Engineering and Autonomy in the Age of Microservices - Nic Benders, New Relic

Nic Benders, New Relic's Chief Architect discusses how New Relic re-organized their engineering teams around microservices in order to achieve greater scale and efficiency

Transcript

1. ©2008-16 New Relic, Inc. All rights reserved. Nic Benders - Chief Architect, New Relic ©2008-16 New Relic, Inc. All rights reserved. 1 Engineering & Autonomy
 In the Age of Microservices @nicbenders
2. ©2008-16 New Relic, Inc. All rights reserved. Safe Harbor This document and the information herein (including any information that may be incorporated by reference) is provided for informational purposes only and should not be construed as an offer, commitment, promise or obligation on behalf of New Relic, Inc. (“New Relic”) to sell securities or deliver any product, material, code, functionality, or other feature. Any information provided hereby is proprietary to New Relic and may not be replicated or disclosed without New Relic’s express written permission. Such information may contain forward-looking statements within the meaning of federal securities laws. Any statement that is not a historical fact or refers to expectations, projections, future plans, objectives, estimates, goals, or other characterizations of future events is a forward-looking statement. These forward-looking statements can often be identified as such because the context of the statement will include words such as “believes,” “anticipates,” “expects” or words of similar import. Actual results may differ materially from those expressed in these forward-looking statements, which speak only as of the date hereof, and are subject to change at any time without notice. Existing and prospective investors, customers and other third parties transacting business with New Relic are cautioned not to place undue reliance on this forward-looking information. The achievement or success of the matters covered by such forward-looking statements are based on New Relic’s current assumptions, expectations, and beliefs and are subject to substantial risks, uncertainties, assumptions, and changes in circumstances that may cause the actual results, performance, or achievements to differ materially from those expressed or implied in any forward-looking statement. Further information on factors that could affect such forward-looking statements is included in the filings we make with the SEC from time to time. Copies of these documents may be obtained by visiting New Relic’s Investor Relations website at ir.newrelic.com or the SEC’s website at www.sec.gov. New Relic assumes no obligation and does not intend to update these forward-looking statements, except as required by law. New Relic makes no warranties, expressed or implied, in this document or otherwise, with respect to the information provided 2
3. ©2008-16 New Relic, Inc. All rights reserved. ▪ ▪ ©2008-16 New Relic, Inc. All rights reserved. 3
4. ©2008-16 New Relic, Inc. All rights reserved. ©2008-16 New Relic, Inc. All rights reserved. 4
5. ©2008-16 New Relic, Inc. All rights reserved. 5
6. ©2008-16 New Relic, Inc. All rights reserved. Organizations which design systems ... 
 are constrained to produce designs which are copies of the communication structures 
 of these organizations — Mel Conway 6
8. ©2008-16 New Relic, Inc. All rights reserved. Organizations which design systems ... 
 are constrained to produce designs which are copies of the communication structures 
 of these organizations — Mel Conway 8
9. ©2008-16 New Relic, Inc. All rights reserved. 9 Characteristics of a Microservice Architecture (From https://martinfowler.com/articles/microservices.html) • Componentization via Services • Organized around Business Capabilities • Products not Projects • Smart endpoints and dumb pipes • Decentralized Governance • Decentralized Data Management • Infrastructure Automation • Design for failure • Evolutionary Design
10. ©2008-16 New Relic, Inc. All rights reserved. 10 Characteristics of a Microservice Organization • Componentization via Teams • Organized around Business Capabilities • Products not Projects (Long-Term Ownership) • Smart Teams and dumb (communication) pipes • Decentralized Governance (Teams make decisions) • Decentralized Data Management (Data skills everywhere) • Infrastructure Automation (Self-Serve Infrastructure) • Design for failure • Evolutionary Design
11. ©2008-16 New Relic, Inc. All rights reserved. 11 Durable, full-ownership teams, organized around business capabilities, with the authority to choose their own tasks and the ability to complete those tasks independently. Reduce central control, emphasizing information flow from the center and decision making at the edge. Eliminate dependencies between teams, through org structure changes and tooling improvements.
12. Let’s have a re-org!
13. We’re engineers,
 we solve problems,
 let’s solve this one
14. We hire smart people, let them be smart
15. Optimize for agility
16. We’re data nerds
17. Engineers make
 the decisions Analysis Design Rollout Break dependencies
18. Break dependencies
23. Make strong teams
24. Full Ownership Teams
25. T-Shaped Engineers
26. Invert control
27. Self-selection
28. Harder than
 it looks :-/
29. Managers really didn’t like it :-(
30. Engineers 
 didn’t like it either :-(
31. We almost 
 backed down! :-o
32. Mitigations
33. The Big Event
34. Self-selection reveals opportunities
35. The power of 
 self determination
36. Working agreements
37. “We work together best when…”
38. Mob Programming Continuous Deployment Insights Team Weekly Demos & Retros
39. It really worked!
40. You hired smart engineers… trust them
41. Better teams make better products
42. Jim Shore
44. Thank you. Nic Benders @nicbenders