Are enterprise browsers just about security?
Beyond the Hype
In this episode of Beyond the Hype, Oliver Cronk is joined by Bradon Rogers from Island, along with Scott Logic colleagues Dean Kerr and Robat Williams, to explore the potential of enterprise browsers. They delve into the advantages of enterprise browsers over standard options like Chrome and Edge, particularly in terms of security and productivity. Bradon describes how enterprise browsers, built on a Chromium foundation, offer a familiar user experience while integrating robust security features and application delivery capabilities. The discussion also covers the challenges of using...
info_outline
Technology Strategies: Essential roadmaps or just hype?
Beyond the Hype
In this episode, Oliver Cronk is joined by Technology Lead Andrew Carr and CTO Colin Eberhardt to delve into the evolving nature of technology strategy within organisations. As technological advancements accelerate, they question the relevance of a traditional long-term technology strategy and whether it has become an industry buzzword in itself. They explore the annual ritual of tech predictions and strategic planning, and whether it is practical or performative. They also debate the balance between addressing technical debt and fostering innovation, the influence of analyst-driven hype, and...
info_outline
Is observability just the new name for system monitoring?
Beyond the Hype
In this episode, Oliver Cronk is joined for a discussion on observability by Scott Rowan, Senior Developer at Scott Logic, and Daniel Gomez Blanco, Principal Engineer at Skyscanner and a member of the Open Telemetry Governance Committee. The conversation explores what observability means in modern distributed software architectures, how it differs from traditional monitoring, and the challenges of implementing observability at scale. The discussion touches on practical aspects of implementing observability and how this approach can lead to faster problem detection and resolution, as...
info_outline
Will we ever be able to secure GenAI?
Beyond the Hype
In this episode, Oliver Cronk, Doro Hinrichs and Kira Clark from Scott Logic are joined by Peter Gostev, Head of AI at Moonpig. Together, they explore whether we can ever really trust and secure Generative AI (GenAI), while sharing stories from the front line about getting to grips with this rapidly evolving technology. With its human-like, non-deterministic nature, GenAI frustrates traditional pass/fail approaches to software testing. The panellists explore ways to tackle this, and discuss Scott Logic’s Spy Logic project which helps development teams investigate defensive measures against...
info_outline
Can we do better than 'carbon aware' computing?
Beyond the Hype
In this episode, Oliver Cronk and David Rees from Scott Logic are joined by Hannah Smith, Director of Operations at Green Web Foundation, an organisation aiming to make the internet fossil-free by 2030. Together, they explore the potential benefits and limitations of ‘carbon aware’ computing, which involves scheduling computational workloads during times or in locations where energy sources have lower carbon emissions. With the simplicity of ‘carbon aware’ being at odds with the complexities of managing the electricity grid, they move on to discussing ‘grid aware’. This concept...
info_outline
UK GOV AI: Is innovation guided by principles enough?
Beyond the Hype
In this episode, Colin Eberhardt is joined by Jess McEvoy and Peter Chamberlin, who have both spent many years in senior roles within public sector organisations. Their conversation covers the excitement and concerns around AI, both from a citizen's perspective and for those building public services. They discuss the UK government’s approach to addressing AI challenges with its pro-innovation mantra, and whether this creates the right environment for success. They also touch on the need for global cooperation when tackling what are increasingly becoming global challenges. Links from this...
info_outline
Are Data Mesh and Data Fabric just Marchitecture?
Beyond the Hype
In this episode, Oliver Cronk, Andrew Carr and David Hope talk about the ever-changing world of data, with conversations moving from data warehouse to data lake, and data mesh to data fabric. They discuss the importance of data ownership and common tooling, and their view that data mesh is an approach rather than an architecture. Links from the podcast by Zhamak Dehghani by Alice LaPlante by Sonia Mezzetta
info_outline
Can technology sustainability really make a difference?
Beyond the Hype
In this episode, Oliver Cronk is joined by experts including Jeremy Axe, Group CTO at DS Smith, and consultants Darren Smith and Katie Davis from Scott Logic. Together, they unpack topics like the energy usage and carbon emissions of IT infrastructure, the challenges in accurately measuring sustainability, and whether claims of ‘green tech’ are substantiated or just hype. The conversation covers the nuances around operational versus embodied carbon emissions, the sustainability trade-offs involved in cloud versus on-premises hosting, and the need for transparency and standards around...
info_outline
Was the threat the CRA seemed to pose to open source just hype?
Beyond the Hype
In this episode, Colin is joined by Rebecca Rumbul, CEO of Rust Foundation, and Mirko Boehm from Linux Foundation Europe. Between them, they have decades of experience in open source. They start by discussing the critical role open source has grown to play in the world of software and how this, along with its growing complexity, presents significant challenges. They then turn their attention to the Cyber Resilience Act (CRA), a piece of EU legislation that is actively under development, designed to make end-user products more secure. Early drafts of this act detailed significant obligations on...
info_outline
DevSecOps, a portmanteau too far?
Beyond the Hype
In this episode, Oliver and Peter from Scott Logic are joined by Laura Bell Main, CEO and co-founder of SafeStack, for a lively discussion on DevSecOps. They touch on techniques such as “assume breach” and “shift left”, and the relationship to DevOps, which is trying to solve a similar problem. However, much of the discussion focused quite simply on security and the challenges this presents, especially when this so often falls to a very small team or an individual. Laura mentioned at the end of the recording. It’s a free appsec program that helps software teams worldwide bring...
info_outlineIn this month’s episode we talk about Behaviour Driven Development (BDD), a testing practice where system behaviours are captured in a human readable Domain Specific Language (DSL), which are automated and executed.
Colin is joined by colleagues Daniel McNamee, Xin Chen and Jack Arnstein who bring their many years of testing experience to a lively debate on this topic.
They discuss the essence of BDD: is it the DSL, the automation frameworks, or is it more simply the conversations that take place as part of writing these scenarios/feature files?
There are also limitations to BDD, so they discuss when it provides value, and when it might not. And they consider the question ‘just how expensive is it as an approach?’. Finally, they wrap up by considering whether BDD is simply misunderstood.
Links from the podcast:
- Introducing BDD – Dan North
- The Tragedy of Given-When-Then – Chris Matts
- The Three Amigos
- The Value at the Intersection of TDD, DDD, and BDD – Darshan Satya