19th January 2012, AWS User Group UK, Meetup #0
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Meetup #0 of the AWS User Group UK. This meetup was to bring a small group together to kick off a UK User Group for AWS. It was a great session, and we're hoping to have the first proper open meetup towards the end of February 2012. Check the "Notes" on the slides for speakers notes/minutes.
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19th January 2012, AWS User Group UK, Meetup #0
- 1. welcome @n0rm @AWSUserGroupUK
- 3. positioning
- 4. positioning AWS focused
- 5. positioning AWS focused Technology and Implementation
- 6. positioning AWS focused Technology and Implementation Real problems, real solutions
- 7. decisions
- 8. decisions Does this sound useful?
- 9. decisions Does this sound useful? Format
- 10. decisions Does this sound useful? Format Frequency/location
- 11. decisions Does this sound useful? Format Frequency Set a first meeting date
- 12. will you come?
- 13. thanks @n0rm @AWSUserGroupUK
Editor's Notes
- Follow @AWSUserGroupUK for information, and follow @n0rm if you want some of my opinions, but I warn you I do spend a lot of time banging on about triathlon.Meeting #0 of the AWS User Group UK – it’s #0 as we used this session to work out what we’re doing, agree on some things, and make sure we have something that can build some momentum.This meeting was convened by Norman Driskell, Global Service Director, Razorfish, and held at Razorfish UK London office.I’d like to thank everyone who came to this first meeting, in particular Matt Wood (@mza) from AWS.Thanks to Razorfish UK for allowing us to use their premises and providing refreshments and meeting room for this session.
- Why are we here today? The primary reason is this: AWS introduce new functionality at a furious rate. A quick search through my mailbox this morning revealed the list shown here. It seems like every time we have a conversation in the office that starts “Hey wouldn’t it be great if Amazon did XYZ” we get a mail the next day saying they’ve just launched it. We’re seriously starting to wonder if the office is bugged. No one can R&D everything, no one can have every idea – I’m a big fan of openness and transparency, and community groups. As a community together we’re stronger, and smarter.
- A couple of guidelines to keep us on track but without restricting the conversation.
- We all use AWS – we’re been down avenues of exploration with other cloud vendors in the UK and US, and we have some solutions with others - but the majority of our cloud R&D and production is in AWS. It would be interesting to share why you chose AWS, and if you didn’t, why? But remember this is an AWS group, and it’s about the interesting, unexpected, or downright smart things you’ve done with their products.
- Tech/implementation, not sales/marketing – everyone is welcome, but the group is not aimed at people who aren’t sure who AWS are, or have yet to dip their toe in the water. You’ve already made a choice, got some platforms running, and are familiar with how to get things done. Maybe you’ve got an interesting story or challenge to share, or you want to hear points of view on the latest product release? You shouldn’t be looking for a platform for selling your own company or products though, there are other places to do that.
- We will be discussing real problems, and real solutions. For example, we came up with a solution to peer discovery in AWS– but there are dozens of ways to crack that nut, so let’s talk about what works. There are lots of things that don’t work, so it’s interesting to share those experiences (and code snippets where you can!) too. DynamoDB has just been launched in Beta, what are you going to use that for? Do you have a use case? How are you finding it? But there’s more on implementation too than just the technology, e.g. there’s a host of EC2 unit charging options now including spot instance bidding, a new set of reservation pricing, etc– what clever things have you done with to minimise costs through these mechanisms? Have you had to design, or re-design, your application to be more appropriate for use in this environment?
- Let’s make some decisions, and hear some opinion – people need to think “Yeah, that sounds really good! I need to be there!”
- The room agreed that it does. That’s the first hurdle cleared!
- A good discussion agreed the following principles:Lightening talks are not long enough to impart enough technical depth.A big theme for each session is neededTime to discuss the topic face to face is essentialDeep exploratory sessions requiredMultiple view points on the same problem, followed by compare/contrastOur first three sessions will be:DataAutomated buildOperational managementWorking titles, exact sessions will be announced via meetup group http://www.meetup.com/AWSUGUK/
- We agreed every two months, running 15:30 to 18:00. Locations to be confirmed.
- End of February, exact date TBC – check the meetup group http://www.meetup.com/AWSUGUK/ or follow @AWSUserGroupUK for more information.
- Enthusiastic nodding.
- I’d like to thank everyone who came to this first meeting, in particular Matt Wood (@mza) from AWS.Thanks to Razorfish UK for allowing us to use their premises and providing refreshments and meeting room for this session.