The “p” in IDP is for portal, not platform. Photo from Craig I, 2009.I think about this headstone often. It’s a well known, eye-rolling cliché is that, of course, he meant to let art flow through you effortlessly. He was, after all, a poet. For those of us who can’t just pour the muse out of a bottle, there’s something more to “Don’t Try.” And that is: stick to what you’re good at.

Tell me the last new condiment you tried that you didn’t like. Developer ProductivityOne of my co-workers worked at Uber for awhile on their internal developer tools and platforms. In this week’s Tanzu Talk episode, Cora and I talk to him about what they did, why, and how as well. Check out the video below, or the podcast episode if you prefer that. Relative to your interestsPitchfork & The Death of the critic - Death of the critic?

All Talk, No ToolsI like heuristics you can use to figure out what’s “really” going on at work (well, in any system, I guess). When it comes to Big Change, one of the heuristics I like to use is to ask if the organization is using new tools. My colleague Bryan Ross has a new post up on using this test. For example, if you’re in some big digital transformation initiative - like migrating to cloud, converting your app dev style to cloud native, getting more agile/DevOps/platform engineering - are you using new tools?

… I implore you to click on the video above because I live for the views, but if you (like me!) can’t stand video, here is the transcript: Synergies is actually a very useful precise word in the business world but it gets overused and it's not well understood. What it means is that if you combine two or more things together, you gain a capability that they didn't have on their own.

This year we’ll see a lot app platform teams struggle to get developers to actually use and appreciate their platforms. I know this because this has happened to every platform team I’ve talked with over the 9 years when they’ve put Cloud Foundry in place, failed to appreciate the “Kubernetes is not for developers” paradox, and are now putting “platform engineering” platforms in place. The solution is marketing and developer advocacy, and good old fashioned trust building.

Upgrade That Spring!If you do Spring stuff in a large enterprise, you should check this thing out. Relative to your interestsAI for Economists - Some prompt formations and stuff for the ChatGPT and friends. Signs that it’s time to leave a company - Attempts to get people back in the office are something to watch in 2024: “I do think there’s lessons to be learned, and that the delusion that they can roll back work from home and enforce RTO without killing off innovation is a big problem that will increasingly hurt them over time.

Not much today, just cleaning up the queue. Wastebook“Look, it’s a Cybertruck!” - yelled out by a Bay Area co-worker I was talking with on the phone as they drove into work. “In one way this is ‘just’ the evolution of the comment section.” Here. If you’re saying something you believe to be true, you don’t need to tell people you “honestly think it’s true” or that you “actually think” it’s the case.

Here are the other three things I’m going to watch in 2024. By “watch,” I suppose I mean “I really hope something interesting and definitive happens here instead of just a continuation of what was going on in 2023.” I put the first one (our old k-friend) in yesterday’s episode. Backstage - in 2022 and 2023 Backstage became super popular, at least in interest. I don’t know how widely it’s used now.

I don’t like annual predictions. Thankfully, no one’s asked me to do a big post about them this year, but usually I’m asked to do something formal. I always end up just predicting the same thing - predictions turn a lot more into hopes and dreams. I do like flagging things to pay attention to, and especially in a sort of “will this finally happen, or will we start re-calibrating our expectations from the apex of inflated expectations.

American Christmas, part 3Kids out and about in their pajamas. “Help me remember that our full size mini-van is hidden behind this Suburban.” Adults out and about in their pajamas. “Here’s the check. No rush, though!” Massive, high capacity washing machines that would fit a calf. The cheap wine is still expensive. Free electricity in AirBnBs. 15 types of cauliflower frozen pizza. “Please be respectful of our neighbors and the residents living above us.