Episode 436: Understand what you’re measuring, or you’ll just get measurements

This week, we discuss measuring developer productivity, Unity licensing backlash, and some follow-up on Wireless Emergency Alerts. Plus, thoughts on coconuts.
Watch the YouTube Live Recording of Episode (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bQtDvRPqXFs) 436 (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bQtDvRPqXFs)
Runner-up Titles
One day an ice machine will run on RISC-V
Mo Developers Mo Problems
W3C my ass.
That’s almost an aggressive blue.
Wait. Do I live in an office complex?
You pay the same
Quarantine Quarters
Maybe I have too much mindlessness
Out of my way Costco, I’m going direct.
Candy Corn
Have you tried a bubble-sort?
Omerta for developers
Understand what you’re measuring, or you’ll just get measurements.
KCNA23VMWEO20
Just make the bed
Rundown
Developer Productivity
McKinsey Developer Productivity Review (https://dannorth.net/mckinsey-review/)
Even longer rebuttal (https://newsletter.pragmaticengineer.com/p/measuring-developer-productivity).
The only people who don’t like metrics are the people being measured, or, developer productivity metrics quicksand (https://newsletter.cote.io/p/the-only-people-who-dont-like-metrics)
Reports
Kubernetes at Scale: Challenges, Priorities, Adoption Patterns, and Solutions (https://tanzu.vmware.com/content/analyst-reports/kubernetes-at-scale)
Announcing the 2023 State of DevOps Report (https://cloud.google.com/blog/products/devops-sre/announcing-the-2023-state-of-devops-report)
John Riccitiello is out at Unity, effective immediately (https://www.theverge.com/2023/10/9/23910441/unity-ceo-president-john-riccitiello-out-retire)
Wireless Emergency Alerts (WEA) (https://www.fcc.gov/consumers/guides/wireless-emergency-alerts-wea)
Relevant to your Interests
Why companies still want in-house data centres (https://www.economist.com/business/2023/10/05/why-companies-still-want-in-house-data-centres)
Understanding the Cyber Resilience Act: What Everyone involved in Open Source Development Should Know (https://www.linuxfoundation.org/blog/understanding-the-cyber-resilience-act)
PayPal faces new antitrust lawsuit claiming it unfairly stifles competition with Stripe, Shopify and more (https://techcrunch.com/2023/10/05/paypal-faces-new-antitrust-lawsuit-claiming-it-unfairly-stifles-competition-with-stripe-shopify-and-more/)
DuckDB Labs puts limit on free support, rules out VC funding (https://www.theregister.com/2023/10/05/duckdb_labs_puts_limit_on_vc_funds/)
Genetics firm 23andMe says user data stolen in credential stuffing attack (https://www.bleepingcomputer.com/news/security/genetics-firm-23andme-says-user-data-stolen-in-credential-stuffing-attack/)
Hackers are selling the data of millions lifted from 23andMe’s genetic database (https://www.theverge.com/2023/10/7/23907330/23andme-leak-hackers-selling-user-dna-data)
Datadog stumbles as Bank of America downgrades, citing recent checks (https://seekingalpha.com/news/4019064-datadog-stumbles-bank-of-america-downgrades-recent-checks)
IBM CEO in damage control mode after AI job loss comments (https://www.itpro.com/technology/artificial-intelligence/ibm-ceo-in-damage-control-mode-after-ai-job-loss-comments)
Google announces new generative AI search capabilities for doctors (https://www.cnbc.com/2023/10/09/google-announces-new-generative-ai-search-capabilities-for-doctors-.html)
Be an Open Source Absolutist! (https://twitter.com/ID_AA_Carmack/status/1711737838889242880)
Google Cloud mitigated largest DDoS attack, peaking above 398 million rps (https://cloud.google.com/blog/products/identity-security/google-cloud-mitigated-largest-ddos-attack-peaking-above-398-million-rps/)
Nonsense
Ice Is Not Necessary. So Why Do Hotels Provide It for Free? (https://slate.com/human-interest/2015/08/why-are-there-ice-machines-in-so-many-hotels.html)
Listener Feedback
Biogen hiring Senior Manager, Solution Architecture, Global Commercial and Medical IT (hybrid work) (https://jobs.smartrecruiters.com/Biogen/743999935046183-senior-manager-solution-architecture-global-commercial-and-medical-it-hybrid-work-)
RedHat hiring Principal Product Marketing Manager, OpenShift in Remote (https://us-redhat.icims.com/jobs/100399/principal-product-marketing-manager%2c-openshift/job?mode=view&mobile=true&width=428&height=739&bga=true&needsRedirect=false&jan1offset=-300&jun1offset=-240)
Conferences
Oct 17th SpringOne Tour Online (free!) (https://springonetour.io/?utm_source=cote&utm_campaign=devrel&utm_medium=newsletter&utm_content=newsletterUpcoming) - Coté talking about platform engineering.
Oct 17th and 24th **talk series (yes, a “webinar”): Building a Path to Production: A Guide for Managers and Leaders in Platform Engineering (https://series.brighttalk.com/series/6011/?utm_source=cote&utm_campaign=devrel&utm_medium=newsletter&utm_content=newsletterUpcoming). Coté’s doing this.
Nov 6-9, 2023, KubeCon NA (https://events.linuxfoundation.org/kubecon-cloudnativecon-north-america/), SDT’s a sponsor, Matt’s there. Use this VMware discount code for 20% off: KCNA23VMWEO20.
Nov 6-9, 2023 VMware Explore Barcelona (https://www.vmware.com/explore/eu.html), Coté’s attending
Nov 7–8, 2023 RISC-V Summit | Linux Foundation Events (https://events.linuxfoundation.org/riscv-summit/)
Jan 29, 2024 to Feb 1, 2024 That Conference Texas (https://that.us/events/tx/2024/schedule/)
If you want your conference mentioned, let’s talk media sponsorships.
SDT news & hype
Join us in Slack (http://www.softwaredefinedtalk.com/slack).
Get a SDT Sticker! Send your postal address to [email protected] (mailto:[email protected]) and we will send you free laptop stickers!
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Use the code SDT to get $20 off Coté’s book, Digital WTF (https://leanpub.com/digitalwtf/c/sdt), so $5 total.
Become a sponsor of Software Defined Talk (https://www.softwaredefinedtalk.com/ads)!
Recommendations
Brandon: macOS Sonoma (https://www.apple.com/macos/sonoma/)
Matt: HomeSeek (https://www.homeseekgame.com/) - post apocalyptic SimCity
Coté: Menewood (https://www.goodreads.com/en/book/show/60784675), finally out! Over 700 subscribers for my newsletter - are you subscribed (https://newsletter.cote.io)?!
Photo Credits
Header (https://unsplash.com/photos/dFoOWRT97_0)
Artwork (https://unsplash.com/photos/umixjcVd0Ws)

This week, we discuss measuring developer productivity, Unity licensing backlash, and some follow-up on Wireless Emergency Alerts. Plus, thoughts on coconuts.

Watch the YouTube Live Recording of Episode 436

Runner-up Titles

One day an ice machine will run on RISC-V
Mo Developers Mo Problems
W3C my ass.
That’s almost an aggressive blue.
Wait. Do I live in an office complex?
You pay the same
Quarantine Quarters
Maybe I have too much mindlessness
Out of my way Costco, I’m going direct.
Candy Corn
Have you tried a bubble-sort?
Omerta for developers
Understand what you’re measuring, or you’ll just get measurements.
KCNA23VMWEO20
Just make the bed

Rundown

Developer Productivity

McKinsey Developer Productivity Review
Even longer rebuttal.
The only people who don’t like metrics are the people being measured, or, developer productivity metrics quicksand

Reports

Kubernetes at Scale: Challenges, Priorities, Adoption Patterns, and Solutions
Announcing the 2023 State of DevOps Report

John Riccitiello is out at Unity, effective immediately
Wireless Emergency Alerts (WEA)

Relevant to your Interests

Why companies still want in-house data centres
Understanding the Cyber Resilience Act: What Everyone involved in Open Source Development Should Know
PayPal faces new antitrust lawsuit claiming it unfairly stifles competition with Stripe, Shopify and more
DuckDB Labs puts limit on free support, rules out VC funding
Genetics firm 23andMe says user data stolen in credential stuffing attack
Hackers are selling the data of millions lifted from 23andMe’s genetic database
Datadog stumbles as Bank of America downgrades, citing recent checks
IBM CEO in damage control mode after AI job loss comments
Google announces new generative AI search capabilities for doctors
Be an Open Source Absolutist!
Google Cloud mitigated largest DDoS attack, peaking above 398 million rps

Nonsense

Ice Is Not Necessary. So Why Do Hotels Provide It for Free?

Listener Feedback

Biogen hiring Senior Manager, Solution Architecture, Global Commercial and Medical IT (hybrid work)
RedHat hiring Principal Product Marketing Manager, OpenShift in Remote

Conferences

Oct 17th SpringOne Tour Online (free!) - Coté talking about platform engineering.
Oct 17th and 24th **talk series (yes, a “webinar”): Building a Path to Production: A Guide for Managers and Leaders in Platform Engineering. Coté’s doing this.
Nov 6-9, 2023, KubeCon NA, SDT’s a sponsor, Matt’s there. Use this VMware discount code for 20% off: KCNA23VMWEO20.
Nov 6-9, 2023 VMware Explore Barcelona, Coté’s attending
Nov 7–8, 2023 RISC-V Summit | Linux Foundation Events
Jan 29, 2024 to Feb 1, 2024 That Conference Texas
If you want your conference mentioned, let’s talk media sponsorships.

SDT news & hype

Join us in Slack.
Get a SDT Sticker! Send your postal address to [email protected] and we will send you free laptop stickers!
Follow us: Twitch, Twitter, Instagram, Mastodon, BlueSky, LinkedIn, TikTok, Threads and YouTube.
Use the code SDT to get $20 off Coté’s book, Digital WTF, so $5 total.
Become a sponsor of Software Defined Talk!

Recommendations

Brandon: macOS Sonoma
Matt: HomeSeek - post apocalyptic SimCity
Coté: Menewood, finally out! Over 700 subscribers for my newsletter - are you subscribed?!

Photo Credits

Header
Artwork