Complexity kills.
… the startups we audited that are now doing the best usually had an almost brazenly ‘Keep It Simple’ approach to engineering. Cleverness for cleverness sake was abhorred. On the flip side, the companies where we were like ”woah, these folks are smart as hell” for the most part kind of faded.
https://renegadeotter.com/2023/09/10/death-by-a-thousand-microservices.html*
In January, I dusted off (and charged) my Kindle. Sunday, I finished book #15 for 2023: Atomic Habits by James Clear. Like physical exercise, reading is something I wanted to reincorporate into my life as a habit. Probably should’ve started with James’s book. So here’s the next 15, in no particular order.
“Principles” by Ray Dalio “Zero to One” by Peter Thiel “Algorithms to Live By” by Brian Christian and Tom Griffiths “Ten Types of Innovation” by Larry Keeley “Switch: How to Change Things When Change Is Hard” by Chip and Dan Heath “Move or Die: Creating a Game-Plan from Stuck to Significance” by Chris Carlisle “American Icon: Alan Mulally and the Fight to Save Ford Motor Company” by Bryce G. Hoffman “Shoe Dog: A Memoir by the Creator of Nike” by Phil Knight “Create the Future + the Innovation Handbook: Tactics for Disruptive Thinking” by Jeremy Gutsche “Inside the Box: A Proven System of Creativity for Breakthrough Results” by Drew Boyd “Crucial Conversations: Tools for Talking When Stakes are High” by Kerry Patterson (re-read) “Thinking, Fast and Slow” by Daniel Kahneman “The Comfort Crisis” by Michael Easter “How to Speak Machine” by Dr. John Maeda “Fearless Organization” by Amy Edmondson
This was the event to attend if you’re in or around Arkansas and looking for motivated professionals coming into IT and cyber. We definitely needed more small and medium enterprises from our community represented. I was honored to help and to represent Central States Manufacturing, Inc. And while I don’t have an open role right now, I have a great pool of folks to stay in contact with, follow their journey, assist along the way, and hopefully hire when I do.
Excited to be giving my first talk here in Northwest Arkansas. Going over some simple wins when securing legacy tech in the small and medium enterprise (SME) space with the local ArkanSec group https://www.linkedin.com/groups/12068915/
13 Brutal Truths
No one is coming to save you The past is already written Tomorrow is not guaranteed Just because you’re “Busy” doesn’t mean you’re accomplishing more Failure can cross your path anytime Doing is more important than knowing You don’t have to please everyone Excuses make you smaller Happiness is a choice, Not circumstantial You’ll never find the perfect time to start Some people are going to be more successful than you You don’t need to be famous to have an impact Your expectation is what cause disappointments It’s hard work. And it’s dirty.
Topped off my book wish list in time for Christmas with these recommendations from the tech community. Several I added:
Convict Conditioning by Paul Wade Designing Data-Intensive Applications by Martin Kleppman How the World Really Works by Vaclac Smil Structure and Interpretation of Computer Programs by Hal Abelson and Gerlad J. Sussman
Takeaways from the NWA Tech Summit this week:
Greater Bentonville Area Chamber of Commerce put on a great event. It was a rewarding volunteer experience, no doubt due to all the hard work they did behind the scenes. Northwest Arkansas and Northeast Oklahoma, or as the Tulsa Innovation Labs’ Conor Godfrey and others referred to it, the 412 corridor, is primed for mobility and autonomous systems investments, growth, and opportunity. My family and I moved here in July for the community, outdoors, culture, and people. The opportunities and innovation are yet another reason I don’t see us leaving. There’s a tangible and deliberate alignment in investment and involvement in the area’s growth by businesses of all sizes along with the local, state and federal government. It’s inspiring and gives hope for what’s happening now and next for the region. NW Arkansas is an exciting place to be.
Surround yourself with friends who will encourage you, motivate you, hype you up, celebrate your wins, and commiserate your losses. And, most importantly, who will be honest with you when you’re out of line.
The NSA and CISA have released hardening guidance for Kubernetes. The guidance describes the security challenges associated with setting up and securing a Kubernetes cluster. It includes hardening strategies to avoid common misconfigurations and guide system administrators and developers of National Security Systems on how to deploy Kubernetes with example configurations for the recommended hardening measures and mitigations. This guidance details the following mitigations:
Scan containers and Pods for vulnerabilities or misconfigurations. Run containers and Pods with the least privileges possible. Use network separation to control the amount of damage a compromise can cause. Use firewalls to limit unneeded network connectivity and encryption to protect confidentiality. Use strong authentication and authorization to limit user and administrator access as well as to limit the attack surface. Use log auditing so that administrators can monitor activity and be alerted to potential malicious activity. Periodically review all Kubernetes settings and use vulnerability scans to help ensure risks are appropriately accounted for and security patches are applied.
The Biden administration is making a Software Bill of Materials (SBOM), an electronically readable format designed to provide an inventory of third-party components in devices, a requirement amid efforts to improve cybersecurity across the federal government and private sector.
https://www.medtechdive.com/news/biden-orders-software-bill-of-materials-to-boost-cybersecurity-advamed-wan/600594/