Microservices Means Macrocommunication — Paige Bernier

The tl;dr is "how microservices can better facilitate communication between team members
and from team to team".

Adopting microservices means a shift in architecture of our system and in communication.
Letting your upstream and downstream dependencies know of major changes is not just a
courtesy but required in order to keep things moving. Communicating early and often takes
shape in strategies like versioning, informative deprecation warnings, temporarily
providing backwards compatibility can all help enforce the coming changes. Treating
internal APIs on a team with the same integrity as externally facing ones makes for a
happy team.

This type of content seems straightforward so I’ll take the approach of “do this not that”
and look at realistic examples such as: during active development a team picks up your
work and suddenly becomes a dependency - how do you gracefully communicate constant
changes? Or its endpoint deprecation day and you still have active consumers - how to
provide the tools they need to migrate to the new stuff. Or the nuts and bolts of why and
how keeping documentation up to date will add to your daily productivity.

The flipside of microservices facilitate better communication is that better communication
is an absolute requirement if you want to the people side to run efficiently. After this
talk people will be excited to implement these strategies and see positive results.

Transcript

1. Microservices Means Macrocommunication Paige Bernier @alpacatron3000
2. Portland, Oregon
3. Rocky <---- Norman ---->
5. The story begins...
6. First Team Autonomous! Greenfield! Predictable traffic!
7. Second Team Interteam dependencies! (some) legacy code! Variable traffic!
8. First I Learned... • Trust is essential
9. Then I Learned... • Trust is essential • Good communication is mandatory
10. “Macrocommunication is the art of communication at scale”
11. What does success look like? • Clear & open communication
12. Traits • Trust • Empathy ◦ Empathy != sympathy • Proactive mindset
13. Organizational Level
14. The Org
15. Complete teams Front End & Back End Ops Product Manager Designer Engineering Manager
16. Minimal Standardization • Announcements-only channel
17. Minimal Standardization • Announcements-only channel • Source of truth
18. Minimal Standardization • Announcements-only channel • Source of truth • Supported tools/technologies
19. Minimal Standardization • Announcements-only channel • Source of truth • Supported tools/technologies • Prioritized initiatives
20. Minimal Standardization • Announcements-only channel • Source of truth • Supported tools/technologies • Prioritized initiatives • Team offices
21. Culture of Recognition
22. Interteam
23. Interteam
24. Know your “service neighborhood”
25. Treat your downstream like customers! • Complete READMEs ◦ Architecture diagram
26. Treat your downstream like customers! • Complete READMEs ◦ Architecture diagram ◦ 1 line description
27. Treat your downstream like customers! • Complete READMEs ◦ Architecture diagram ◦ 1 line description ◦ Running locally
28. Treat your downstream like customers! • Complete READMEs ◦ Architecture diagram ◦ 1 line description ◦ Running locally ◦ Contributing
29. Treat your downstream like customers! • Friendly APIs ◦ Documentation
30. Treat your downstream like customers! • Friendly APIs ◦ Documentation ◦ Informative error messages ◦ Way to send test data
31. Treat your downstream like customers! • Friendly APIs ◦ Documentation ◦ Informative error messages ◦ Way to send test data
32. Intrateam
33. Intrateam
34. Being a good teammate • Assume good intent
35. Being a good teammate • Assume good intent • Be flexible
36. Being a good teammate • Assume good intent • Be flexible • Written culture
37. Being a good teammate • Assume good intent • Be flexible • Written culture • Expand your perspective
38. Real Life Examples
39. Example #1 The hot potato service
40. Example #1 The hot potato service • Have a quick handover meeting
41. Example #1 The hot potato service • Have a quick handover meeting • Celebrate unloading this awful service
42. Example #1 The hot potato service • Have a quick handover meeting • Celebrate unloading this awful service
43. Example #1 The hot potato service • Tune alerts
44. Example #1 The hot potato service • Tune alerts • Update README
45. Example #1 The hot potato service • Tune alerts • Update README • Document “gotchas”
46. Example #1 The hot potato service • Tune alerts • Update README • Document “gotchas” • Codebase tour
47. Example #2 To complete their work, Team X has asked you to do work due next week.
48. Example #2 To complete their work, Team X has asked you to do work due next week. • Silently file a ticket and leave it for prioritization next week
49. Example #2 To complete their work, Team X has asked you to do work due next week. • Silently file a ticket and leave it for prioritization next week • Complain about Team X’s tight deadline
50. Example #2 To complete their work, Team X has asked you to do work due next week. • Silently file a ticket and leave it for prioritization next week • Complain about Team X’s tight deadline • Refuse saying you have too much work
51. Example #2 To complete your feature you need Team X to do a thing • In the middle of your sprint ask the team to do work • File a ticket and never talk to Team X about it • Complain about Team X’s unwillingness to help
52. Example #2 To complete their work, Team X has asked you to do work due next week. • Tell your team/manager immediately
53. Example #2 To complete their work, Team X has asked you to do work due next week. • Tell your team/manager immediately • Prioritize it
54. Example #2 To complete their work, Team X has asked you to do work due next week. • Tell your team/manager immediately • Prioritize it • Determine when the work could get done
55. Example #2 To complete their work, Team X has asked you to do work due next week. • Tell your team/manager immediately • Prioritize it • Determine when the work could get done • Talk to Team X about the deadline
56. Example #3 Your team owns a shared library and you need everyone to upgrade
57. Example #3 Your team owns a shared library and you need everyone to upgrade • Send 2 emails months in advance
58. Example #3 Your team owns a shared library and you need everyone to upgrade • Send 2 emails months in advance • Set a deprecation warning with no details on how to upgrade
59. Example #3 Your team owns a shared library and you need everyone to upgrade • Send 2 emails months in advance • Set a deprecation warning with no details on how to upgrade • Spam all communication channels multiple times a day
60. Example #3 Your team owns a shared library and you need everyone to upgrade • Send 2 emails months in advance • Set a deprecation warning with no details on how to upgrade • Spam all communication channels multiple times a day • Force the upgrade
61. Example #3 Your team owns a shared library and you need everyone to upgrade • Send 2 emails months in advance • Set the deprecation warning with no details on how to upgrade • Spam all communication channels multiple times a day
62. Example #3 Your team owns a shared library and you need everyone to upgrade • Provide context, “the why”
63. Example #3 Your team owns a shared library and you need everyone to upgrade • Provide context, “the why” • Proactively monitor the migration
64. Example #3 Your team owns a shared library and you need everyone to upgrade • Provide context, “the why” • Proactively monitor the migration • Generous timeline
65. Example #3 Your team owns a shared library and you need everyone to upgrade • Provide context, “the why” • Proactively monitor the migration • Generous timeline • Informative, updated deprecation warnings
66. Example #3 Your team owns a shared library and you need everyone to upgrade • Provide context, “the why” • Proactively monitor the migration • Generous timeline • Informative, updated deprecation warnings • Talk to straggling teams
67. Microservices should influence your technology and your communication
68. Thanks! Paige Bernier @alpacatron3000