Shows
Serverless Craic from The Serverless EdgeServerless Craic Ep71 AI, DevOps & Serverless: Building Frictionless Developer ExperienceSend us a textAI, DevOps and Serverless: In this episode, Dave Anderson, Mark McCann, and Michael O’Reilly dive deep into The Value Flywheel Effect (Chapter 14) — discussing frictionless developer experience, sense checking, feedback culture, AI in software engineering, DevOps, platform engineering, and marginal gain.We explore how AI and LLMs are shaping engineering practices, the importance of psychological safety, continuous improvement, and why code is always a liability. If you’re interested in serverless, DevOps, or building resilient modern software teams, this conversation is packed with insights.Chapters00:00 – Introduction & Belfast heatwave 🌞00:18 –...
2025-08-2929 minServerless Craic from The Serverless EdgeServerless Craic Ep70 Frictionless Developer Experience in the Age of AISend us a textIn this episode Dave Anderson, Mark McCann, and Michael O’Reilly continue their deep dive tackling Chapter 14: The Frictionless Developer Experience.The crew explore whether the principles of engineering excellence, developer enablement, and team topologies still stand strong in a world increasingly powered by AI and agentic systems. From **managing cognitive load** to **code as a liability**, they unpack how AI changes (and doesn’t change) the fundamentals of building high-quality software.📌 Topics include:Does AI really make development frictionless?Maintaining engineering excellence in an AI-driven world
2025-08-1531 minServerless Craic from The Serverless EdgeServerless Craic Ep69 Serverless myths debunked for modern cloud teamsSend us a textServerless myths debunked for modern cloud teams: In this episode, we dive into the second part of Chapter 13 The Serverless First Edge from The Value Flywheel Effect book. We explore common serverless myths, how relevant they still are in 2025, and what’s changed since the early days of serverless adoption.From cold starts and testing challenges to cloud lock-in and the rise of AI, we reflect on the evolution of the landscape — and the mindset shifts still needed across engineering and leadership teams.💥 Packed with practical insights and real-world experie...
2025-08-0833 minServerless Craic from The Serverless EdgeServerless Craic Ep68 The Serverless First EdgeSend us a textServerless First: Focus, Not FunctionalityIn this episode, Dave Anderson, Mark McCann and Michael O’Reilly dive into Chapter 13 of the Value Flywheel Effect—focusing on the concept of “Serverless First” and what it really means for engineering teams and product leaders today.🔍 Topics include:Why code is a liability and how to identify what to build—and more importantly, what not to.Embracing a frictionless developer experience to enable speed and innovation.The shift from legacy cloud to modern cloud and the pitfalls of lift-and-shift thinking.
2025-07-1123 minServerless Craic from The Serverless EdgeServerless Craic Ep67 Workgrid Case StudySend us a text🎙️ Serverless Craic: Chapter 12 – The Workgrid Case StudyIn this episode, Dave Anderson, Mark McCann, and Michael O’Reilly dive deep into Chapter 12 of The Value Flywheel Effect — the Workgrid case study.This episode explores the early days of Workgrid, a startup founded in 2017 with Gillian McCann. As one of the first companies to adopt a “serverless-first” philosophy, Workgrid’s journey offers valuable lessons in building modern digital employee experiences under real-world startup constraints.💡 Topics Covered:The importance of a pragmatic, serverless-first architectureManaged services vs. infrastructure-heavy...
2025-07-0320 minServerless Craic from The Serverless EdgeServerless Craic Ep66 Map your Org CapabilitySend us a textMapping Your Org Capability | Chapter 11 Breakdown of The Value Flywheel EffectIn this episode, Dave Anderson, Mark McCann, and Michael O’Reilly dive into Chapter 11 of The Value Flywheel Effect — "Map Your Organisational Capability".We unpack how to use mapping techniques, such as Wardley Mapping, to assess and visualise your organisation’s capabilities across areas like security, cloud-native development, and emerging tech like GenAI. The discussion covers:🔹 Why individual expertise ≠ organisational capability🔹 Mapping techniques using industry standards and evolutionary stages🔹 How to use mapping for strategic clarity...
2025-06-2715 minServerless Craic from The Serverless EdgeServerless Craic Ep65 SocialTechnical System for ChangeSend us a text🎙️ Serverless Craic: Exploring Socio-Technical Systems for ChangeWelcome back to Serverless Craic! In this episode, the team dives into Chapter 10: Challenge – A Socio-Technical System for Change from the book, The Value Flywheel Effect. This thought-provoking conversation unpacks how organisations can effectively bridge the gap between people and technology to foster meaningful, sustainable change.🔍 Topics Covered:What makes socio-technical change so difficultThe importance of flow, team design, and time to valueLessons from Team Topologies and Drive by Daniel PinkFrameworks like Cynefin and Wardley Ma...
2025-06-1921 minServerless Craic from The Serverless EdgeServerless Craic Ep64 Environment for SuccessSend us a text🎙️ Environment for Success & Psychological SafetyWelcome back to another episode of Serverless Craic! After a short hiatus (thanks, ServerlessDays Belfast!), Dave Anderson and Mark McCann return to dive deep into one of the most critical – and timely – topics in modern software delivery: creating the right Environment for Success.In this episode, we unpack Chapter 9 from The Value Flywheel Effect and explore the fundamentals that enable high-performing teams, including:🔹 Psychological safety and why it’s the foundation of great engineering cultures🔹 The danger of hero anti-patterns and the myth of the “rock...
2025-06-1222 minServerless Craic from The Serverless EdgeServerless Craic Ep63 Map the Market and A Cloud Guru Case StudySend us a textIn this episode of Serverless Craic, Map the Market and A Cloud Guru Case Study, we dive into Chapters 7 and 8 of the book The Value Flywheel Effect. The discussion focuses on "Mapping the Market" and a fascinating case study on clarity of purpose, featuring the story of A Cloud Guru.Discover how mapping the value chain helps companies identify their place in the market, understand competitors, and predict strategic moves. Learn about the transformative impact of a laser-focused North Star and how serverless-first approaches powered scalability and success. The episode includes...
2024-11-2614 minServerless Craic from The Serverless EdgeServerless Craic Ep62 Obsess Over Time To ValueSend us a textWelcome to the latest episode of Serverless Craic! 🎙️ Today, we're diving back into our series on The Value Flywheel Effect, focusing on Chapter 6: "Obsess Over Time to Value." Join us as we explore the significance of delivering value quickly and efficiently in tech organisations. We discuss the concept of "Time to Value" over "Time to Market," reflecting on how innovation labs and agile structures can help companies pivot, react, and respond to both threats and opportunities.In this episode, we touch on key topics like:- The importance of cre...
2024-11-1313 minServerless Craic from The Serverless EdgeServerless Craic Ep61 Finding your North StarSend us a textThis episode centres on Chapter Five of the book "The Value Flywheel Effect," focusing on the North Star framework. We explain how this framework helps teams align their work with a clear, meaningful metric (North Star) and its related leading and lagging metrics. North Star Framework OverviewWe explain the North Star framework, emphasising its use in helping teams coalesce behind a mission or purpose with a visual, collaborative tool. And the importance of leading metrics and lagging metrics, explaining how the North Star framework helps teams r...
2024-10-2112 minServerless Craic from The Serverless EdgeServerless Craic Ep60 Mapping TechniquesSend us a textIn this insightful discussion, we explore mapping techniques from Chapter 3 of our book The Value Flywheel Effect and their applications in organisations. Key topics include:Anatomy of a Worldly Map: Breaking down the components of a map, including visible, aware, and invisible items in the value chain.Mapping Teams and Tech Stacks: How mapping helps in identifying team roles and modernising technology stacks.Starting with Maps and Collaboration: Tips for overcoming the blank canvas fear and leveraging tools like GitHub's "Awesome Worldly Maps" and VS Code extensions for map annotations.Open Space...
2024-09-1123 minServerless Craic from The Serverless EdgeServerless Craic Ep59 How to Wardley MapSend us a textWardley mapping is a strategic tool to visualise the evolution of products or services. The two axes of a Wardley Map are visibility and evolutionary stage. Products and technologies evolve through four stages: Genesis, Custom build, Product or rental, and Commodity or utility. Understanding context and phase of adoption is crucial in the business world, especially with AI and LLMs. Identifying and moving commodities versus custom-built solutions is important, and optimizing organizational structure for autonomy involves concepts like movement, time planning, and sub-maps. We explain the anatom...
2024-08-0523 minServerless Craic from The Serverless EdgeServerless Craic Ep58 The Value Flywheel Effect Chapter 2.2 Wardley MappingSend us a textWe discuss facilitating effective collaborative mapping workshops and creating Wardley maps for strategic planning in businesses. We look at the importance of creating a safe environment, effective facilitation techniques, and involving all stakeholders in the mapping process. We also highlight the benefits of embracing diversity and respecting different opinions. And we share various approaches to creating and utilising Wardley maps, including Miro and Lucid, and learning more about the technique through Ben Mosior LearnWardleyMapping.com resources.Wardley Mapping techniques and anti-patterns.Dave Anderson and Mark McCann discussed...
2024-07-1123 minServerless Craic from The Serverless EdgeServerless Craic Ep57 The Value Flywheel Effect Chapter 2 Wardley MappingSend us a textDave, Michael, and Mark discussed the application of Wardley Mapping in understanding movement and making strategic decisions. They share their experiences with the method, emphasising its ability to visualise and track changes in tech stacks and capabilities. They also discussed the importance of context, user needs, and facilitating meaningful conversations through mapping. Additionally, they highlighted the benefits of mapping for challenging each other's thinking and fostering creative dialogue. Later, they discussed the importance of understanding user needs during agile transformations, including the value of having a shared representation of collective exp...
2024-07-0421 minServerless Craic from The Serverless EdgeServerless Craic Ep56 The Value Flywheel Effect Introduction - Chapter 1Send us a textThe Value Flywheel Effect is a pattern seen in organisations where business strategy and technology strategy align, leading to more sales and growth.The hosts discuss the concept of the value flywheel effect, its origins, and how it applies to creating software for customers.Dave Anderson and Mark McCann discuss the four phases of the value flywheel process, with three principles for each phase, aimed at building momentum and sustainability in organizations and teams.Clarity of purpose is the first principle, visualised as a data-informed Northstar, helping teams understand...
2024-06-2729 minServerless Craic from The Serverless EdgeServerless Craic Ep55 Unveiling The Secrets Behind The Value Flywheel EffectSend us a textWe 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...
2024-06-2118 minServerless Craic from The Serverless EdgeServerless Craic Ep54 AWS Serverless Developer Advocate TeamSend us a textAWS Serverless Developer Advocate Team news is breaking. We discuss this and the importance of community events and fostering a culture of curiosity and collaboration in the tech industry. We emphasise the value of attending events like ServerlessDays Belfast and looking outside one's own silo to drive enterprise transformation. We also discuss the significance of developer advocacy in promoting AWS adoption and we look at the challenges of quantifying the impact of advocacy work and the importance of learning about new technologies and driving change within companies.Outline
2024-06-1221 minServerless Craic from The Serverless EdgeServerless Craic Ep53 Cynefin FrameworkSend us a textWe use the Cynefin Framework in our cloud modernisation work. Dave Snowden created the Cynefin framework. Cynefin, pronounced "ku-nev-in," is a Welsh word that translates as "place" or "habitat." However, it can also be used to describe the elements of our situation and personal history that influence our thoughts and decisions in ways we don't understand.It's a sense making framework. As architects, we find that the Cynefin framework is a good thinking model.In the Cynefin framework there are four domains and a fifth disorder domain. The f...
2024-03-2021 minServerless Craic from The Serverless EdgeServerless Craic Ep52 ServerlessDays Belfast 2024Send us a textServerlessDays Belfast 2024. ServerlessDays Belfast is back at Titanic Hotel Belfast on Thursday 23rd May 2024Our theme is 'Building Beyond Boundaries: ServerlessDays Belfast celebrates the spirit of Innovation'. Find out why you should come to the birthplace of Titanic and what you can expect from this year's ServerlessDays Belfast.From the 100-year-old Drawing Offices at Titanic Hotel Belfast, we will celebrate how the Serverless Mindset enables engineers and organisations to break barriers and build like never before. We ask our speakers to speak of the courage, ambition and...
2024-03-0811 minServerless Craic from The Serverless EdgeServerless Craic Ep51 Introduction to Modern Software Development LifecycleSend us a textThe Software Development Lifecycle - how does it apply to modern cloud?We are kicking off this episode with the term modern SDLC. The software development lifecycle (SDLC) is changing. When you get into this new way of working, you start differently. It's no longer a straight waterfall/ABCD, or starting with an established system like SCRUM and iterating. So how do you get into a fast flow state? We have discovered a lot of things over the past couple of years. In this episode, we talk you through the phases...
2024-01-1920 minServerless Craic from The Serverless EdgeServerless Craic Ep50 AWS re:Invent 2023Send us a textWe talk about what we would like to see announced at this years AWS re:Invent 2023 looking at Observability, Generative AI, PartyRock, Developer Experience to name a few.Serverless Craic from The Serverless EdgeCheck out our book The Value Flywheel Effect Follow us on X @ServerlessEdgeFollow us on LinkedIn Subscribe on YouTube
2023-12-0111 minServerless Craic from The Serverless EdgeServerless Craic Ep49 Team Engineering with SCORPSend us a textTeam Engineering with SCORP - there are practices we do like SCORP, which is our agile way of doing well-architected in every sprint with teams. Our practices are connected to engineering excellence, looking at what you're doing and constantly improving. And HP (high performing engineering), as a way of capturing key metrics to define good engineering or architecture, and then talk about it as a team.Even though the practices are out there, it's really just a mindset.Serverless Craic from The Serverless EdgeCheck out our book...
2023-11-1614 minServerless Craic from The Serverless EdgeServerless Craic Ep48 Working remotely from another countrySend us a textThere were a few stories in the news about working remotely from another country. We talk about the pros and cons of working remotely versus returning to work. We work remotely and are globally distributed, but we've worked for many years in the office to, so we have experience of both to make a fair analysis.Serverless Craic from The Serverless EdgeCheck out our book The Value Flywheel Effect Follow us on X @ServerlessEdgeFollow us on LinkedIn Subscribe on YouTube
2023-11-0227 minServerless Craic from The Serverless EdgeServerless Craic Ep 47 Developer ProductivitySend us a textDeveloper Productivity and discussions on developers and productivity have never gone away. You heard people talking about this in the 80s and the idea of paying developers by lines of code. And it was even rubbished in the 80s as a foolish thing to do. There's a famous story about developers removing bad code from the code base and having negative numbers by the end of the week and then asking if they have to pay the company back money. It's never been a good idea. It strikes me as strange that i...
2023-10-2715 minServerless Craic from The Serverless EdgeServerless Craic Ep46 Resilience HubSend us a textHow important is Resilience Hub, Chaos Testing and Well-Architected?We attended the AWS Resilience Day at the Titanic Hotel. We were sitting in the same room where the ill-fated Titanic was designed and drawn! We discuss what we learned. Including the tools and strategies that help software engineers build resilience that were not available for the Titanic engineers. And we talk about the fact that it isn't just one thing that leads to disaster for ships or workloads.Serverless Craic from The Serverless EdgeCheck out our book The...
2023-10-0516 minServerless Craic from The Serverless EdgeServerless Craic Ep45 Bringing Mapping to your OrgSend us a textBringing mapping to your org. We are doing a wee series on Wardley Mapping, with some practical items. The last two episodes were: 'Wardley Mapping 101' and 'Can Wardley Maps Predict the Future?'. So I thought it would be good to answer a common question: 'That's a cool technique, but how would I do that in my work?'. If you follow Simon Wardley, on Twitter, and you've started experimenting with Wardley Mapping, we tell you how you to bring Wardley Mapping to your place of work.
2023-05-1821 minServerless Craic from The Serverless EdgeServerless Craic Ep44 Can Wardley Maps predict the future?Send us a textCan Wardley Maps predict the future, is our topic this week.In our last episode, we talked about Wardley Mapping. We did a 101 last time, explaining the basics.One of the things that we say is that Wardley Mapping is a superpower that helps you predict the future. What do we mean by that? It's like a fortune teller. But it doesn't tell you when exactly something's going to happen. It's the state of mind that it puts you in. We run through a couple of examples, to demonstrate...
2023-04-2120 minServerless Craic from The Serverless EdgeServerless Craic Ep43 Wardley Mapping 101Send us a textWardley Mapping is a core part of our book: 'The Value Flywheel Effect'. And it's a topic that people always ask about it. It's a difficult thing to learn. We've spent many years thinking about it, stumbling around, and then practicing. So we figured we would do a quick series on Wardley Mapping.We have spent almost 10 years mapping, give or take. For me, it has been an absolute game-changer. One thing that's come along recently is the Wardley Mapping canvas by Ben Mosior @hiredthought. It's a nice canvas with six...
2023-03-1717 min
Tech Lead Journal#124 - The Value Flywheel Effect - David Anderson“The business technology divide was apparent in many companies. The idea of the value flywheel effect is to join the business and technology goals and create this flywheel effect momentum."
David Anderson is the author of “The Value Flywheel Effect” and the co-creator of The Serverless Edge. In this episode, David described the value flywheel effect concept and its four stages: clarity of purpose, challenge & landscape, next best action, and long-term value. David also explained the importance of Wardley Mapping and how we can use it to help improve the organization’s situational awareness within the value flywheel...
2023-03-1354 minServerless Craic from The Serverless EdgeServerless Craic Ep42 ServerlessDays BelfastSend us a textServerlessDays Belfast was on the 28th of February. It's a volunteer, community, and not-for-profit event.We had a bunch of sponsors: AWS, Bazaarvoice, EverQuote, G-P, Instil and LibertyIT.Our organizers are me, Gillian Armstrong, Garth Gilmour, Peter Farrell, Julie Sherlock, and Treasa Anderson. We had 12 speakers, and over 260 attendees from over 40 companies. But most excitingly we had it at the Game of Thrones Studios Tour.The theme was 'The Reality and Fantasy of Serverless, Building Serverless Teams and Making it Real'.Phil Le-Brun, who is...
2023-03-1318 minServerless Craic from The Serverless EdgeServerless Craic Ep41 Serverless EspressoSend us a textWe've been talking about AWS re:Invent over the last few episodes. But one thing that we haven't talked about is Serverless Espresso.Serverless Espresso is a pop up coffee shop that allows you to order coffee from your phone. In the Expo Hall at the AWS Summit, they have a Barista setup. And you walk up to a QR code with a screen in the background. So you scan the QR code and enter in your email address. And up pops a menu. If you select an americano, espresso or...
2023-01-0615 minServerless Craic from The Serverless EdgeServerless Craic Ep40 AWS, What’s New?Send us a textAWS, What's New? We are post AWS re:Invent. To sum up, it was about the next generation of cloud focused on delivering value quickly by removing barriers to business adoption and enablement. On Day 1 SiliconAngle published an article called "AWS chief Adam Selipsky hints at the next-gen cloud". He looks at classic cloud versus next-gen cloud. Classic cloud is infrastructure as a service and the platform of the cloud. And next-gen is looking at ISVs and true cloud. It's about using the cloud to power you bu...
2022-12-1619 minServerless Craic from The Serverless EdgeServerless Craic Ep39 AWS reInvent announcementsSend us a textAWS reInvent announcements In this episode we are talking about what we would like to see at AWS re:Invent. What would you like to see?Serverless ServicesAn increase to the enhancement and evolution of service development capabilities and the ecosystem in general. So more serverless services coming online for items that aren't serverless and iterating to be more serverless. There's a bunch of things that people are almost afraid of like observability, deployment patterns and some of th...
2022-11-3016 minServerless Craic from The Serverless EdgeServerless Craic Ep38 It began with the forging of the Great Maps and Simon WardleySend us a textIt began with the forging of the Great Maps and Simon Wardley We've been talking this week about Wardley mapping. Where did you first hear about Wardley Mapping? I first heard Simon Wardley talking at cloud conferences about early cloud. I remember an open source conference and a 20 minute video. When he presented it came across as common sense. Like, why would you do anything else? The bigger question is why were we looking for this type of stuff? Or why did...
2022-11-1718 minServerless Craic from The Serverless EdgeServerless Craic Ep37 What is Engineering Excellence?Send us a textWhat is Engineering Excellence?Few companies say they don't want good engineering. But they don't define what good looks like. And secondly,engineers are expected to write lots of code. For me, engineering excellence is not writing loads of code. It's about getting into code reliability, feedback loops and how well engineering is functioning. And how your team is performing and meeting bigger goals. I love to say 'slow is smooth and smooth is fast'. So how do we set ourselves up for that? At the beginning, I like to...
2022-11-1221 min
Design Talk (dot IE)0177 - Software Architecture with Dave AndersonHosts: Sunil Kumar and Leo (Wong Tsz Lung).We are very pleased to welcome Dave Anderson; Author, Technical Fellow for the Bazaar Voice, blogger, and one of the hosts of “Serverless Craic” a podcast by The Serverless Edge.First, Dave, could you say a few words about yourself to begin?1. Tell us about your new book"The Value Flywheel Effect" and motivation for writing it?2. What do you think is the value of a good visualisation?3. You're an advocate for Wardley maps... What other visual methods do you use?4. What fo...
2022-11-0742 minServerless Craic from The Serverless EdgeServerless Craic Ep36 The Value Flywheel Effect Book LaunchSend us a textWe are just back from The Value Flywheel Effect book launch at DevOps Enterprise Summit organised by IT Revolution with Gene Kim and crew. Learning Sprint The first thing I did was a learning sprint. I did an hour on creating a cloud strategy with Wardley mapping, which I thought was interesting. I used Ben Mosior's Wardley map canvas from LearnWardleyMaps.com. And it was great taking people through that. Once people start connecting the elements of the value chain, they can start to ask why is th...
2022-11-0215 minServerless Craic from The Serverless EdgeServerless Craic Ep35 DevOps Conference Preview of DOES 2022Send us a textToday we are talking about a big DevOps Conference. And the first book signing of our new book, The Value Flywheel Effect.It's at the DevOps Enterprise Summit on October 18-20 with IT Revolution who also published our book. It's the first live event in three years. DevOps Enterprise Summit is the leading community for driving change in technology. It's scary and challenging tying to drive transformational change. So it's brilliant to be able to talk to practitioners who've done it before. I'm interested to see how 'The Value F...
2022-10-1911 minServerless Craic from The Serverless EdgeServerless Craic Ep34 What is Value Engineering with BMKSend us a textThis week we look at 'What is Value Engineering?' with BMK Lakshminarayanan from DevOps New Zealand.BMK is based out of Wellington, New Zealand working as Transformation Architect and Independent Consultant for Section Six. He also worked for 15 years with Bank of New Zealand. As part of that work he connected and became a central part of the DevOps community. BMK uses the term value engineering a lot. It's about making tech impactful for your business. When he says impactful for your business, it's about value for your cus...
2022-10-1324 minServerless Craic from The Serverless EdgeServerless Craic Ep33 How to apply the well architected toolSend us a textGrady Booch is a fantastic software architect who has done a lot of pioneering software engineering. One of his latest messages says that it's a good thing that AWS, Azure and Google are offering guidance on building with well architected. But he also warns that when cloud providers talk to you about well architected, it comes with a bias towards their products.There is an inherent bias among providers who are investing in these frameworks. They lean towards their own ecosystem and services. But the interesting thing about the AWS framework...
2022-09-2814 min