February 29, 2016 / by Melanie Haessler / Web developer / @codingCookie
GOTO 2015 - Berlin | a recap
Conference Season 2015 came to an end - and my last one was GOTO Berlin.
2 days of awesome talks about Microservices, mastering Mobile, Agility, Privacy & Security, Web API’s and of course Docker and Alternatives.
This years Motto was ‘Going into space’ - so the location Kosmos was well chosen as well as the Keynotes.
Russ Olsen opened the conference on Thursday (3rd Dec) with his Keynote ‘To The Moon’ - he talks about the parallels between space missions and Software Development. The Keynote was really awesome and touching and he reminds me of all the great things we can achieve. Thanks again @russolsen.
session highlights
Microservices UX: The Technical Journey to Microservices | Russell Miles | Slides | @russmiles
Russell really rocked the stage - he opened his talk with a live performance of AC/DC’s ‘Highway to Hell’ with a little bit of new text - we need definitely more guitars on tech-stages ;)
In his talk he showed some technical journeys and spoke about tradeoffs that have been made, tools which have to be invented, questions that should be asked and finally how you can adopt your own system to a good Microservices infrastructure (eg ‘discuss events from the past to get a clue what Microservices you (really) need’).
Microservices@Spotify | Kevin Goldsmith | Slides | @kevingoldsmith
Kevin talked about how breaking up the big monoliths - we all know - in your schedule, your organization and your architectures.
He gave an insight into how Spotify is able to maintain their ~810 active services - puuhhh….wow - with their structures, processes etc.
Further notes:
- http://spotify.github.io/apollo/ > a set of Java libraries that are used at Spotify when writing micro-services
Healthcare for the Elderly Using the IoT | Gerrit Grunwald | Slides | @hansolo_
Gerrit took us on a journey on which he convinced his grandma to use eg a SmartWatch or Flic buttons if she needs help. He talked about the thoughts during that journey and showed the software he and his family developed and use to get sure that everything is fine with her - even when they are not with her.
The software shows the last known location + health information of a person (his grandma in this case) as well as information relating a contact person.
It’s a great example of what we can achieve with actual technologies and a piece of software - eg being sure that everything is ok with the ones we love.
Don’t Optimize Team-level Performance! Don’t Scale Team-level Approaches! | Klaus Leopold | Slides | @klausleopold
Klaus talked about steps that should be made to achieve better agile interactions within and between teams. He gave some tips how to optimize the work and processes - eg
- visualize the work
- limit work in progress
- implement feedback loops (get feedback as soon as possible)
One of my favorite quotes: ‘stop starting - start finishing’
Prototyping an Agile Culture with LEGO® SERIOUS PLAY® | Katrin Elster | Slides
This session was a ‘must have’ - on the one hand I had no clue how Lego could help with agile processes - on the other hand I love Lego :)
Have you ever tried to build you agile superpower with Lego? NO? - you should try it! ;)
We started with 5 persons at a table and had a ‘construction’ plan for a turtle. After building this turtle you should explain to the others what you think does it stands for - in an agile environment.
After everyone at your table told his ideas we got another mission - build a bridge - explain the others why you have build the bridge like you did…
And so it goes on with several other missions - build something and explain to the others why you did it this way.
I got a vey good idea how this could work with a team - searching for a matching agile process. I think we should try this at work - not only why we all love to play with Lego ;)
landed back on earth
It were 2 great days - I got some new ideas to think about, again I met old and new friends, good talks during the breaks, incredibly delicious food, a very nice location - and Berlin is also a wonderful city.
Hopefully I can make it to the GOTO 2016.
further sessions & recordings
There were many many more good session.
You can download the slides for almost every session on the GOTO-schedule:
I would also recommend to stay tuned to the GOTO Berlin YouTube channel - there are many more good recordings to come (publication calender).
