Don't adopt serverless without these principles
18 November 2019
I’m naturally sceptical of the promises of new technologies. When the container technology was on the rise, for example, it took me a couple of years before I would fully embrace the technology. I rarely jumped into the bandwagon of innovators or early adopters. There’s a little part of me that favours stability. I felt many times that new technologies are just moving one problem from one place to another. Besides, why would I need new technology if what I know now is working?
When I first looked into the serverless architecture, I got a similar sheer of scepticism. Is serverless that kind of technology that will just move problems around and introduce new complexities? Given a tight deadline we were given by our client, we have decided to give serverless architecture a try. I have never looked back ever since as the benefit of the technology is real. Yes, there are problems that are moved around, but from the totality perspective, the technology brings an overall positive impact. My experience is analogous to the experience of other early adopters of serverless.
Working for a consultancy though brings me a wider perspective of what’s going on in the industry, which includes the sceptics of serverless. Hearing the stories from my colleagues make me feel like serverless is falling into the chasm. I’ve heard many stories of less successful serverless adoption and implementation. Organisations are stuck using serverless technologies only in the least risky part of their architecture.
What are the ingredients that we’re missing? How do we leverage what serverless technologies have to offer better? There is a paradigm shift in serverless. When there is a paradigm shift, we need to change the way we think about this new paradigm, so that technology can benefit more people in the industry, regardless of the organisation size. A set of principles will help you take the journey of this paradigm shift, and how you should approach the adoption of serverless.