This is an online book / blog about something {undefined} in software. Software has a lot more to it other than code. It’s about engineering, practice, culture, people, architecture, psychology, economics, product and project management and yes, even a lot of philosophy. As they are all intertwined in one another, this book/blog is all about them.
It currently consists of four parts, or a total of 115 articles / chapters. Reading time ranges from 4 to 20 minutes each.
I hope you found this helpful, whatever you do.
Your first time around? I recommend starting with the Best Of The Monk who Sold his Server.
Start reading Book NaN: The Unknown:
The start of an abstract system design with architecture, management and philosophy
Start reading Book I: Feet in the Cloud:
Architecture and development considerations when your infrastructure and applications are running the in the cloud.
Start reading Book II: The Change Factor:
To learn of Wasteful Applicative Evolution, evolutionary processes that causes time waste and inefficiencies and on how to overcome them.
We’d also be learning on how to handle The Inevitable, a framework for resolving problems, and only the beneficial ones.
In Change Driven Design, we’d be learning of a new way to analyze and design single applications.
In its followup Breaking Change, we’d be learning how to model multiple applications, about development workflows and the relationship between the two.
In the closing series of Future Changes, we’re going to implement a full blown system architecture, in order to learn the process or architecting.
Start reading Book III: Projection:
To learn of project and product management as an inseparable part of the development process.
The first series, The Wheel of Change, is a deep investigation of the change-feedback-change cycle and how it effects our day-to-day work.
The second series The Wheel’s Feedback, is about the other source of fuel for the wheel. We’d be exploring the importance of feedback and feedback processes. External ones with our customers and internal ones between product and engineering.
The third series Committed Planning is everything one needs to know about managing expectations, buffers, estimations and everything that’s in between.
The fourth and final series The Winding Road is about Roadmaps, planning and executing short and long term ones.
Do notice that content is still and would always be under peer review.
Change and Captain’s Log
[December 2022 Update]
First, I’ve added a Best Of page, for newly comers.
Second, I have a plan how to publish this project. It’s first step is.. generating PDFs. So I’ve started working on those as well. Using the AI Art of Midjourney, I’ve created some every catching book covers, which I’ll shortly infuse into the website as well. Once I have a very preliminary PDF of one of the books.. I can go ahead and check my theory of how I can publish this efficiently.
Lastly, I’ve created all the missing cover pictures for the Projection book.
Happy new year everyone!
[November 2022 Update]
I’m done writing for now.
I’ve spent almost three months on the last series of The Change Factor, Future Changes. Way more than I would have eve imagined. It’s been an extremely hard and emotional one for me. Not only I was writing it during interviewing for a new position, it was putting to bed my own personal history of the architecture that has never been. So now I can actually say, I’m done with it. I’ve put it to rest.
Speaking of job interviews, I got a new one! I’ll be the new Software Architect for Skyhawk Security. Which would also mean a 1 year journey coming to an end. I’ve been traveling and writing for so long, guess it’s time to go home. At the end of Book III: The Change Factor.
Problem is, there was another one planned. So I guess that won’t be happening any time soon. However, I did come up with the name of the last book I’ll ever write. The Book of Failure. But that’s for when I’ll retire. Hopefully sooner than later. But maybe it’s not an end, but only a pause. Maybe this new job will end up being collecting more material for more future writings. I wish. And if not, that’s okay too.
But what’s next for this? I’ll be spending some of my free time collating the blog posts into actual books in PDF format. I’ll be starting with Book III: Projection, as it will be easier and faster to do. It will give the chance to play around with AI Art and add new visualizations to it.
I still haven’t finalized the thought on how to publish it. It would most probably be free to download and donations based, where a huge portion will go to charity. Still figuring out the last details of it. We’ll see.
[August 2022 Update]
I’ve published the series of Breaking Change. About to start work on the final series, currently named Future Change. The job hunt is going slowly but well. I do hope that by the end of the month I’ll find a new position as a principal or an architect, so I can get back home and not live with my parents at the age of 38. That would be much nicer.
Meaning that the series Future Change currently in writing, would be the last one for this session. That would be the completion of Part IV: The Change Factor. I do have enough material for at least to two more parts. Part V would probably be named Assurance that would deal with Quality, Automation, Tests and Reliability. Part VI, yet unnamed, would revolve around hiring processes and development practices.
I’ve also recently discovered Midjourney, an AI Art / Image Synthesizer. I’m still playing around with it, but I can definitely create some really cool images that match the books’ contents. So many new ways to tell a story. For example:
A Buddhist monk salesman, selling computers to customers, in a market in Thailand:
Franz Kafka blocking a waterfall (Did anyone say Kafka Streams?)
A software engineer working on his computer in the rain
A digital whale inside a computer case (Docker containers, anyone?)
[June 2022 Update]
It took me almost two months to write the series Change Driven Design, on how to design a single application with a new paradigm. I’ve started working on the followup series on designing multiple application according to the same paradigm. Also starting to prep up for job interviews and job hunting. Wish me good luck!
Meaning that the series after Breaking Change, which I currently call End of Change, would be the last one for this session. That would be the completion of Part IV: The Change Factor. I do have enough material for at least to two more parts. Part V would probably be named Assurance that would deal with Quality, Automation, Tests and Reliability. Part VI, yet unnamed, would revolve around hiring processes and development practices.
[April 2022 Update]
I’ve finished Part IV: Projection. It was an amazing journey to write it. Meanwhile, my visa to Thailand expired, so I had to move to Cambodia for about a month. From there, I’ll be writing the final series (maybe two final ones) of Part IV: The Change Factor.
I do have enough material for at least to two more parts. Part V would probably be named Assurance that would deal with Quality, Automation, Tests and Reliability. Part VI, yet unnamed, would revolve around hiring processes and development practices.
But I think I’m going to pause after I’m done with Part IV. I need to start preparing for job seeking and interviews. We’ll see. One step at a time.
[March 2022 Update]
I think I’ve found a name for Part V, probably would be called Assurance. It would deal with Quality, Automation, Tests and Reliability. Most of it is written, but I’d say it’s only 50% done. I’d start working on it after Force of Change, the final series of The Change Factor. I’ve also go tons of material for hiring processes and development practices. But that’s far later.
Meanwhile, around mid January I’ve travelled to Thailand. I’ve settled in Koh Phangan to have the peace and quiet needed for myself and for this work. I love it here and I find it easy to find several hours a day to work on this book/blog.
[February 2022 Update]
The first series of Part III: The Change Factor is now live, called Wasteful Applicative Evolution How does an applicative development lifecycle looks like through the perspective of Time and Events? What sorts of waste and inefficiencies these evolutionary processes create?
The second series is live as well, called The Inevitable. It is a frame of thought on how to identify and avoid non-beneficial tasks, remove mis-expectations and mis-concepts that induce stress into a company’s day-to-day work.
The third series, currently named Cause I: Models would try to put a light on one of the sources that speeds up evolutionary processes – the gaps between an engineer, an application and reality itself. It is in the late stages of thought work.
I’ve also started working on Part IV, currently named Projection. It would focus on Project management. I’ve decided to write this one prior to finishing Part III as I’ve seen a great necessity to others in simplifying project management. And it is also a big source of inefficiency and stress.
Part IV (yet unnamed) is about 50% done and would deal with Quality – how come we are testing the wrong thing and the wrong place.
[January 2022 Update]
The first series of Part III: The Change Factor is now live, called Wasteful Applicative Evolution. How does an applicative development lifecycle looks like through the perspective of Time and Events? What sorts of waste and inefficiencies these evolutionary processes create?
he second series called The Inevitable is in the works. Its first draft is ready and it now being edited. It is not the last series of The Change Factor, the third one currently named The Cause is in early stages.
Part IV (yet unnamed) is also about 75% done and would deal with Quality – how come you are testing the wrong thing and the wrong place.
Part V (yet unnamed) has already enough material revolving around People and Project management. Not yet in the works.
I’m about to go on vacation, to be more focused on this. I hope to speed up soon as it is harder to write than expected.
[October 2021 Update]
So I’m back at full power to continue writing and expanding this book/blog.
Part III has been in the making for the last year or so and I’ve finally figured out what’s it is gonna be about. So prepare for Part III: The Change Factor – software architecture through the perspective of time: the consequences of time moving forward on your applications (Series I: Applicative Evolution); how come current design pattern do not handle it well (Series II, yet unnamed); and in Series III (yet unnamed) I’ll be reviewing new time-based perspectives that would one day evolve into new design patterns.
Part IV (yet unnamed) is also about 75% done and would deal with Quality – how come you are testing the wrong thing and the wrong place.