The finger-wagger is usually just me finger-wagging at myself

A reminder that having fun is possible It’s hard finding fun - and especially joy - in life. Family is frequently just about getting through the every day grind and fighting to have some time to “hear myself thinking.” Even getting together with friends can seem like planning an all hands meeting. Beware of Luxury, Jan Steen. I have this picture on my desk to remind me that fun is possible, with family and friends.

ChatGPT creates a digital transformation strategy for a pharmacy company - you'll never guess what happens next!

Pretty long one below, but fun if you’re into exploring the potential for AI stuff to make work-life less tedious. In case you just wanted something fun, scroll to the bottom to see me become the victim of my daughter’s favorite joke. Coming up with a digital transformation for a pharmacy company Midjourney prompt: a relaxed and happy female CIO talking with a six armed robot that is gesturing with its arms in the same room to discuss software strategy in a corporate conference room, the room has whiteboards full of diagrams and writing, the conference room table has Chinese food take-out boxes, photorealistic black and white photograph in the style of Wes Anderson, super wide angle.

Product Management in Platform Engineering

Suggested soundtrack: I really enjoy the London Eye show. I don’t listen to it enough. This morning I gave my talk on platform stuff - platform engineering, building an app stack on kubernetes, etc. It was fun as always. I think there were some parts that were more shallow than usual, but I like the prattle I have going on. I want to revamp it a lot next week and give a mostly new version at cfgmgmtcamp (see below).

When can we just profit and chill?

Real quick: I’m giving a talk tomorrow on how to run a developer platform group in large organizations, based on real world stories over the past seven years. You can watch it free tomorrow or just catch the recording: just register for it, free, and you’ll get all taken care of. Share Price = (Revenue X Story)Important: those are just profits for three months. Multiple them by four, friend. From Ves.

If it’s bullshit work, have the bullshit-artist do it - Using AI for Bureaucratic Toil Removal

Hey there! As I type this, SpringOne is being livestreamed right now! Chances are, you’ll read this when it’s over. But, you can go back and see today’s talks, and there’ll be more tomorrow and Thursday. If you’re interested in development, cloud native, and especially the question “what is VMware Tanzu?” today’s talks are for you. You can watch free, check it out and schedule it in for tomorrow too!

FY23: I got TikTok youths to watch my B2B videos about enterprise kubernetes & digital transformation

Prompt: A ham sandwich, painted in the style of Pieter Bruegel the Elder. Hey, I have talk coming up on Thursday that you can watch live or see a replay of, it’s my current collection of best practices for running a platform for developers. You know, all that stuff you build on-top of kubernetes (or whatever IaaS). Yes, yes, it’s a “webinar,” but screw that framing: it’s just me giving a talk online with some Q&A at the end.

Fond memories for the old days when the only thing the Internet was doing was destroying interior design instead of civilization

From The Last of Us. The Children’s Gloves You are going out with a companion, it’s a bit chilly, and while you put on a jacket, they say they don’t need one. Inevitably, once you’re far away from home, they get cold. You aspire to be a good person, so you give them your gloves. And now, you’re the cold one despite being prepared.

"catatonic leadership"

Found by my mother! 2023 IT Spending Forecasts from Gartner and Forester - software and cloud stuff has good/OK growth Summary: There’s always money in the banana stand. Gartner’s IT spend prediction: Worldwide IT spending is projected to total $4.5 trillion in 2023, an increase of 2.4% from 2022, according to the latest forecast by Gartner, Inc. This is down from the previous quarter’s forecast of 5.1% growth.

Bottleneck of Worry

Hotel Eggs Thanks for all the encouragement and kind words some of y’all have sent. I appreciate it! If there’s a shortage, automation can help I’ve told this story in a previous edition as an aside in talking about positive uses for The AI in education. It’s the basis of my optimism and excitement about things like ChatGPT. I wrote this to someone this week, so here it is again.