Build Abstractions Not Illusions

YOW! Sydney 2023

Let’s be honest, the tech we have today is amazing but it can also be complex. So, it’s only natural that the platforms we build want to hide that complexity to improve productivity, avoid mistakes, and reduce cognitive load. So, the more complexity we can hide, the better our platform? Actually no - we need to be careful that we create useful abstractions, not dangerous illusions. This talk reflects on two decades of building complex distributed systems, highlighting where abstractions helped and where illusions led to major disappointments.