This month, as Chief Therapy Officer, I take a look at the hidden cost of offering your platforms for free. I give real world examples of those that hit crisis point and others that saved millions by implementing simple showback mechanisms. newsletter.bryanross.me/p/the-hidden...

Two weeks. No laptop. No calls. No Slack. Just a sailing boat, the Finnish coastline, the Åland Islands, and Sweden’s archipelago. When we don't step away, we risk making smaller and smaller decisions inside the same narrow headspace. This is your sign to fully unplug for a couple of weeks! ⛵️

Wondering what really comes next in AI? In this article, we look at what past disruptive technologies can teach us about what’s coming next (beyond the hype!) newsletter.bryanross.me/p/ai-disrupt...

The hard problems in tech aren't technical. My job is about listening, interpreting and translating with curiosity and empathy. This is the monthly topic for the Platforms Community content club, so I'm sharing the story of when this lesson first sunk in. newsletter.bryanross.me/p/the-hard-p...

Well, looky here! The New Stack were kind enough to publish my article on the importance of product teams over technologies. I'd love to hear what you think! thenewstack.io/accelerating...

"I asked ChatGPT" well I asked my cat's anus looks like we both did our research

After pecking at this article on trains and planes over the past few weeks, I've finally published my thoughts on the different challenges you face when your platform becomes mature. newsletter.bryanross.me/p/beyond-lau...

Who's going to be joining at the AWS GenAI Security Symposium in a few weeks? 📍Kings Place, London 🗓️ 22nd May 2025 | 9:00 AM - 5:30 PM 👉 Register now! www.aws-partner-events.com/gen-ai-secur...

The most exciting thing about MCP is that we can start talking about ChatOps again! 😍

This. I’ve had enough “once in a generation” events thank you very much.

Is your company guilty of metrics misuse? Have DORA metrics been weaponised to compare the productivity of teams or individuals? Maybe you should send them my latest article about Metrics That Matter! 📈

My contribution to ✨CNCF Content Club✨ is now live! It's not too late to join in - just publish your own thoughts about Team Topologies in the Real World, leave me a comment, and I'll ask the other contributors to help boost on their social media.

This month on my Chief Therapy Officer newsletter, I lay out the basics of creating an AI strategy for your platform engineering initiative. I take a look behind the hype and dive into why I think there's more to AI than code generation. Let me know what you think!

"we in tech have a tendency to see every challenge through the lens of technology, searching for technical solutions to what are often fundamentally human problems. " -

"Our records show that you have a [..] lifetime access account. As part of integrating A Cloud Guru into the Pluralsight platform, we are terminating your lifetime course access license [..] on Feb 1" ... I wonder if Pluralsight offers a "lifetime access account" so I can view what I paid for? 😂

Busy today re-stocking our wood supplies so that we can continue to cozy up around a real fire over the festive period! I bring the wood, my boys keep the fire going, and my wife makes the best hot chocolate! 🪵🔥☕️

Tensions are high in the Ross household, as the boys prepare for the Constructors Cup (of hot chocolate)! Last year we saw some very imaginative uses of icing sugar to help the structure endure more thumps from my rolling pin! 🏠🔨🍬

Happy festive everyone! 🎄❄ However you choose to spend this festive period, I wish you and your loved ones the very best!

Excitement builds in the Ross household as we kick off the annual Brandy Butter competition! My eldest is optimistic that 2024 is his year to take the (chocolate) crown this year! 🎄🥃🧈👑

Is it just me that's permanently disappointed at exactly how well going for even a short walk can change your brain juices for the better?

Why is getting access to IT systems such a painful experience? In this months article I share the most common issues I see developers have when starting with a new platform, and what platform engineers can do about them.

Platform Engineers let me save you a fortune in expensive consultancy…. Go buy a developer a coffee and just listen.

Best bring the washing in my Irish and Welsh friends! The shipping forecast says it all . . . . "⁠South or southwest 7 to severe gale 9, veering north or northwest severe gale 9 to violent storm 11" .... for reference... anything over an '8' is Very Bad News.

Okay ... things just got interesting! AWS and GitLab have just announced an integrated AI offering to accelerate software innovation and developer productivity: GitLab Duo with Amazon Q 👀

Wow… it’s kicking off, huh! “The European Federation of Journalists (EFJ) has decided it will no longer post content on Elon Musk’s social media platform, X” europeanjournalists.org

The CNCF Platforms Working Group needs your input! After the Platform Engineering Maturity Model's success, we're now focusing on Platform-as-a-Product. Can you share your real-world experiences by completing our survey?

Classic. 🙃

There’s something special about delivering a talk in your home town. Many thanks to everyone who attended my keynote speech for Digit Expo in Edinburgh and asked such great questions! 🙌 Another packed room! I snapped this photo myself beforehand!

That moment when you realise you've missed the CfP deadline for Kubecon EU ...

My kids asked me at what age do you stop getting excited by snowfall … I told them I’d let them know as soon as it happens to me. ☃️

The Bluesky phenom is a good reminder that there is still *so much* kindness and good in the world and *so many* kind people out there. Yes, there are terrible things too, but don't forget to look for the good.

this comment is just so on point. it's fucking deep.

🥶

Sub-zero temperatures means it’s officially that time of year again! 🔥🥃

As I think about wrapping up the year, I want to share the top five ways I've seen platform engineering initiatives fail, based on 100's of customer discussions and my own decade of platform-building experience.

This week, I joined some of our executive customers for a private dining experience at Hutong in the Shard. It was wonderful to connect personally in such a stunning setting with delicious food. A fantastic evening I hope we can repeat in the New Year.

Thank you, Stockholm, for the warm welcome and great questions on prioritizing vulnerabilities specific to your applications and environment. If you're interested in my thoughts on vulnerability vs. exposure management, feel free to reach out!

Well, hello there! 🦊

Many US friends in disbelief today. I was going to post something empathic about the uk brexit vote, but instead, here’s my contribution. I can’t promise any better, but our baby cows look like this 🐮

stop doomscrolling for a second and look at this cutie. he doesn’t even know what an election is.

Big thanks to the folks at DIGIT for inviting me to present at this this years expo in Edinburgh. It's great to get an opportunity to speak in my home town, and I'm proud to support Scotland's biggest tech showcase! It's free to attend and I'd love to see you there. 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿

I love my robotic vacuum. I like my robotic lawnmower a little less because I like cutting grass. Bring AI solutions that remove toil and let me do the fun stuff! Fill my tax return and leave the art and music to me please!

And for those reasons, I’d argue developers too.

It was great to catch up with Kaspar and Balaji last week for the Platform Engineering Executive Roundtable, where we spoke about some of top failures, how to build a realistic ROI, as well as tips for growing adoption of your platform. 🚀

Scotland vs Fiji 🏉 Great sportsmanship from Scotland tonight as they applauded each Fiji point tonight. All the tingles as 60,000 Scot’s sing Flower of Scotland. Also, my son’s first Mexican wave! 👋

Today I met up with a friend an ex-colleague that I've not seen in 15 years! I'm not sure who needs to hear it, but this is your prompt to reach out to someone you've not spoken to in a long time. You can thank me later!

Interest in #platformengineering but not sure who to follow? Here's a little Starter Pack i've been working on. Let me know if you'd like me to add you to it 👍🏼 go.bsky.app/SVTURgj

💯🖤

Who fancies joining me and the @GitLab team at @RedHat Summit in Stockholm next week? I'll be giving a short talk on the increasing challenge of staying up to date with software vulnerabilities and how you can prioritise and fix them faster.