bug we had deployed Friday (no we don't have very good tests) 🤫. … ...more

September 23, 2024 #deployment

Preparing for the future

Yesterday, we discussed a fundamental characteristic of a platform: it will go places you never imagined. How do we prepare for this? There are two wa… ...more

September 18, 2024 #future

The Platform Test

How do you know if you own YOUR Platform? If a customer needs a new hardware interface or connector on a product, can you easily add that? If a securi… ...more

September 17, 2024 #test #platform

No Golden Machines

As humans, we can become attached to "golden" machines. A very expensive bicycle set up just right, a well-tuned tool, a nicely configured workstation… ...more

September 05, 2024 #tools #server #golden

Platform != People

The right people in your organization is absolutely essential -- no question about that. And dealing with "people issues" is a critical and essential … ...more

August 22, 2024 #people

Culture

What type of culture do platforms thrive in? Where ideas are valued and evaluated on merit and truth. Where initiative is rewarded. Where mistakes res… ...more

August 15, 2024 #culture #oss #organic

What are the first steps?

What are the first steps to building YOUR Platform? Ironically, the first step is not some grandiose new Platform vision, but rather to set your house… ...more

August 13, 2024 #steps

What is YOUR Platform? (v2)

Had a nice visit with Rod and he asked me to describe what a Platform is in 20 words or less, so here we go: YOUR Platform is the collection of techno… ...more

August 12, 2024 #platform

But what if ...

In the last post, we discussed the fallacy of using complex technology when the scale does not justify it. But, what if we get a lot more customers, o… ...more

August 08, 2024 #future

You are not Google

A blog article published 2017 titled You Are Not Google is a good read. This article makes the case that most companies are not operating at the size … ...more

August 07, 2024 #google

Do something different

If you only build on other people's platforms, how are you different? And if you are not different, what value are you providing? We are not talking d… ...more

August 02, 2024 #different

Control is a scary thing

Control is a scary thing -- because then we are responsible. And if we are responsible, then we can't blame someone else. But if we are not responsibl… ...more

July 31, 2024 #control

What is control?

What is control in the context of Your Platform? Control is simply the ability to respond to opportunities and problems. In modern systems we are very… ...more

July 30, 2024 #control

The long game

Platforms are long games. If you are building a one-off consumer product that will not be maintained, improved, or ever change, then you probably don'… ...more

July 26, 2024 #short #long #maintenance

Simplicity

What is the role of simplicity in your platform? Simplicity makes it easier for people to use your platform. Simplicity helps ensure maintainability. … ...more

July 22, 2024 #simplicity #maintenance

What is your Platform?

What is a Platform? There are many ways to look at this. Some might think of AWS, GCP, iOS, Android, etc. These are certainly platforms, but they are … ...more

July 18, 2024 #platform

Introduction

Product development is hard. Technical debt tends to accrue at a frightening pace. A "Platform" approach helps you reign in the chaos. And provides a … ...more

July 15, 2024 #meta