Category Archives: All

Can Platform Engineering Hide Complexity?

Is platform engineering effective at hiding complexity from developers? Today we tear apart what platform engineering is doing, how it came about and what it’s trying to be.

We discuss what companies are trying to accomplish with platform engineering – how can successful efforts improve outcomes for development teams and operations teams by improving collaboration in contracts? Why and how is that important, and what do those efforts entail?

Transcript: otter.ai/u/bVd1_IwEqFD-uEYxsy…?utm_source=copy_url
Image: www.pexels.com/photo/woman-posin…erwater-15674505/

Rob’s Hot Take:

In the Cloud 2030 podcast episode on platform engineering, Rob Hirschfeld, CEO of RackN, explores the profound impact of platform engineering on operational efficiency and developer complexity. He emphasizes the discipline’s role in making operations accessible, efficient, and repeatable, leading to significant benefits for companies and DevOps teams. While discussing how platform engineering can hide complexity, Hirschfeld highlights the ongoing essential work involved, debunking the notion of shortcuts and emphasizing the value it adds to organizations. He invites listeners to join discussions at the 2030.cloud, where important technology topics are analyzed in depth.

Digital Twins + AI = WOW

How can the intersection of generative AI machine learning and artificial intelligence be applied to environments using digital twins? Today we discuss digital twins and artificial intelligence.

How can we improve the simulations, the systems, the interactions that we build? How can we correctly model complex components of everything from cars to pumps in ways that allow us to then build on top and build more intelligent systems.

We come up with some grounded examples.

Mentioned: projectarrow.ca/
Transcript: otter.ai/u/A79s08jpJ4-UPyT313…?utm_source=copy_url
Image:www.pexels.com/photo/two-bernese…on-floor-9040438/

Rob’s Hot Take:

In the Cloud 2030 podcast episode on digital twins and AI, Rob Hirschfeld discusses the potential of using digital twins in handling real-world disasters, citing the recent train derailment in Ohio as an example. The concept involves quickly creating a digital twin of a disaster space to enable robots to learn, adapt, and efficiently mitigate the situation. Hirschfeld emphasizes the unprecedented opportunities for improving environmental interactions, responding to crises, and highlights the sophistication of ideas discussed in the episode. He encourages listeners to explore the full conversation on digital twins and AI at the2030.cloud.

Chick-Fil-A Edge Kubernetes Deep Dive

https://soundcloud.com/user-410091210/chick-fil-a-edge-kubernetes-deep-dive

We break down the edge compute cluster by the Chick-fil-A team, and we talk about how they use Kubernetes, specifically K3s in 2500 of their restaurants to build an IoT and restaurant management system. This system uses Intel Knucks, a commodity commercial residential grade hardware.

It’s an update on a four year old Kubernetes story with a lot of buzz, and they show how they have been successful building this system.

If you’re interested in Kubernetes, Edge DevOps and distributed systems, this episode has a lot to enjoy.

Transcript: otter.ai/u/i0lBYq9PNQevn0AIvX…?utm_source=copy_url
Image: www.pexels.com/photo/person-in-b…of-cards-6255293/

Rob’s Hot Take:

In the Cloud 2030 podcast episode on Chick-fil-A’s Kubernetes control plane, Rob Hirschfeld highlights the challenges and benefits of transitioning cloud infrastructure and applications to edge locations using commodity gear. He emphasizes the success of Chick-fil-A’s approach in bringing cloud tools and platforms to non-cloud environments, showcasing the potential for mapping cloud processes back into edge computing. Hirschfeld encourages listeners to explore the detailed discussion on Chick-fil-A’s edge clusters and engage in broader conversations on Cloud 2030 at the2030.cloud.

Improving Time To Decision

https://soundcloud.com/user-410091210/improving-time-to-decision

How do we improve the time to decision for CIOs? Today we talk about general business practice and how we can help.

Technical innovators and architects create value for the teams that they support. This can either be from an automation perspective, which is what RackN does, or from a data perspective, which Tyler describes in the podcast today. These are real challenges.

When we flip the script and talk about the miscommunication between how CIOs see business challenges and translate business challenges into technical delivery, however, we get into a fascinating set of discussions where Joanne brings up some key challenges for 2023. We also discuss mapping those from CIOs into implementation, followed by ultimately trying to find ways that people can make fast, valuable decisions that feel right.

This conversation is rooted in important conceptual executive level thinking. We’ll include the list of points that Joanne talks about below as well as in the show notes, and I highly recommend you check those out.

Joanne Friedman’s Key Challenges for 2023
1. Tackle inflation and margin pressure
2. Migrate supply chain disruption
3. Make sustainability a pillar
4. Calibrate talent management strategy
5, Streamline procurement and sourcing
6. Strengthen digital thread
7. Prioritize innovation initiatives

We try to name these key challenges, but in a lot of cases we are talking about the list or the graphic. You’ll need to refer to the show notes in order to see the complete one.

Transcript: otter.ai/u/sFESW3yziGOolNbiyt…?utm_source=copy_url
Image: www.pexels.com/photo/man-holding…er-board-1117132/

Rob’s Hot Take:

In the Cloud 2030 podcast episode dated February 9, CEO Rob Hirschfeld discusses the challenge of making fast, impactful decisions in a rapidly changing technological landscape. He emphasizes the importance of intuitive understanding and emotional context in decision-making, highlighting the need for clearly articulated goals and consensus building beforehand. Hirschfeld advocates for executives to rely on their intuition, grounded in a solid foundation of groundwork, and invites listeners to engage in ongoing discussions on this topic at 2030.Cloud.

Thoughts About Cloud2030 [retro]

https://soundcloud.com/user-410091210/thoughts-about-cloud2030-retro

This episode is a one person retrospective on Cloud 2030. As well as what we want to be talking about and doing over the next year. I hope you’ll take a second and listen to my reflection on what we’ve been talking about and where things are going.

Think about what you want the show to be. This podcast is structured around the discussions we come up with together, as well as current events. We try to think deeply and in an unusual way here, and I hope you’re getting a lot of that.

Transcript: otter.ai/u/xg4Z6Q8pVYZHBPDCNU…?utm_source=copy_url
Image:www.pexels.com/photo/a-man-takes…e-mirror-2887774/

Hachyderm.io Leaves Basement

https://soundcloud.com/user-410091210/hachydermio-leaves-basement

Hazel walks us through the Hackyderm.io leaving the basement migration. We also talk much more generally about Mastodon fediverse and scaling distributed systems.

This podcast is like a super class in what it takes to scale infrastructure and systems, especially live and under duress. Every minute of this conversation is worth listening to twice.

Check out these resources as well:
* hachyderm.io/@hazelweakly
* opalstack.social/@d3cline/109638734488964593
* community.hachyderm.io/blog/2022/12/…the-basement/

Transcript: otter.ai/u/FBIjekCBWcd8tlj1v-…?utm_source=copy_url
Image: www.pexels.com/photo/elephant-cu…ya-savanna-66898/

Rob’s Hot Take:

In the Cloud 2030 podcast episode discussing Hacky Derm’s scaling challenges, Rob Hirschfeld commends Hazel weekly for exploring the intricacies of exponential growth and federated platform integration. He highlights the significance of core architectural design decisions, such as Twitter’s use of immutable IDs for tweets and the necessity for sharing media files in federated systems. Hirschfeld emphasizes the impact of early design choices on an application’s lifecycle, resilience, and scalability, encouraging listeners to delve into the insightful January 31st episode and join the Cloud 2030 community for ongoing discussions at the2030.cloud.

Meta Data, Dark Data and Intent

https://soundcloud.com/user-410091210/meta-data-dark-data-and-intent

Data comes from many different places, sources, and ways. Some data we call dark data, which is data not accessible to you, and all of it relevant. Today we talk about metadata as part of the governance control management exposure of data.

An important layer beyond the data itself is the governance intent, how people access it, and how you combine data. We discuss exactly what that is, but still only touch the surface.

References:
yago-knowledge.org
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ontology

Transcript: otter.ai/u/rP_4gi-iDont0r2CaZ…?utm_source=copy_url
Image: www.pexels.com/photo/apples-and-…n-books-14098062/

Rob’s Hot Take:

In the Cloud 2030 Podcast episode on metadata and building a data control plane, Rob Hirschfeld emphasizes the challenge of controlling data egress due to its diverse sources and destinations. He contends that rather than attempting to create a locked box for all data, the focus should be on embedding information, particularly metadata, to control data consumption. Hirschfeld envisions a distributed system for a data control plane, involving multiple parties managing and providing consistent rules for data use, acknowledging the complexity of data storage across various locations. He encourages listeners to explore the insightful February 2nd episode and engage in ongoing conversations at the2030.cloud.

Retail Edge Kubernetes ala Chick-Fil-A

https://soundcloud.com/user-410091210/pt2-chickfila-devops-ll-230124

We get an update for the first time in four years about Chick-fil-A edge Kubernetes clusters that gets to the heart of how building distributed infrastructure works and what the challenges are.

Article: medium.com/chick-fil-atech/ent…ompute-f5e2fd63d20f

We had a fantastic conversation about laying the foundations for this. We came away with two really important thoughts about what edge infrastructure looks like, how you pick it, can Kubernetes be used, what is IoT and integration, and the design considerations that go into building this environment.

Listen to this podcast as a preview for a longer article.

Transcript: otter.ai/u/k3Y7S3Hoa0rPZZ8_L5vTn4SNwGI
Image: www.pexels.com/photo/cows-on-fie…andscape-8899447/

Platform Engineering on API Abstractions

https://soundcloud.com/user-410091210/pt1-devops-ll-230124

Our mini episode today is a short discussion of API delineation and abstractions for platform engineering.

This was a short intro discussion, and it is especially interesting because platform is a major topic we will be exploring in the coming year. We highlight the challenges of finding the right abstraction points as well as building front end and back end automation.

Transcript: otter.ai/u/5gzoEliQ5H7N5LnGSP6sdOFNjv8
Image: www.pexels.com/photo/white-paper…te-table-7897470/

Stochastic Parrots And Processes

https://soundcloud.com/user-410091210/stochastic-parrots-and-processes

Today is a one on one discussion between me and Rocky Grover about infrastructure, infrastructure patterns, AI, and how all of these systems connect.

We think deeply about what it takes to design great systems and cover a ton of ground to connect it all back together into systems design. Rocky has a lot of depth of experience here.

Transcript: otter.ai/u/EYgaZUm5s36KYrUhDIwcXTkLHcA
Image: www.pexels.com/photo/bird-blue-zoo-large-52549/

Rob’s Hot Take:

In the Cloud 2030 Podcast episode on process infrastructure automation systems, Rob Hirschfeld introduces the concept of a “stochastic parrot,” emphasizing the challenge posed by AI systems that provide answers without a true understanding of the underlying process. Hirschfeld highlights the importance of comprehending the process through which decisions are made, especially as AI, like ChatGPT, becomes more integrated into various domains. The episode delves into the significance of systems thinking, stressing that understanding the process is often as crucial as knowing the output. Listeners are encouraged to explore the insightful conversation from January 17th at the2030.cloud and join the ongoing discussions.