How can we build a culture in our software development teams that can make the most of what a microservice oriented architecture has to offer?

1. Building teams
that build
microservices

2. Introduction
CTO and co-founder @ Goji
Direct Lending investment manager and
technology platform
@david_genn
@Goji_investor

3. Providing steady returns
(15)
(10)
(5)
-
5
10
Monthly return (%)
UK Alternative Credit FTSE100
@david_genn #mucon

4. "organizations which design
systems ... are constrained to
produce designs which are
copies of the
communication structures of
these organizations."
@david_genn #mucon

5. @david_genn #mucon

6. Our architecture and processes
reflect our culture
@david_genn #mucon

7. Mismatches between architecture and
culture are painful and often not easy to
identify
@david_genn #mucon

8. “I trust the automated tests, do we have to do
a full UAT cycle?”
“I’ve tested this already, can I just release it?”
“I think this new technology will serve us
better, can we try it?”
@david_genn #mucon

9. “Why hasn’t this code been released yet?” …
silence
“The business need to give us clearer
requirements”
“I don’t understand ‘all this Docker stuff’”
@david_genn #mucon

10. Aligning characteristics of teams and
architecture
Microservices Teams
Decoupled Maturity
Well defined bounded
contexts
Defined responsibility and
purpose
Resilience T-shaped individuals
Scalability Loosely coupled, highly
aligned
Automation Shared best practices
Technological isolation Trusted to make decisions
@david_genn #mucon

11. Hypothesis: The rate of change of your
architecture must match the rate of
change of your culture and organizational
design and vice versa
@david_genn #mucon

12. Leadership focus
People
AlignmentContext
@david_genn #mucon

13. Leadership focus
More… less…
@david_genn #mucon

14. People
Your single biggest
responsibility as a leader is to
believe that the success of the
team ultimately depends on the
people in the team. You must
create a culture where the
whole is greater than the sum
of the parts.
@david_genn #mucon

15. People
• Being available
• Providing feedback
• Coaching
• Caring
• Hiring and firing
• “The unexamined life is not
worth living” Socrates
• Psychological awareness
@david_genn #mucon

16. Context
For a team to be successful, it
needs to know how it
contributes to the goal of the
organization.
@david_genn #mucon

17. Context
• Corporate goals
• Communication
• Definition of success
• Metrics
• Organisational feedback
@david_genn #mucon

18. Alignment
Teams need to be loosely
coupled but all working towards
the same overall goal.
Together.
@david_genn #mucon

19. Alignment
• Design organisational
structure
• Remove politics / ambiguity
• Clarify
• Retrospect
• Surface and promote best
practices
@david_genn #mucon

20. When building from scratch, it’s all about
hiring. Hire people with the characteristics
to create the architecture you want.
They will create an architecture that
reflects who they are.
@david_genn #mucon

21. When changing an existing culture and
architecture, you have a choice between
evolution and revolution.
One mechanism has been perfected over
billions of years, the other results in the
guillotine.
@david_genn #mucon

22. Bibliography: People
@david_genn #mucon

23. Bibliography: Personal growth
@david_genn #mucon

24. Bibliography: Context and alignment
@david_genn #mucon