Monolithic Transformation revisited

Ryan re-read my 2019 book on improving your application strategy, mostly at large organizations:

The message is as relevant now as it was in 2019: success comes down to nailing the basics - ship fast, iterate faster, and keep the user front and center. Coté’s framework of small-batch thinking, cross-functional teams, and user-first design isn’t theory - it’s a map for organizations to fundamentally rethink how they deliver software.

Here’s the punchline…five years on, I’m still having the same conversations with organizations trying to figure out how to get better at software, but not willing to change their process. Yes, the tools have evolved, but the core of transformation hasn’t changed. It’s still about people, process, and focus. Not just for tech, but for any type of meaningful change.

You can get the PDF for that book completely free now, no email gating even.

Around 2019/2020, all us in the industry went way down the stack to Kubernetes and decided to build our way back up. I hope we’re finally done with that and back to focusing on apps and how they’re built and improved, not run.

Of course, all of that applies to making use of AI as well. I hope that community doesn’t get stuck at the infrastructure layer for years. Instead, it should build out that commodity layer and move on to focusing on actual applications. Writing those apps and then continuously improving them is he tough, never-ending work.

Relevant to your interests

• Integrating AI Agents into Companies - Changing how organizations work to fit what AI can do. Also, you need context about the organization: as always access to data will be a bottleneck, which is to say, governance and meetings.

• Cognitive load is what matters - Legacy software can mean: when changing the code requires too much cognitive load.

• Public Domain Day 2025 - “The literary highlights from 1929 include The Sound and the Fury by William Faulkner, A Farewell to Arms by Ernest Hemingway, and A Room of One’s Own by Virginia Woolf.” And: more highlights.

• Productivity “hacks” don’t work. These do. - If you don’t have a to do list and use your calendar, start with that and ignore all other productivity improvement advice.

• How Do You Create AI Advantage? - You’re going to need access to all that data you have. Historically, this is a very difficult problem in large enterprises and is rarely solved well. For example, are you satisfied with your CRM? For all your enterprise AI hopes and dreams, focus on that first. // “Develop your firm’s knowledge capacity by inventorying your knowledge assets; make sure that you have a plan to build proprietary advantage with the knowledge you’ve captured, and begin the process of capturing tacit knowledge to sustain that advantage.” // Related: data wrangling commentary.

• Dude, you got a Dell, period! RIP XPS, Inspiron, Latitude, Precision - Dell has always been the “configure exactly what you want” PC dealer. Enterprises can then setup their own “standard configurations” to force on employees. Here, they’re trying to make opinionated laptops (like Apple).

• Our Favorite Management Tips of 2024 - “Add up your total score. If you rated any of these items a 4 or a 5, you have some workaholic tendencies. But if your total score is 15 or above, you’re displaying significant signs of workaholism.” // Plus some PowerPoint tips.

• DX Unveils New Framework for Measuring Developer Productivity.

• The Truth About January 6th - Too easily forgotten.

Wastebook

• You can always put dishes through the dishwasher twice.

• “Your business, your body, and your buttocks. It’s true. On an airplane, those are important things o take care of.” Brand from First Class, re-stated by Noah, Hotline Show #44.

• Also: “Whoa. Brought tears to my eyes. Thinking back…when I was cool.”

• “It’s Not to Hide a Magical Cooking Rat.” Here.

Conferences

cfgmgmtcamp, speaking, Ghent, Feb 3rd to 5th.

Logoff

Nothing to report. See you next time.