Every year, AWS’ re:Invent, the annual cloud computing conference, attracts a huge amount of customer and media interest as the largest and most comprehensive event of its kind.
2024’s event has been no different and more than 65,000 people have gathered in Las Vegas this week to hear the latest updates and innovations related to AWS.
However, not one to miss out on such a milestone in the tech calendar, 4,925 miles away in a slightly chilly and damp Edinburgh, our AWS User Group gathered to check out one of the major keynotes of the week – that of Dr Werner Vogels, CTO for Amazon.
For those who couldn’t attend the session, we have created a lowdown of his session to keep you in the loop…
Key insights from Dr Werner Vogels
In his keynote at The Venetian, Dr Vogels told the story of AWS over the 20 years he has worked for the organisation. In this, there was a clear thread of rising complexity.
Refreshingly, Vogels acknowledged how AWS manages complexity in its systems and as a result, stressed the importance of simplicity, organisational alignment, and embracing evolvability.
Throughout the session though, he drew on parallels between software architecture and organisational structure and shared his lessons in simplicity (or managing and limiting complexity).
We also learned that while we might think of complexity as a number of components, if we consider a bicycle as an example, despite it having more components than a unicycle, it is simpler to ride and navigate.
Here’s a topline overview of the key takeaways from the session:
Managing Complexity:
Navigating the cloud can feel like passing through an ever-expanding universe. While AWS services offer incredible power and flexibility, they also introduce layers of complexity. Vogels discussed how to truly master a cloud environment, organisations must embrace simplicity as a guiding principle and how it is important to recognise that complexity, both planned and accidental, is an inherent part of growth.
He advocated for organisations to tackle complexity head-on by structuring teams to mirror their desired architecture. His advice? Think small, autonomous units with clear ownership.
And just like AWS designs services like Route 53 for predictable performance, he guided those listening to build predictability into their own systems as this approach fosters stability, reduces unexpected issues, and empowers teams to thrive in the dynamic cloud landscape.
The six lessons in simplicity:
Time and again, during the session, Vogels stressed that “simplicity requires discipline”.
In a time of complex technology, he stressed a need to go back to basics and embrace simplicity. As part of this, he reinforced the following to achieve “simplexity”:
- Make evolvability a requirement: Design systems that can adapt to change over time – and recognise that they will!
- Break complexity into pieces: If workloads and architectures start to become overly complex, strip them back and split up the complexity.
- Align organisation to architecture: Don’t continue to add layers and layers of complexity – strip it back to the needs of the organisation and champion ownership so that teams become more invested to identify a solution that is more suitable for the needs of their organisation.
- Organise into cells: A cell-based architecture approach will help to reduce the scope of impact. By decomposing systems into isolated, independent cells it can help to reduce the impact of failures and improve manageability.
- Design predictable systems: By keeping systems simple and predictable, teams will be able to reduce the impact of uncertainty.
- Automate Complexity: Wherever possible, automate complex tasks to reduce manual effort and improve efficiency.
AWS Aurora DSQL:
As announced earlier in the week at re:Invent, AWS Aurora DSQL has been launched as a new distributed SQL database promising virtually unlimited scalability.
Designed for high resilience and business continuity, Aurora DSQL addresses challenges in distributed databases by offering multi-region strong consistency with low latency and precise global server synchronisation.
In his keynote, Vogels emphasised the importance of synchronised time as a fundamental building block for simplifying system design. He stressed that precise clocks can significantly reduce complexity in distributed systems.
The evolution of AWS’ already popular Aurora product will make its database services more robust, consistent, and globally accessible, catering to applications with demanding requirements for data integrity and availability.
Other key takeaways of the news from re:Invent can be found here: https://www.aboutamazon.com/news/aws/aws-reinvent-2024-keynote-live-news-updates
To explore what was discussed and how the latest AWS updates could benefit you, please contact us here. Or to join our next AWS User Group, please join us on Meetup here.
Watch back any of the AWS re:Invent keynotes here: https://reinvent.awsevents.com/experience/keynotes/
