Notes from #WebSummit: A cloud for every occasion

Greenfield or legacy, cloud lets you focus on your primary software goal: providing your users value

Details
Date: November 9, 2017
Time: 12:00
Conference stream: FullSTK

Speakers
Jon Skeet, Engineer & Stack Overflow Legend, Google, Stack Overflow

Web Summit Summary
Every project is different. Sometimes that’s by design, with fundamentally different requirements. Sometimes it’s a function of who was involved, or when it was built. Sometimes projects can change massively over time — sometimes the original architecture lasts forever. A variety of needs calls for a variety of responses, which is why cloud vendors offer a spectrum of deployment options. Whether you want to “lift and shift” an existing monolithic service into the cloud, gradually refactor into so-called serverless microservices, or run a hybrid between your own servers and the cloud, there are options available. This talk can’t tell you what you should do — but it can tell you what you could do.

Main Theme

Jon Skeet discussed the past pains of maintaining and growing server systems, and introduced possible cloud solutions to apply to your software today.

It’s important for me to note that Jon Skeet took the stage in a “code like a girl” t-shirt, and spent the first 2 minutes of his talk spotlighting the lack in diversity in tech. 💚

The Key Quote

“I’m not here to be a sales person — I just want to help you build great stuff. I answer as many questions as I do on Stack Overflow because I want to help people build great stuff.”
— Jon Skeet

Key Points

1. Why might you want to use the cloud? Many years ago, Jon used to have a computer in his house, constantly turned on, precariously assembled, serving his website. Perhaps that’s not a far cry from the taken-down-by-a-Windows-update, fragile server room in the closet at your office — and with the ease and hands-off approach of cloud solutions, they can help transition out of fragile legacy systems into easy to maintain, scalable cloud systems.
2. Are you starting greenfield? Starting with a blank slate allows you the most freedom with how you might leverage the cloud. Want to dump all your code on a server? You’re probably looking for Platform as a Service. Want to host just bits and pieces of your code? You’re probably looking for Functions as a Service. Want to be more hands on, splitting and hosting services, patterns, platforms? You’re probably looking for Containers as a Service.
3. Are you working with legacy? You’re not alone. You can begin by committing to migrate some functionality to the cloud — and little by little, growing your software in the cloud. As an aside: Jon had a really funny quote around legacy; “I couldn’t think about ‘legacy’ without thinking about Hamilton — legacy, legacy, it’s planting seeds in the garden that you won’t live to see. But we don’t really think about legacy code like that, do we? It’s more like planting weeds in a garden.”
4. Cloud isn’t what matters here — it’s a means to an end. What matters is the impact your products bring to users lives. What matters is the value your code presents. Cloud solutions just allow you to achieve that in a reliable, scalable, easily-maintained way, making sure your product can always shine, and your users lives can be positively impacted.

Reflections

I’m fortunate to work in a software agency, meaning that I often get the luxury of starting with greenfield. I’ve also been fortunate to have entered the world of development after cloud solutions were the de facto standard for our clients. However, in the age of cloud — it’s not always easy to figure out where to start and what’s the right service to use. AWS in Plain English has been an amazing resource in demystifying the plethora of service available in the cloud, at least on the Amazon Web Services platform.

These notes are brought to you by TWG: software makers to the world’s innovators.

Want to know what sessions we’ll be at next? Our chatbot pal Web Summelier can hook you up. Want to receive a summary of all our notes when Web Summit’s over? Sign up here.

Psst! We’ve published many more insights on technology, design, and all things software on our blog, The Almanac.