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7 Wastes of Data Production
Update: there is a more recent talk & summary of this content at 7 wastes of data production – when pipelines become sewers. I realised recently that this is one of the lenses through which I look at the data engineering world, but I had never expressed these (lean) wastes explicitly. This post might be…
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Governments’ Handling of COVID App Data
I was able to contribute to this article from FST Media: Exposing the fault lines in governments’ handling of Covid app data. I talked about the need for citizens to have trust in the collection and use of data, lest lack of trust undermine the utility of the data. If the risks aren’t properly managed,…
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LEGO and Software – Part Roles
This is the fifth post in a series exploring LEGO® as a Metaphor for Software Reuse. A key consideration for reuse is the various roles that components can play when combined or re-combined in sets. Below we’ll explore how we can use data about LEGO parts and sets to understand the roles parts play in…
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Guiding the Evolution of Data Mesh with Fitness Functions
I presented this webinar with Zhamak Dehghani – see the recording Guiding the Evolution of Data Mesh with Fitness Functions. There was great engagement with the topic and we captured some questions and further thoughts on this mini-blog post, published a little later. This presentation brought together the idea of architectural fitness functions from the…
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LEGO and Software – Part Reuse
This is the fourth post in a series exploring LEGO® as a Metaphor for Software Reuse. The story is evolving as I go because I keep finding interesting things in the data. I’ll tie it all up with the key things I’ve found at some point. In this post we’re looking from the part perspective…
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Why the Australian COVIDSafe App Failed
It was a pleasure to collaborate with some of my colleagues on this article in The Australian newspaper, which I was able to put my name to. The article is titled Why the COVIDSafe App Failed, and may need a subscription to access. The tl;dr The COVIDSafe experience has been an education and if one…
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LEGO and Software – Lifespans
This is the third post in a series exploring LEGO as a Metaphor for Software Reuse through data (part 1 & part 2). In this post, we’ll look at reuse through the lens of LEGO® part lifespans. Not how long before the bricks wear out, are chewed by your dog, or squashed painfully underfoot in…
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LEGO and Software – Variety and Specialisation
Since my first post on LEGO as a Metaphor for Software Reuse, I have done some more homework on existing analyses of LEGO® products, to understand what I could myself reuse and what gaps I could fill with further data analysis. I’ve found three fascinating analyses that I share below. However, I should note that…
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LEGO as a Metaphor for Software Reuse – Does the Data Stack Up?
LEGO® products are often cited as a metaphor for software reuse; individual parts being composable in myriad ways. I think this is a bit simplistic and may miss the point for software, but let’s assume we should aim to make software in components that are as reusable as LEGO parts. With that assumption, what level…
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Data Visualisation Podcast
It was fun to join the ThoughtWorks Tech Podcast again, with Zhamak Dehghani, Alexey Boas, and Ned Letcher, this time to talk about Getting to grips with data visualization. A vast array of powerful data visualization tools are gaining traction in enterprises looking to make sense of their data sets, for instance D3, Bokeh, Shiny…