In this interview with The New Stack's Heather Joslyn - filmed at KubeCon NA 2023 - I demystify platforms and portals and discuss where they fit in the broader topic of Platform Engineering.
From 2019 to 2021, I product managed of the globally recognized spring.io website. During this tenure, I led a collaborative team in a complete website overhaul, ensuring its relevance and user experience for the new decade. The result? A modern, user-friendly design that continues to serve audiences effectively, even 4+ years after its launch.
Legacy unresponsive design
No Quickstart
No Explainers
No Outcome Focus
No News or Upcoming events
No themes
Modern "responsive" Design
Quickstart Tutorials
Crafted Explainers
Outcome focussed
News & upcoming events
Light or dark theme
Here are just a few of the public reactions to the new website at launch back in 2020...
As the product manager for the AxonIQ Initializr, my main responsibilities involved overseeing the creation, development and maintenance of this application which provides developers with an easy way to create new coding projects based on Axon Framework. My role included:
App Development: I lead the developers in the creation and enhancement of the AxonIQ Initializr setting the vision, creating the epics, and writing stories.
Feature Planning: I identified and prioritized the features and functionality to ensure fast launch (< 3 months) and cost/benefit efficiency.
User Experience: I worked with our designers to create a user-friendly interface and slick user experience using tools like Figma.
Quality Assurance: I helped to ensure that robust quality control measures were in place to guarantee the tool's reliability and effectiveness and ease ongoing maintenance.
Feedback Management: I gathered user feedback and insights and used them to continuously refine and optimize the AxonIQ Initializr tool.
By managing these aspects, I played a crucial role in providing developers with a convenient and efficient way to start their coding projects using the Axon Framework. Sadly, without my help managing and marketing this tool, the company has been unable to grow its usage after we parted ways in 2021. The product was discontinued in Feb 2024 in favour of a private console.
Much of the content I produce is sensitive and copyrighted and can't be shared publicly. As a technical marketer for a commercial product a lot of the work I do is for the sales enablement and competitive advantage of my employer. Content in this category would include sales presentations, analyst briefings, training materials, partner talks, documentation, training, etc. are all private and confidential. However, here is a small selection of the items that are available publicly:
Spring
Official Spring Website [see below for more details]
RSocket With Spring Boot [Full 8 Article Series]
Spring Cloud Data Flow With Kubernetes [Full 5 Video Series]
Spring Cloud Gateway [Series]
Backstage
Backstage is a popular open source Internal Developer Portal (IDP) originally created at Spotify and used in products like VMware Tanzu and Red Hat.
Backchat - The Backstage Generative AI Plugin (⭐37) - a plugin that surfaces open source private generative AI tools in the Backstage developer portal.
Tanzu Application Platform
All these apps are designed to offer the same Web and REST API interfaces. Together demonstrate how the secure software supply chains feature of Tanzu Application Platform allows coders to use whichever programming language they prefer.
Spring Boot With Maven (📽️ video)
Node.js With Express (📽️ video)
Spring
Spring is a popular framework used by over 60% of Java developers. Spring features hundreds of libraries that help developers avoid complex plumbing code so they can concentrate on business logic.
I like to speak publicly about the technologies I work with, and I regularly help out at industry events on my employers show stands performing meet-and-greet and product demo duties. I love talking with prospects and customers - giving guided tours of the products and services I'm associated with. You may have already bumped into me or seen one of my talks at one of the following events:
KubeCon/BackstageCon NA
VMware Explore
SpringOne
Mainstage Master of Ceremonies [MC].
In 2020 (during the COVID pandemic) SpringOne had to go completely virtual in a hurry. I took on mainstage MC duties alongside my colleague Bryan Liles. I wrote the script, co-presented, and introduced the various guests and dignitaries.
Cloud Foundry Summit
Watch recordings in my playlist on YouTube
What's New In VMware Tanzu Application Platform [I do roughly one of these per quarter]
This is a small selection of the video work I've done. The majority of the videos I make myself are edited using open source tools like Kdenlive. For thumbnails I prefer simple tools and often use regular office software with visuals from AI applications. For sound editing I use Audacity. For closed captions [subtitles], transcripts, and translations I use open source tools and AI. For publication, statistics, and analytics I use YouTube. My current desktop OS is Fedora Workstation (Linux).
Deploy Spring Boot To Production In Seconds With Tanzu App Platform
Backstage In The Tanzu Developer Portal
Private Generative AI In Spotify Backstage With "Backchat"
SHORT: Safely Deploy Straight To Prod Using Dockerfiles
Tanzu Talk
These are just a few examples of episodes I'm in from the TanzuTalk podcast. Mostly I blut the line between guest and co-presenter. Sometimes I'm a guest, sometimes I'm a co-presenter, sometimes I'm both!
The New Stack
An interview I did for The New Stack's "Makers" series on internal developer platforms, internal developer portals and DevOps. Recorded at KubeCon NA in Chicago in 2023.
As one of the channel managers behind the scenes, I helped VMware Tanzu create better YouTube content with a number of initiatives. First, strategy and direction setting - working with a diverse group of colleagues from editorial and creative to iron out that channel's goals and content aspirations. Second, consistency and quality - training my colleagues on all aspects of video production and creating guidance on better listing standards (covering thumbnails, descriptions, subtitles and more).
I manage my sons YouTube gaming channel designed specifically for very young players of Wobbly Life. Wobbly Life is a kid friendly open sandbox adventure game full of fun. You can choose to play alone, local co-op, or online with friends and strangers. Learn how to install Wobbly Life here.
Before taking the role of Technical Marketing Manager for Spring at Pivotal in 2019, I'd had a long career in software development:
Advisory Cloud Native Solutions Architect: driving adoption of cloud native platforms by working 1-2-1 with development teams and sales engineers using agile development methodologies to modernise applications and drive cloud adoption in enterprises all over Europe including Rabobank, Office for National Statistics, Jaguar, and Renault. (2016-2018)
Principal SOA Architect for SOA Growers Ltd: SOA Growers was my consulting company which specialised in driving forward the design, delivery, and adoption of Service Oriented Architecture and microservices in large enterprise clients including Kingfisher PLC, Boeing Defence UK, and Travis Perkins PLC. (2007-2018)
Senior Java Developer for Answer Consulting: working as a Java developer for clients including William Hill PLC, Gaz De France UK, and the NHS. (2004-2007)
Ben is an exceptionally talented and dedicated technical marketer. He has a deep understanding of VMware's technology and is able to clearly articulate the value proposition of our solutions to both technical and non-technical audiences. Ben's qualities include:
Technical Acumen - With experience in various technical roles, Ben has impressive knowledge of virtualization, cloud, programming and other data centre technologies. This allows him to connect with technical audiences 1-to-1 and deliver content suited to their needs.
Skilled Communicator - Ben can break down complex technical concepts into simple, clear explanations tailored to any audience. He is an engaging presenter at industry events, sales meetings, and in online content.
Forward-Thinking Innovator - Ben stays ahead of emerging technologies like AI and offers product strategy recommendations based on market trends. He shares his tech vision publicly as a thought leader. For example, check out his “Backchat” plugin for Backstage. Ben developed this himself to appeal to other forward thinkers in the fast growing developer productivity space.
Digital Media Expert - Ben helped expand VMware's Tanzu YouTube channel and TanzuTalk podcast presence by devising creative strategies to increase engagement. He drove improvements in production standards and content quality.
Keith Lee, Team Lead, VMware
Period: 2022 - 2024
Ben’s role [under my leadership at VMware] was a hybrid of Product Marketing and Technical Marketing, which provided some unique challenges. The role required someone adept at the demand generation aspects of product marketing, but also required someone technical enough to sit down and write code for a Spring demo.
In this role, Ben excelled at building awareness and driving adoption for Spring among developers worldwide. He crafted compelling messaging and content that clearly communicated Spring's value proposition as an open source framework for building Java applications. He frequently spoke at conferences, made video recordings and podcasts, and was active on social media and with customers. He stepped up to the challenge of mainstage MC for our flagship Spring One conference during the COVID pandemic, writing and presenting the scripts that introduced guest speakers from the world of technology over this three-day virtual event.
Ben was instrumental in crafting the spring.io website, writing much of the static content, guiding designers and contributors, and managing the many-month project from start to finish. In addition, his YouTube videos and website blogs still feature among our most popular and contribute valuable views and watch time to this day.
Dan Baskette, Director of Developer Relations, VMware
Period: 2019 - 2021