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Spreadsheets
Cloud Architecture
Spreadsheets are the Future of Data Systems
The final chapter of Martin Kleppmann’s wonderful book Designing Data-Intensive Applications is called “The Future of Data Systems”. In this chapter he talks about data integration between different specialized systems using flows of derivative data, unbundling today’s complex databases into simpler specialized data storage components and composing them with dataflow processing systems. At one point, almost as a throw away remark, he mentions that spreadsheets already have most of the dataflow programming capabilities that such a system would need. Of course, a spreadsheet is just a spreadsheet. A real data system needs to be durable, scalable and fault tolerant. It needs to integrate with a wide variety of disparate technologies.
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Navisworks
Autodesk
Spreadsheets
Tools vs Solutions
James Awe is the first Software Architect I met at Autodesk. He was involved in the acquisition process for Navisworks, where I was then CTO. Some years later he shared the story of how he first became aware of Navisworks.
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Organizational Anti-Patterns
Autodesk
Organizational Anti-Patterns #3: Exceptions
There’s a VP move under way. A company wide mandate has been issued. Big changes are coming. What’s your immediate reaction? Are you excited? Ready for the challenge? Or is your first thought to wonder how you can get an exception?
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AWS
AWS re:Invent 2022
I’ve only attended re:Invent in person once. I quickly realized that apart from the mountain of swag you get to bring home, there’s very little advantage to being there in person. It’s in Vegas. There are more than fifty thousand attendees. Do I need to say more?
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AWS
Cloud Architecture
Serverless or Not?
I want to build a Serverless SaaS product that can be deployed into a customer’s own AWS account. But what exactly does it mean to be Serverless? AWS (other cloud providers are available) has over 200 different services. How many of those are serverless?
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Cloud Architecture
AWS
Modern SaaS Architecture
Last time we looked at the evolution of multi-tenant architectures. So, what does the architecture of a modern multi-tenant SaaS product look like? Well, for a start, its a microservice architecture deployed on one of the big three cloud providers (most commonly AWS).
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Organizational Anti-Patterns
Organizational Anti-Patterns #2: The Old New Thing
At some point in your career all the stars will align. You’re working on an exciting, groundbreaking new project. Even better everyone else in your organization thinks the same. They’re falling over themselves to help out, remove blockers, get stuff done for you. The CEO calls out your project in the company all hands. It may just be the future of the organization.
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Blog
How's that blog of yours working out?
Thanks for asking. It’s been a couple of months since I left Autodesk. I’ve made a few posts, started to settle into a rhythm. Time to have a look at the analytics and see if anyone is reading this stuff.
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Cloud Architecture
The Evolution of Multi-Tenant Architecture
I previously described the general areas for my initial projects. Today I want to dive a little deeper into the multi-tenant SaaS project. This is the project I’m most excited about and the one that will need the most explanation.
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Organizational Anti-Patterns
AWS
Organizational Anti-Patterns #1: VP Moves
You work in a large organization. The kind that has VPs and SVPs and lots of C-level types. I’m going to use “VP” as short hand for all these leaders at the top of an organization. What do you want from the VPs? Ideally, they provide a consistent sense of direction with a clear strategy. They model the culture of the organization and provide a sense of belonging. They ensure that all the parts of the organization are aligned so that the overall organization is more than just the sum of its parts.