Title

AWS re:Invent 2022 - Accelerators: Streamline development in serverless and beyond (PRT057)

Summary

Michael J. Smith and Stephen Nichols from Slalom introduced the concept of accelerators, which are templates or tools designed to streamline the development process, particularly in serverless architectures.
Accelerators are more than automation; they embody best practices and standards to eliminate rework and ensure consistency.
The session covered the importance of having a clear business value and ROI for accelerators, as well as the need for maintenance and care.
AWS was chosen due to Slalom's extensive experience with AWS and the recurring issues faced by their customers, which accelerators can address.
Michael Bircheritz discussed the serverless accelerator, which was developed to help teams efficiently build APIs using microservice architecture.
Key enablers for successful accelerators include quality automation, CI/CD, infrastructure as code, metrics and monitoring, microservices architecture, secrets management, and a DevOps culture.
The serverless accelerator provides a reference architecture, developer instructions, working code scaffolding, and process documentation to help teams from day one.
The session concluded with insights on the low adoption rate of accelerators despite their value, and the solution Slalom implemented: an inner source, open source platform to curate and share accelerators within the company.

Accelerators can significantly reduce the time to market for new projects by providing a standardized starting point that incorporates best practices and reduces the initial setup time.
The adoption of accelerators within an organization can be challenging due to distributed teams and varying preferences for tools and processes. Creating a culture of sharing and contribution is essential for widespread adoption.
The serverless accelerator is particularly beneficial for serverless architecture, as it allows for rapid deployment and testing of features at a low cost due to the pay-for-usage pricing model of serverless services.
The success of an accelerator depends not only on its initial creation but also on continuous enhancement and maintenance, incorporating lessons learned from various projects.
Slalom's approach to managing and distributing accelerators through an inner source platform suggests that treating internal tools with the same open-source principles can foster innovation and collaboration within an organization.