Log into the The Treasure Trove 🏝, for every update since 2019 plus sponsor-only discounts.
Insiders' Update: 13th November 2021 - Marketing isn't what you think, inlets relaunch and OpenFaaS adoption
This week we have an editorial on marketing, the docs for inlets were re-launched, the Raspberry Pi gets a speed boost and new OS, the eBooks get a new look and I share thoughts on OpenFaaS adoption.
It's said that Googlers get 20% of their week to pursue personal projects. That's roughly one day week. How much time do you allocate to side projects, or do you have no time?
I have a rule of thumb that if something feels like work, then you're going to need to make time for it. For things that interest you and draw you in, however busy you are, you'll find time one way or another. If you've ever binged a TV show, you'll know how easy it is to get hooked on something.
For me, it's relatively easy to switch gears to go and review your Pull Request to the k3sup project, or to write a blog post about a new feature in inlets or openfaas. These activities slip quite naturally into my daily work. But when it comes to business and personal development, I find that I need to allocate time and take myself off away from the distractions of the computer, housework and my phone.
I'll usually read in a coffee shop.
The three books I'm reading have a common theme on: understanding the unique value of an offering, identifying its unique value and benefits, and being able to relate to your reader.
Many developers distrust the term "marketing" because they believe it's about trickery and forcing someone to buy something. Marketing is an overloaded term, and really isn't about posting links on social media, cold emails or writing blog posts. It's about having a deep understanding of what the benefits of your product or service are, what the alternatives are (these are not always other products), who uses them and why they are important to those people.
Benefits can be both tangible and intrinsic.
A luxury automatic Swiss watch may have a hacking seconds feature. Tangible benefit: you can stop the seconds hand to synchronize the time with others. Intangible benefit: you can feel sophisticated and coordinated like James Bond. You can demonstrate your wealth and feel successful.
A feature: self-host inlets. A tangible benefit: You can host tunnels on your own servers. The intrinsic benefit is that you can feel more secure, knowing that your tunnelled services are not shared with others.
- Obviously Awesome: How to Nail Product Positioning so Customers Get It, Buy It, Love It
- Copywriting Made Simple: How to write powerful and persuasive copy that sells
- The 1-Page Marketing Plan: Get New Customers, Make More Money, And Stand Out From The Crowd
As part of the Insiders' program, I share my learnings, insights and experiences with you. Some of the time, you may find it interesting and will be able to apply it or use it in your own career and projects. At other times, it may be less applicable to your work and that's OK.
I also write about the books that you buy from my wishlist, like this new book on Monetizing Innovation kindly sent from my Amazon wishlist by Johan Hernandez.
Whenever someone sends me a book from my Amazon wishlist, I write their name and the date into the first page, so I can look back on it and remember them.
I've also heard from a number of you that took inspiration from seeing someone quit their job and find their groove. The skills involved in building a product or service, explaining it and finding people who would benefit from it are all very important for independence.
Are you a fan of inlets? Do you get it? Or have you written off inlets as irrelevant, as having no use-case in your world? Perhaps that's my fault.
After taking feedback from various users and realising that the inlets documentation site was failing to express the use-cases and value of the tool, I decided to take a couple of days out to rebuild it.
The new site uses mkdocs and is deployed to GitHub Pages. There are four benefits to this: search feature (easier to find things), static HTML vs rendered (better for Google/SEO), dark theme (easier to read).
I also compiled all the questions I tend to see on Slack or via email into an FAQ:
Check out the new docs here:
"Yesterday we released our first Raspberry Pi OS image built on top of Debian Bullseye. - Eben Upton"
Read about the new OS here it also includes a special speed bump from 1.4Ghz to 1.8Ghz for Raspberry Pi 4 users. So that means better performance for faasd and K3s!
There's a 64-bit version available, but it's not listed on the public downloads page:
If you have an eBook reader or use the Books app on your Mac or iPad, then the formatting and line-wrapping as got better.
Line wrapping and coloured sections
These changes have been published for Serverless For Everyone Else and for Everyday Go.
I've seen rhetoric on Twitter about OpenFaaS adoption in relation to cloud functions. That might be true, and that's the plan. OpenFaaS isn't a threat to managed cloud functions, it never was meant to be.
It provides some unique value in that it was the first open source FaaS framework for cloud-agnostic functions using Kubernetes and containers as a first-class concept. Many users appreciate being able to deploy their applications and functions in the same way i.e. with Helm, or Custom Resources. Others just need more flexibility and control than managed functions can offer. SaaS will products and managed services will always need tighter controls.
In 2020, the CNCF surveyed companies to find out what serverless framework they were using. The results showed OpenFaaS in the #2 position. In general adoption of cloud-hosted functions dwarfs that of open-source serverless, which as I mentioned before is not surprising or disappointing.
So if you use OpenFaaS and we don't have your company and use-case listed in the ADOPTERS.md file, what would need to happen to get that changed?
If you're interested in getting more visiblity or adoption of the projects or products you work on, why not try one of the books I've listed?
Last week someone asked how they could get in touch or respond to parts of these updates. You can reply to this message with your email client, or send me an email to alex@openfaas.com if you're using the Insiders' Portal.
Have a great weekend.