Unconference: Modern APIs

What is an unconference?

At QCon SF, we’ll have unconferences in most of our tracks. An unconference is a simple way to run productive, structured conversations for 5 to 2000 or more people, and a powerful way to lead any kind of organization in everyday practice and extraordinary change. Our unconference sessions are based on the Open Space Technology and Lean Coffee.

Why are we doing unconference sessions?

We’re doing unconferences at QCon because we want this conference to be yours. At QCon, we learn from the best and share with the best. We come with passions and ideas that we want to share with each other. We want to connect with each other, create community around topics that we’re passionate about. We do that with unconferences.

How do open space sessions work?

The Law of Two Feet means you take responsibility for what you care about -- standing up for that and using your own two feet to move to whatever place you can best contribute and/or learn.

Four principles apply to how you navigate our open space sessions:

  1. Whoever comes is the right people. Whoever is attracted to the same conversation are the people who can contribute most to that conversation—because they care. So they are exactly the ones—for the whole group-- who are capable of initiating action.
  2. Whatever happens, is the only thing that could've. We are all limited by our own pasts and expectations.  This principle acknowledges we'll all do our best to focus on NOW-- the present time and place-- and not get bogged down in what could've or should've happened.
  3. When it starts is the right time. The creative spirit has its own time, and our task is to make our best contribution and enter the flow of creativity when it starts.
  4. When it's over, it's over. Creativity has its own rhythm. So do groups.

What’s next?

Bring your passion and ideas to QCon unconference. See you there!


Speaker

Shane Hastie

Global Delivery Lead for SoftEd and Lead Editor for Culture & Methods at InfoQ.com

Shane leads the Culture and Methods editorial team for InfoQ.com where he hosts the weekly InfoQ Culture Podcast. He is the Global Delivery Lead for SoftEd.  

Over the last 30+ years Shane has been a practitioner and leader of developers, testers, trainers, project managers and business analysts, helping teams to deliver results that align with overall business objectives. He has worked with large and small organisations, from individual teams to large transformations all around the world. He draws on over 3 decades of practical experience across all levels of Information Technology and software intensive product development. Shane was a director of the Agile Alliance from 2011 to 2016 and was the founding Chair of Agile Alliance New Zealand. Shane is an ICF registered Professional Coach. 

“I firmly believe that humanistic way of working and the agile mindset are desperately needed in organisations all around the globe today. Taking agile values and principles beyond software is important and making sure they are properly embedded is absolutely crucial for success – we’re in an industry that touches every aspect of people’s lives and massively influences society as a whole and I want to be a part of making sure that industry is both ethical and sustainable.”

Read more
Find Shane Hastie at:

From the same track

Session Application Programming Interface

API Evolution Without Versioning

Tuesday Oct 25 / 10:35AM PDT

Versioning is usually the first–and too often, the only–technique architects reach for when imagining a breaking change to an API’s interface. Based on my experience managing the evolution of a public API, I’ve recently cataloged several alternative techniques and their tradeoffs.

Speaker image - Brandon Byars
Brandon Byars

North America Head of Technology @thoughtworks

Session Application Programming Interface

What API Product Managers Need

Tuesday Oct 25 / 11:50AM PDT

With thousands of APIs being built across the industry, serving millions of developers worldwide, and driving billions in revenue, there is a need to manage APIs as products. Building great API products requires both building technically sound APIs and creating an API experience to match.

Speaker image - Deepa Goyal
Deepa Goyal

Product Strategy @Postman, previously Product Developer @PayPal & @Twilio

Session Application Programming Interface

Scaling GraphQL Adoption at Netflix

Tuesday Oct 25 / 01:40PM PDT

GraphQL is steadily gaining popularity as an API technology choice for Client to Server communication. However, it can be daunting to realize the benefits of GraphQL without significant investment.

Speaker image - Tejas Shikhare
Tejas Shikhare

Senior Software Engineer @Netflix

Session Application Programming Interface

Sidecars, eBPF and the Future of Service Mesh

Tuesday Oct 25 / 05:25PM PDT

Controversy over the future of service meshes and their architectures is swirling. This is a vital discussion as enterprise migration to microservice and Kubernetes-based architectures continue. This talk incorporates the latest community developments to explore what the future looks like.

Speaker image - Jim Barton
Jim Barton

Field Engineer @Solo, previously @Redhat @Amazon & @Zappos

Session

[Panel] Who Cares About Your API?

Tuesday Oct 25 / 02:55PM PDT

Who cares about your API?  Everyone. DevOps has shown us that when developers care about operations, they write better software.  What other viewpoints should developers consider when they're building software?

Speaker image - Brandon Byars
Brandon Byars

North America Head of Technology @thoughtworks

Speaker image - Jim Barton
Jim Barton

Field Engineer @Solo, previously @Redhat @Amazon & @Zappos

Speaker image - Deepa Goyal
Deepa Goyal

Product Strategy @Postman, previously Product Developer @PayPal & @Twilio

Speaker image - Tejas Shikhare
Tejas Shikhare

Senior Software Engineer @Netflix