I’m David Knott. I’ve been working in enterprise technology for over forty years and I’m still learning. This blog is based on mistakes, failures, lessons and some things I find interesting:
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Reflections on one year at Google: platforms, products and practices
I celebrated my first Googleversary this week! It’s hard to believe that I have been here a year. I don’t know whether it feels longer or shorter: for me, as for many people, time has passed strangely over the last year.
I’ve learnt many things so far at Google - about culture, about collaboration and about customers. Unsurprisingly, I have also learnt about technology - in particular, to think more deeply about how Google uses technology, and what Cloud means for customers.
A lot has been written about Cloud (including quite a few words by me), but I’ve had a feeling for a while that much of this writing (including my own) does not really capture why Cloud matters so much. Considerations of Cloud often focus on core technology benefits (reduce cost, reduce risk, increase agility) or jump straight to ambitious business goals (innovate, disrupt, create new models), but I think that they often miss a big and important architectural chunk in the middle.