Makuake Advent Calendar 2022 - Day 7 article!
Overview
This post explains how to create your own Technology Radar.
What is a Technology Radar?
A Technology Radar is an analytical report on technology trends in software development, published by ThoughtWorks (a global software development and consulting company where Martin Fowler is a member).
The report is updated about twice a year and provides insights into technology trends.
You can also view the Archive.
The Technology Radar is structured into the following four quadrants:
- Techniques
- e.g., design, development processes, etc.
- Tools
- e.g., databases, version control systems, etc.
- Platforms
- e.g., development environments, cloud platforms, etc.
- Languages and Frameworks
- e.g., programming languages, application frameworks, etc.
Each quadrant is further categorized into the following four rings:
- Hold
- On hold. Handle with caution. Requires investigation.
- Trial
- Worth adopting. In trial phase.
- Assess
- Worth investing resources to evaluate its value.
- Adopt
- Strongly recommended for adoption.
On the www.thoughtworks.com/radar website, you can also view evaluation comments and the history of blips (movement between rings) for each technology.
Creating Your Own Technology Radar
There are tools available to easily create your own Technology Radar.
Here are two methods to create one:
Using radar.thoughtworks.com
By entering a Google Spreadsheet link on radar.thoughtworks.com, you can generate a Technology Radar.
Note that radars created using this method will be public.
Hosting it Yourself
You can also self-host your Radar using the repository available at github.com - thoughtworks/build-your-own-radar.
A Docker image is provided, so here's how you can try it out using Docker:
Clone the Sample Repository
You can fork or clone the original repository, but for convenience, I’ve prepared a sample repository.
github.com - bmf-san/technology-radar-boilerplate
1. Clone the Repository
Clone github.com - bmf-san/technology-radar-boilerplate.
2. Start the Container
Run the following command:
make run
3. Generate the Radar
Access http://localhost:8080, enter http://localhost:8080/files/radar.json, and click Build My Radar.
4. Play Around with the Generated Radar
Once the Radar is generated, you’ll be redirected to a link like this:
http://localhost:8080/?sheetId=http%3A%2F%2Flocalhost%3A8080%2Ffiles%2Fradar.json
You can adjust the content displayed on the Radar by editing ./files/radar.json.
(Originally, I wanted to make it possible to provision the JSON file, but due to frontend build constraints, it seemed difficult...)
You can also print the Radar from the Print this radar button in the top-right corner.
Thoughts
Creating a Radar like this to publicly share the technology stack adopted or evaluated by an organization or team seems like a great initiative. It can be used to define the reasons for technology selection, the selection and evaluation process, and to clarify what to invest in as part of a technology portfolio.
As mentioned in www.oreilly.co.jp - Fundamentals of Software Architecture, creating and regularly updating such a Radar as an individual also seems like a good practice. Mapping out the technologies you are following might make you realize how narrow your perspective is, though...