Serverless Craic Ep55 Unveiling The Secrets Behind The Value Flywheel Effect

We discuss why we wrote 'The Value Flywheel Effect,' emphasising our desire to give back to the community and help others who have contributed to their success. We share our experiences and insights on navigating the cloud transformation journey, highlighting the importance of luck, collaboration, and upskilling in overcoming challenges. We also discuss modernising engineering practices, prioritising meaningful outcomes, and providing insights on change leadership and decision-making techniques.

Modernising software development and delivery in the cloud.
Michael O'Reilly and Dave Anderson share their experiences working together in the cloud industry, mentioning luck and serendipity as key factors in their success.
They emphasise the importance of being high up the value chain and delivering meaningful outcomes, even in the face of economic ups and downs.
Michael O'Reilly and Dave Anderson discuss the shift towards modernisation in engineering, with a focus on agility and speed.
They emphasise the importance of thinking differently and acting collectively to drive change in the industry.

Modernising software development and embracing new technologies.
Organisations must adapt to changing industry expectations and evolving technologies to remain competitive.
Dave Anderson and Mark McCann discuss their book on modern software development, with Dave crediting Mark for encouraging them to write it.
Mark McCann recounts how they met and shared ideas before writing the book, with Dave describing it as a "big confidence boost."

Modernisation strategies for technology and business.
Dave Anderson and Michael O'Reilly praise Simon Wardley's mapping technique and strategic thinking, citing his ability to make complex decisions and decompose things down.
Simon Wardley's 2015/2016 talk on serverless computing is highlighted as a standout moment, with Dave Anderson calling it "super important" and Michael O'Reilly praising his ability to entertain and carry a message.
Dave Anderson and Mark McCann discuss modernisation in organisations, emphasising the importance of leadership and decision-making.
They suggest a framework for driving modernisation, including techniques like event storming and Northstars.

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Transcript

Hey folks, welcome to the next edition of Serverless Craic. Today, we’re doing something a bit different. Our book, *The Value Flywheel Effect*, has been out for a while now. The three of us worked on it with IT Revolution. The book is gradually gaining traction, as books often do. We thought it would be interesting to create an accompaniment. If you have the book, this series might provide additional insights. This podcast series will walk through the book, offering side notes on each chapter and concept. It's been two years since we worked on it, so it'll be nice to revisit the ideas. 

If you have the book, this podcast might give you extra context. If you don’t, you’ll still be able to follow along. We're not saying you must buy the book to enjoy the content. We've seen other authors do this, and it's a nice way to discuss the work. We spent enough time on it, so let’s kick off with a simple question: why did we write this book?

The three of us have worked together for a long time and with many others. Over the past 10 to 15 years, we did a lot of exciting work. We're very proud of that work and the cool techniques and learnings we discovered. It would be a shame not to share them, especially since many people suggested we write a book. It was a wonderful opportunity to share our learnings and help others. It certainly wasn’t to get rich or famous—neither of those things happened!

We've benefitted from content, books, blogs, and videos that have helped us in our careers. This book is our way of giving back to the community and acknowledging those who helped us. We noticed recurring principles and patterns as we moved through different parts of the organisation, making changes and improvements. We collected good ideas, patterns, nuggets of wisdom, and principles. We accumulated a substantial body of material—Wardley maps, blog posts, books, references, articles, patterns, and code snippets.

Working together for an extended period, we experienced many evolutions and emerging capabilities in the industry, like the rise of serverless computing. We navigated through enterprise partnerships and learned what worked and what didn’t. We validated our thinking collaboratively, figuring out our preferences and advising others based on our experiences.

Luck played a huge part. We were fortunate to work within a big company like Liberty Mutual, where we could experiment and collaborate with brilliant people in Belfast and beyond. It was serendipity. Given the ups and downs of the global economy, we wanted to ensure our teams were high up the value chain, delivering meaningful outcomes and learning good skills and principles, regardless of the economic climate.

Moving away from traditional enterprise approaches allowed teams to move faster and make better decisions. This shift required teams to think and operate differently. Reflecting on that period, it’s clear how quickly things evolved. Helping organisations plan and prepare for such changes was a key motivation for the book.

One thing that used to bother me was the idea of engineers being mere cogs in a machine. Engineering is about using our brains and being innovative. A book that influenced me was *Accelerate* by Nicole Forsgren, which emphasized that IT is a value differentiator, not just a cost center. Our book aims to convey that engineers can be incredibly productive and impactful by understanding business opportunities and creating the right environment.

The techniques in our book apply to anyone leading change, whether a junior engineer or someone in the C-suite. It’s a framework, a mindset, or an approach to driving modernization. We wanted it to be accessible and useful for everyone, not just a technical manual.

We were inspired by pioneers like Adrian Cockcroft and Simon Wardley. Adrian’s work at Netflix and his stories about serverless adoption were influential. Simon Wardley’s mapping techniques provided situational awareness and strategic thinking, helping us navigate through complex projects.

The landscape of technology is constantly changing, but some basic techniques remain the same. Our book is a guide for anyone trying to drive change and figure out what to do next. It’s not about specific technologies like Node or Lambda but about a way of thinking and acting that can have a significant impact.

For those leading change, the book offers guidance on making good decisions and setting teams up for success. It’s about sustainable, long-term success, not just rapid changes. We hope this podcast series will be an educational companion to the book, offering additional insights and ideas.

Thanks for listening! Check out TheServerlessEdge.com, follow us on Twitter, and give us a like. See you next time!