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Accelerating technical requirements with generative AI

How generative AI can be used to transform informal requirements into formal specifications using generative AI

30 July 2024

Modernising legacy software - the real deal

What are some of the key challenges and considerations when kicking off a large modernisation project? Here are 5 things...

15 July 2024

Leveraging Kanban to enhance your product discovery

As a product team, it can be a challenge to ensure a steady flow of well-defined requirements into the development...

29 May 2024

Why the product engineering mindset matters

This post marks the beginning of a series delving into the realm of product and product engineering. Here, we will...

7 May 2024

Managing complexity with Cynefin

How do you manage complexity in a project? Is it with the same set of tried-and-tested tools that have (mostly)...

26 April 2024

7 tips for better harmony between designers and developers

When it comes to building user interfaces, the collaboration between product design and engineering is paramount. Neither discipline can be...

8 April 2024

Signs and portents for 2024

It's an end-of-year tradition here at Instil that the Head of Learning assumes a Janus-like pose and looks forward to...

4 January 2024

A beginner's guide to AWS best practices

Starting your cloud development career can be daunting, here's a beginner's guide to some AWS best practices.

12 December 2023

Little Miss Bossy

Bossy or just a boss? How 'bossy' women are just leading the way, and why our choice of words matter.

30 November 2023

6 steps to becoming an AWS Solutions Architect

Looking to become an AWS Solutions Architect Associate? Follow these 6 simple steps and you will be well on your...

26 October 2023

Where to start with Generative AI?

With the rise of managed services in the Artificial Intelligence space offered by the main cloud providers, is it possible...

18 October 2023

Scrum - reassessing the agile metaphor

There is a term used by agile teams on an almost daily basis, a metaphor, that many who use it...

13 October 2023

The Powerlifting Principal (III): building confidence from within

From Setback to Success: How Overcoming Injury Made Me a Better Engineer

12 June 2023

The Powerlifting Principal (II): In the thick of it

How injury can lead to some of your greatest engineering breakthroughs.

7 June 2023

The Powerlifting Principal (I): the start of something great...

There are principals and then there are principles. I am the former and I just so happen to love the...

10 May 2023

Security for the masses - the importance of building a security-first culture

In 2022, the World Economic Forum identified cyber failure as one of the top 10 short and medium-term risks facing...

8 May 2023

Zero to Serverless car insurance - part 3

In this post, we'll look at how you can encourage your team to adopt a Serverless mindset.

18 April 2023

Zero to Serverless car insurance - part 2

In this post, we'll be focusing on some key improvements we've made to the platform, particularly focusing on how writing...

11 April 2023

Zero to Serverless car insurance - part 1

Over the past 2 years we learned a lot about what it takes to build a Serverless platform; what it...

3 April 2023

Spreadsheets Anonymous: how to kick the habit and reclaim your life

It's been over forty years since Apple first introduced the world to the digital spreadsheet. In that time they have...

15 March 2023

How to run a successful software engineering graduate academy

We have been running graduate academies for 15 years. Here are the secrets to how we make them a success.

15 December 2022

How to avoid unnecessary NAT usage and reduce your AWS costs

How to reduce your AWS costs by avoiding unnecessary NAT Gateway usage

15 September 2022

How to pause a Step Function while waiting on a response from a third party API

In this post we explore how you can pause a Step Function, using Task Tokens, while waiting on an external...

3 August 2022

4 essential tips to apply when using AppSync & DynamoDB to build Serverless apps

AppSync and DynamoDB - can you name a more iconic duo!? In this post I'll cover 4 lessons learned when...

30 June 2022

Improving the CDK development cycle

Spend less time waiting on deployments with CDK hot swaps

25 February 2022

5 things you need to know when using AWS CDK

If you are working with Amazon's Cloud Development Kit (CDK), here are 5 essential tips and lessons we have learned...

24 January 2022

Signs and portents for 2022

In this post, Head of Learning Garth Gilmour, will make predictions for the tech industry in 2022

14 December 2021

Building an OpenSearch Index from DynamoDB

In this post we will demonstrate how to set up an OpenSearch domain with a DynamoDB source

11 November 2021

A Post Pandemic Scorecard

A checklist for judging if your team is adapting to and benefitting from remote working

21 October 2021

Principled Autonomy

High performance teams consistently outperform other teams by a significant factor. But why is this - what is the secret...

30 August 2021

TypeScript 4.4 - Be on your guard

In this post, in celebration of the release of TypeScript 4.4, I explore Type Unions in TypeScript and how the...

27 August 2021

TypeScript 4.3 - I object your honour!

In celebration of TypeScript 4.3 I take a look TypeScript's Object Oriented features and look at the new features this...

26 May 2021

Using TypeScript const assertions for fun and profit

How can we utilise the const assertion in TypeScript to flip the script and define types from immutable data?

29 April 2021

How we podcast

After 15 episodes here's how we podcast and what tools we like. Enjoy a deep dive into our process.

19 April 2021

Lambda Container Images

Ever wish you could combine the portability of containers, with the scalability of Lambda functions? Well now you can!

5 March 2021

OODA Considered Harmful

Thoughts on why the OODA loop as applied to agile delivery is flawed or should even be considered harmful.

5 February 2021

Introducing Weeknotes, a podcast

Instil have started a weekly podcast about all things tech and other interesting stuff.

4 February 2021

Kotlin and FP - The Best of Both Worlds

In our first Kotlin meetup of 2021, Amazon's Katie Levy and Twitter's Shelby Cohen gave an excellent talk on how...

27 January 2021

The Perils of Advocacy

Developer advocacy is an extremely rewarding job but is it all sunshine and meadows or is there a darker flip...

4 January 2021

The Rise of the Developer Advocate

Thoughts on the move away from consultancy towards developer empowerment through advocacy and mentoring.

21 December 2020

Signs and portents for 2021

Each December, our Head of Learning reflects on emerging trends, and makes some foolish predictions for the year to come....

1 December 2020

Crazy, Powerful TypeScript 4.1 Features

In this article I'll take a look at some new features in TypeScript 4.1 - namely Template Literal Types, Key...

19 November 2020

TypeScript Testing Tips - Mocking Functions with Jest

In this, the second of a series of posts on practical applications of TypeScript, we continue on the topic of...

28 October 2020

TypeScript Testing Tips - Creating Dummies

This is the first post in a series on using TypeScript in practical applications. It shows a simple TypeScript pattern...

21 October 2020

GOTO Oslo - talks now available to watch

GOTO Oslo took place as a virtual event due to COVID-19 on 3rd March this year. Head of Learning, Garth...

5 June 2020

The Debt We Owe Java

On its 25th birthday, it's probably time we said a word of thanks to Java, for no matter what you...

23 May 2020

A Kotlin DSL for Everyone

Typically, we use Domain Specific Languages (DSLs) in configuration scenarios (think Gradle). But we can also use them internally to...

23 January 2020

Using Koin for Dependency Injection

Koin provides a modern DI framework which supports Kotlin idioms and is usable across conventional, mobile and Cloud based applications.

29 November 2019

Don’t ThreeTen-d that Dates are easy with legacy Android

Why date and time is so difficult with older Android versions and the best approach to solve this

20 November 2019

Does Readability Have a Cost?

In software, there is a constant tension between sufficiency - the need to say something in as few words as...

5 September 2019

Programming in English

Science, Technology, Engineering and Maths (or a flavour thereof) are often touted as cornerstone subjects for a career in software...

4 December 2018

Community Matters

Community is a vital part of a successful software ecosystem, but what are the secrets to creating a successful meetup?...

27 November 2018

Kotlin Contracts

The Kotlin type system is fairly flexible but there are a few corner cases where the compiler enforces rules which...

27 September 2018

Chaos and Order

A look at how ideas of order and chaos apply to software development

12 March 2018

Denial is Not a Defence

Security expert Simon Whittaker discusses the impact of a recent ICO fine and the upcoming GDPR on web application security

13 October 2017

Surging Forward

How we are revolutionising video and RTP/RTSP streaming on mobile devices

25 September 2017

Daily Standup

Standing desks may be trendy but are they good for you?

1 September 2017

Security Testing & Incremental Threat Modelling

Security expert Simon Whittaker discusses using incremental threat modelling to deliver secure software applications

7 August 2017

Jack Nicholson Channels Programming Languages

Tongue and cheek look at how Jack Nicholson channels programming languages

31 May 2017

Music Driven Development

If you're looking for a new way to drive your software development, then look no further. Tests, Behaviours, Models and...

2 May 2017

The Planning Fallacy (and How it Messes With Your Ability to Estimate)

How the psychological phenomenon of planning fallacy can bias your estimations in software

10 April 2017

Leaders don't give orders

How leading agile software teams is not about one person giving orders

1 July 2016

Fear in Tech

Fear and imposter syndrome are common in the software industry. Where does this fear come from and what is...

6 May 2016

A Fresh Start with Ansible

A guide to using Ansible to automatically setup your OSX development environment

26 April 2016

Test Setup as a Sanity Check on your Design

The importance of listening to your tests as a sanity check on your design

15 April 2016

SIMD in Depth - Performance and Cost in C# and C++

SIMD in Depth - Performance and Cost in C# and C++ (Part 2 of 2)

7 April 2016

Working With Constraints

Strengthening our creative practice through a fresh perspective on our own limitations and those imposed by others

2 March 2016

Xamarin: A Panacea for Cross-Platform Mobile Development?

Xamarin - a panacea for cross-platform mobile development?

10 December 2015

Reading the Tea Leaves

Reading the tea leaves - predicting what's in store for 2016 and beyond

27 November 2015

RxJava in Different Flavours of Java

Quick introduction to using RxJava in Java 7 and Java 8

5 August 2014

Java Shark Jump Redux

Opinion piece on why Java 8's attempt to jump the shark is just that

6 June 2014

Java Jumps the Shark

Java 8 attempts to 'jump the shark' with the introduction of streams, lambdas and 'FP'

4 June 2014

Those That Can't

Opinion piece on the skills required to teach and do in software

30 May 2014

Simplicity Rules

Why is simplicity such an elusive quality in many developers code

26 August 2012