Tackling daunting challenges

Inferring a model about how stuff moves about

Predictive inference is not enough.

The distribution of latencies in a system is often approximately log-normal. Why?

A comparison of different load balancing strategies and the statistical distribution of requests.

Approximating probability distributions with polynomials.

Some reasons why Spring's @Autowire annotation could be considered a code smell.

Looking at the relationships between the different technical practices in the DORA model.

Examples of surprising cascading effects when increasing the rate or strength of interactions in a team or distributed system.

Certain politicians have the ability to gain popularity even in the face of severe criticism.

An explanation for programmers of the concepts behind the decision-making information hierarchy.

A classic 2D cellular automa with Julia.

A simulation of a chaotic waterwheel with the Planck JavaScript physics engine.

A few ideas for improving leadership skills for technical people.

From the Game of Life to Cynefin, systems flourish on the edge of chaos.

A quote from an ecologist regarding the stability of ecosystems could also apply to software systems.

A paradox of modern life - take charge of your life but go with the flow.

Visualising a system can lead to more effective communication and better decisions.

Digging into the meaning of quality and its relationship with time.

An understanding of how we arrive at meaning has great implications for learning and communication.

Many of the touted advantages of serverless architectures have been enjoyed on Mainframes for decades. What lessons can be learnt for the new serverless era?

Moving from Maven to Gradle for the Kotlin/SparkJava. Spoiler it's almost too easy.

The debate about where to learn your craft focuses on the professional on the one side or the employer on the other. We should be considering their relationship instead.

The power of estimation is widely denigrated or ignored. That is a shame.

Software engineering projects come in many shapes and this article lists some of them. Different skills apply to each one, however, and we need to be able to distinguish them and apply the right tools to each.

UML seems to have fallen out of favour with many software developers. It's understandable but maybe we have thrown the baby out with the bath water.

Thoughts on the use of high-level abstractions where, if we are not careful, words easily loose their meaning.

Comments on the similarity between the way Methodists organise themselves and so-called Teal organisations.

Basic maths-free introduction to quantum computing for software engineers.

Simple example of using argument maps to visualise and simplify claims and objections to a given argument.

Some notes on the different meanings of quality.

Example of the evolution of a real unit test over the course of a morning.

Exploration of the concept of expected loss as a measure of the effectiveness of a unit testing.

Some observations about the relationship between well known programming principles.