Aaron Bjork on Driving Team Productivity and Promoting Culture Through Azure DevOps - Episode 009

Jeff Julian is a long-time software developer. He used to run the Geeks with Blogs blogging site when developer blogging was the peak of social media. He’s received multiple Microsoft MVP awards and has spoken at many conferences. He has retired from the software development community and now runs a local farm where he has custom-developed a farm operating system using IoT devices and electronics.   Topics of Discussion: [2:55] Some tips to do conferences right. [4:55] What led Jeff to apply programming to farming? [6:50] Jeff’s decision to buy land, and the challenges that came with purchasing it. [10:31] Becoming aware of Wilderness Labs and Meadow. [12:33] Selling directly to the customer. [12:42] What Meadow is, and some of the things they have automated. [17:15] Driving the fodder system. [20:22] Where and how does the code come in for this automation? [24:46] UptimeRobot and using F7 devices for data collection and IoT projects. [26:22] Using technology for farming and beekeeping. [33:57] IoT devices, sensors, and power consumption. [36:13] How many tiny computers does it take? [38:02] The challenges of IoT devices. [44:15] The heart of the .NET community should be people helping each other learn and grow.   Mentioned in this Episode: YARP Clear Measure Way Architect Forum Software Engineer Forum Programming with Palermo — New Video Podcast! Email us at programming@palermo.net. Clear Measure, Inc. (Sponsor) .NET DevOps for Azure: A Developer’s Guide to DevOps Architecture the Right Way, by Jeffrey Palermo — Available on Amazon! Jeffrey Palermo’s Twitter — Follow to stay informed about future events! Geeks with Blogs Wilderness Labs   Want to Learn More? Visit AzureDevOps.Show for show notes and additional episodes.

16 Okt 202346min

Shawn Wildermuth has been tinkering with computers and software since he got a VIC-20 back in the early ’80s. He has been a Microsoft MVP, Pluralsight Author, and filmmaker. You can reach him at his blog at Wildermuth.com and he makes films at Twainfilms.com.   Topics of Discussion: [5:34] What got Shawn excited about coding? [9:26] How should developers be thinking about just the concept of an API? What are the categories that they should be aware of? [16:04] Shawn’s first steps in designing an API. [18:37] What are the newer concepts and newer advances that are worth taking a look at? [19:10] Maturing minimal APIs. [24:53] Endpoint filtering. [27:01] Does the core logic need to be aware that it might be in a caching workflow, or does caching as a concept belong to the interface for the application programming? [31:45] Shawn’s favorite method for testing the complete set of web service APIs. [34:59] Helping young developers not get lost along the way of feeling the need to be perfect. [39:25] How developers make the decision of where and how to run the applications they built.   Mentioned in this Episode: YARP Clear Measure Way Architect Forum Software Engineer Forum Programming with Palermo — New Video Podcast! Email us at programming@palermo.net. Clear Measure, Inc. (Sponsor) .NET DevOps for Azure: A Developer’s Guide to DevOps Architecture the Right Way, by Jeffrey Palermo — Available on Amazon! Jeffrey Palermo’s Twitter — Follow to stay informed about future events! Shawn Wildermuth on Next-gen Web Services Twain Films   Want to Learn More? Visit AzureDevOps.Show for show notes and additional episodes.

9 Okt 202343min

Jay Harris is a speaker, software consultant, and owner of Arana Software. He has been developing on the web since 1995, when the Blink tag lured him away from Visual Basic 3, and has been awarded as a Microsoft Regional Director, ASPInsider, and Microsoft MVP. Recognizing that the greatest application performance bottleneck is a developer’s time, Jay’s continuing quest is for frameworks, modules, tools, and practices that make developers stronger, fitter, happier, and more productive.   Jay resides in Las Vegas, USA. Follow him on Twitter at @jayharris.   Topics of Discussion: [3:40] Jay gives a shout-out to a phenomenal manager, Larry, who had a profound impact on his career. [5:30] Advice for managing burnout in software development teams. [7:16] The importance of learning how to say no. [10:19] Respecting team limits and honoring downtime is crucial for long-term success. [16:06] Maintaining software team velocity through play and downtime. [18:23] The key to sustainable software delivery is collaboration, compromise, and empowering teams to be self-sufficient. [23:28] Pain points in user interfaces. [30:39] Overcoming the challenges of working with PDFs. [36:49] Jay walks us through the typical code flow.   Mentioned in this Episode: YARP Clear Measure Way Architect Forum Software Engineer Forum Programming with Palermo — New Video Podcast! Email us at programming@palermo.net. Clear Measure, Inc. (Sponsor) .NET DevOps for Azure: A Developer’s Guide to DevOps Architecture the Right Way, by Jeffrey Palermo — Available on Amazon! Jeffrey Palermo’s Twitter — Follow to stay informed about future events! Jay Harris on Distributed DevOps Glenn Burnside Managing Developers   Want to Learn More? Visit AzureDevOps.Show for show notes and additional episodes.

2 Okt 202341min

Jimmy is the creator and maintainer of the popular OSS libraries AutoMapper and MediatR. Jimmy is an independent consultant based in Austin, TX. Jimmy has received the “Microsoft Most Valuable Professional” (MVP) award every year since 2009.   Topics of Discussion: [3:45] How do we modernize old software systems? [4:55] Dividing the modernization process into small steps to minimize dependencies and validate changes along the way. [5:01] Does Jimmy have a preferred sequence of work that he has found that makes modernizing a system easier? [7:01] Modernizing legacy ASP.NET web applications with test coverage. [7:24] System web adapters. [12:02] Database migration to Azure using SQL Data Sync and Hangfire. [12:09] Any “gotchas” on the database side? [15:27] What exactly is Hangfire? [17:02] The flexibility of Hangfire in its triggers and scheduling. [23:49] How system web adapters enable easy migration of controllers and actions. [25:16] Second success story for YARP: Yet Another Reverse Proxy. [27:15] What was the thought about observability architectures? [29:02] What are some of Jimmy’s favorite features? [32:08] The team modernized the telemetry system for a large organization, enabling them to query data more efficiently and gain valuable insights. [35:05] Lessons learned and best practices while modernizing.NET applications with Azure DevOps.   Mentioned in this Episode: YARP Clear Measure Way Architect Forum Software Engineer Forum Programming with Palermo — New Video Podcast! Email us at programming@palermo.net. Clear Measure, Inc. (Sponsor) .NET DevOps for Azure: A Developer’s Guide to DevOps Architecture the Right Way, by Jeffrey Palermo — Available on Amazon! Jeffrey Palermo’s Twitter — Follow to stay informed about future events! Architect Tips — Video podcast! YARP: Yet Another Reverse Proxy   Want to Learn More? Visit AzureDevOps.Show for show notes and additional episodes.

25 Sep 202339min

Jonathan, or J. as he’s known to friends, is a husband, a father, and the owner of Trailhead Technology Partners, a custom software consulting company with employees all around the world. He is also a Microsoft MVP in .NET and frequently speaks at software meetups and conferences. He doesn’t mind too much because he loves sharing what he’s learned, and it also gives him an excuse to visit any nearby National Parks, a passion of his, proven by the fact that he's currently made it to 56 of the 63 parks.   J. also has a passion for building community and has served on several non-profit boards over the years as a result. Currently, J. sits on the SoftwareGR board, a non-profit trade organization dedicated to building the software industry in West Michigan. He also runs Beer City Code, a software conference, and has served as president on that board for over a decade. J. loves hiking, reading, photography, and trying to see all the best picture nominees before the Oscars ceremony.   Topics of Discussion: [4:18] J starting his own consulting company, Trailhead. [4:55] The two categories that make up software architecture. [5:54] J’s philosophy on when he would rewrite a legacy software system. [10:52] The pros and cons of making small improvements over time. [11:33] What is the strangler fig pattern, and how does that turn into a strategy for a software update? [16:02] Bringing older ASP.NET applications up to .NET7. [19:55] What is a reverse proxy? [22:21] We reference the book Working Effectively with Legacy Code. [25:08] In this process, do both of the applications just get access to everything, or do you have to do something specific? [31:28] Architecturally, does this approach work in modernizing from older or other platform web applications? [34:02] The concept of microfrontends.   Mentioned in this Episodes: Clear Measure Way Architect Forum Software Engineer Forum Programming with Palermo — New Video Podcast! Email us at programming@palermo.net. Clear Measure, Inc. (Sponsor) .NET DevOps for Azure: A Developer’s Guide to DevOps Architecture the Right Way, by Jeffrey Palermo — Available on Amazon! Jeffrey Palermo’s Twitter — Follow to stay informed about future events! Architect Tips — Video podcast! J. Tower on Twitter J. Tower on LinkedIn YARP Basic YARP Sample Strangler Fig Application   Want to Learn More? Visit AzureDevOps.Show for show notes and additional episodes.

18 Sep 202338min

Chris Woodruff, or as his friends call him, Woody, is a software developer and architect of over 25 years. Woody loves software engineering, especially allowing applications and services to communicate across networks and through Web APIs. He has been a Microsoft MVP in SQL, Data, and C# in the past, along with multiple years of being awarded the AWS Community Builder Award. Woody lives in Grand Rapids, Michigan, where he explores the many breweries in West Michigan and travels with his family. Woody is also a long-time bourbon fan and loves hunting for whiskey bottles.   Topics of Discussion: [4:46] The many positions Woody has held in his career. [7:14] The genesis behind Woody’s new book, Practical Network Programming Using C#. Dive deep into #CSharp12 and #DotNET8. [9:24] The second book Woody is working on co-writing, on the patterns of developer relations. [14:10] The original intent of the internet was to protect the military. [15:22] What is a packet? [21:08] A brief history of web services. [24:00] Who was Roy Fielding? [28:48] Woody talks about using different applications, the WebSocket service, and Dapr. [35:36] You have to know about the transport across the network, as well as how to build the code and architect your application so that it utilizes the network efficiently. [40:14] We can expect the book out by May or June 2024.   Mentioned in this Episodes: Clear Measure Way Architect Forum Software Engineer Forum Programming with Palermo — New Video Podcast! Email us at programming@palermo.net Clear Measure, Inc. (Sponsor) .NET DevOps for Azure: A Developer’s Guide to DevOps Architecture the Right Way, by Jeffrey Palermo — Available on Amazon! Jeffrey Palermo’s Twitter — Follow to stay informed about future events! Architect Tips — Video podcast! Azure DevOps Chris Woodruff's Blog Chris Woodruff LinkedIn Chris Woodruff Twitter   Want to Learn More? Visit AzureDevOps.Show for show notes and additional episodes.

11 Sep 202342min

Jeremy Miller started his career as a “real” engineer but wandered into software because that looked like more fun. Since then, Jeremy has worked in and led software development teams in the computer manufacturing industry, finance, insurance, health care, and banking industries. Lately, Jeremy has been focused on leading software architecture teams and helping mentor other software architects. Having had roles both as an in-house software architect and as a software consultant, Jeremy has a great deal of insight into the challenges that confront companies developing and maintaining enterprise systems over time.   Jeremy is well known for his Open-Source Software tools starting with Structure Map and continuing today to Marten and Wolverine. Jeremy is also a frequent author and technical speaker at software conferences. Jeremy recently helped found JasperFx Software to build a sustainable business around the “Critter Stack” tools.   Topics of Discussion: [6:10] How Jeremy got into open-source development. [6:50] Being a part of the codebetter.com website in the pre-Twitter days. [9:30] What most developers should be aware of in the space of getting code to run or multiple instances to run at the same time and having it come out well. [12:04] What is Marten, and how does it work? [12:26] TPL Dataflow Library is a hidden gem inside of Microsoft. [15:25] The two parts of Marten and how they work together. [17:42] What is a producer-consumer pattern? [20:05] How to implement a queue pattern. [24:04] You should probably have some basic understanding of one level underneath you, but Jeremy thinks you don’t want to work on the thread level yourself. [25:38] Jeremy defines “Critter Stack.” [29:55] Jeremy’s advice for new developers. [32:59] Jeremy talks about the type of customers he is looking to collaborate with.   Mentioned in this Episodes: Clear Measure Way Architect Forum Software Engineer Forum Programming with Palermo — New Video Podcast! Email us programming@palermo.net Clear Measure, Inc. (Sponsor) .NET DevOps for Azure: A Developer’s Guide to DevOps Architecture the Right Way, by Jeffrey Palermo — Available on Amazon! Jeffrey Palermo’s Twitter — Follow to stay informed about future events! Architect Tips — Video podcast! Azure DevOps Jeremy Miller Twitter Jeremy Miller LinkedIn Jeremy Miller Website Jasper FX Marten Wolverine   Want to Learn More? Visit AzureDevOps.Show for show notes and additional episodes.

4 Sep 202336min

Nathaniel Schutta (or Nate) is a software architect focused on cloud computing and building usable applications. A proponent of polyglot programming, Nate has written multiple books and appeared in various videos. Nate is a seasoned speaker, regularly presenting at conferences worldwide, No Fluff Just Stuff symposia, meetups, universities, and user groups. In addition to his day job, Nate is an adjunct professor at the University of Minnesota where he teaches students to embrace (and evaluate) technical change. Driven to rid the world of bad presentations, Nate co-authored the book Presentation Patterns with Neal Ford and Matthew McCullough. Nate has published Thinking Architecturally and Responsible Microservices both available as free downloads from VMware.   Topics of Discussion: [5:12] How Nate decided he liked development and architecture, and who was Dr. Evil? [7:10] Nate worked at a software company for a brief period and spent a lot of his time building enterprise web apps. [10:13] Is it possible to think and talk about software the same, regardless of language? [14:17] Nate Defines circuit breaker. [15:56] The importance of having good observability and monitoring in place to see what is going on. [22:35] Nate gives some categories of architects and where he thinks it changes in responsibility and scope. [26:14] To quote Ralph Johnson, “Architecture is the important stuff, whatever that is.” While we may have different definitions of “IT,” Nate thinks that it has the decisions that are hard to change later, and the ones we hope we get right in the first place. The “IT” is also what matters to the application at hand. [36:14] Are we currently at another inflection point? [38:03] The current landscape and challenges of inventing things on the fly. [45:22] What can we expect from Nate’s new book? [55:54] Engineers often overlook soft skills, and the Dale Carnegie books on leadership are a great place to start.   Mentioned in this Episodes: Clear Measure Way Architect Forum Software Engineer Forum Programming with Palermo — New Video Podcast! Email us programming@palermo.net Clear Measure, Inc. (Sponsor) .NET DevOps for Azure: A Developer’s Guide to DevOps Architecture the Right Way, by Jeffrey Palermo — Available on Amazon! Jeffrey Palermo’s Twitter — Follow to stay informed about future events! Architect Tips — Video podcast! Azure DevOps Nate Schutta Twitter Nathaniel Schutta Website Thinking Architecturally Fundamentals of Software  Dale Carnegie    Want to Learn More? Visit AzureDevOps.Show for show notes and additional episodes.

28 Aug 202359min