David Collom - Field notes https://david.collom.co.uk/field-notes/ 2026-07-23T11:00:00+00:00 David Collom Platforms are products. Engineers are their users. https://david.collom.co.uk/field-notes/platforms-are-products/ 2026-07-23T11:00:00+00:00 2026-07-23T11:00:00+00:00 David Collom Why successful internal platforms start with developer needs, useful paved roads and evidence that engineering friction is disappearing. London to Brighton: 54 miles for the British Heart Foundation https://david.collom.co.uk/field-notes/london-to-brighton-for-the-british-heart-foundation/ 2026-06-22T09:00:00+00:00 2026-06-22T09:00:00+00:00 David Collom A public reflection on completing the 87 km London to Brighton Bike Ride in 32°C heat and raising £1,281 for the British Heart Foundation. A new chapter - joining Komodor https://david.collom.co.uk/field-notes/joining-komodor/ 2026-01-07T08:45:00+00:00 2026-01-07T08:45:00+00:00 David Collom Why David joined Komodor as a Solutions Architect for EMEA, and how the role connects platform engineering, Kubernetes troubleshooting and customer outcomes. Five years at Jetstack - platforms, people and staying hands-on https://david.collom.co.uk/field-notes/five-years-at-jetstack/ 2025-11-24T09:30:00+00:00 2025-11-24T09:30:00+00:00 David Collom A reflection on five years at Jetstack across Kubernetes consulting, customer platforms, open source, acquisitions, training and community. Why local meetups make conference talks better https://david.collom.co.uk/field-notes/why-local-meetups-make-conference-talks-better/ 2024-06-12T18:00:00+00:00 2024-06-12T18:00:00+00:00 David Collom What bringing our Kubernetes cost talk from KubeCon to Fusion Meetup reinforced about useful technical speaking, audience context and community feedback. Kubernetes cost confessions: from overspending to useful engineering signals https://david.collom.co.uk/field-notes/kubernetes-cost-confessions/ 2023-11-09T22:00:00+00:00 2023-11-09T22:00:00+00:00 David Collom What Becky Pauley and I learned from turning familiar Kubernetes cost failures into a practical, vendor-agnostic framework at KubeCon North America. How to avoid a Kubernetes doom loop https://david.collom.co.uk/field-notes/how-to-avoid-a-kubernetes-doom-loop/ 2023-04-18T09:55:00+00:00 2023-04-18T09:55:00+00:00 David Collom The anatomy of a runaway Argo automation incident, and the practical controls that stop retries, queues and controllers amplifying a failure. The Road to Tour de Yorkshire https://david.collom.co.uk/field-notes/the-road-to-tour-de-yorkshire/ 2018-03-05T20:16:00+00:00 2018-03-05T20:16:00+00:00 David Collom How cycle commuting grew into a 129 km charity challenge, improved mental health and established a relationship with cycling that still matters years later. Leeds DevOps - Configuration Management panel https://david.collom.co.uk/field-notes/leeds-devops-configuration-management-panel/ 2015-10-20T18:38:00+00:00 2015-10-20T18:38:00+00:00 David Collom A reflection on an early Leeds DevOps panel about Puppet, desired state and the configuration-management ideas that still shape platform engineering. Welcome to my new blog https://david.collom.co.uk/field-notes/welcome-to-my-new-blog/ 2015-10-19T21:13:00+00:00 2015-10-19T21:13:00+00:00 David Collom The story behind David's route from a BBC Basic computer and PHP development into Ruby, infrastructure automation and modern platform engineering. ActiveAdmin - Disable JSON/XML export https://david.collom.co.uk/field-notes/activeadmin-disable-json-xml-export/ 2012-08-18T23:25:00+00:00 2012-08-18T23:25:00+00:00 David Collom The original ActiveAdmin export monkey patch, why it existed, and the configuration-first approach supported by ActiveAdmin today. Converting a locator into XPath in Capybara https://david.collom.co.uk/field-notes/converting-a-locator-into-xpath-in-capybara/ 2012-07-24T16:05:00+00:00 2012-07-24T16:05:00+00:00 David Collom A practical look at XPath and CSS selectors in Capybara, with the original 2012 snippet and the testing approach I would use today.