Should you take a look at NorDevCon schedule for 2024, you will see the following outline of Luke’s upcoming talk:

"In this talk we will embark on an exploration of Azure with a brief introduction to storage, queues and Azure functions. This will lead us to a real-world scenario we encountered at NIQ Brandbank whilst building a bespoke pipeline to convert a customers’ data into our standard. We will discover Durable Functions and learn how they allowed us to build a more resilient system. Along the way we will explore application patterns and come up against deterministic APIs allowing you to define a stateful workflow for your business. Expect to see live code examples and demonstrations in the Azure Portal and Functions Monitor."

We have, however, decided to present our speaker with an additional set of questions to let our community (and future audience!) uncover a treasure-trove of insider info-nuggets for their delight!

🗝️ What inspired you to choose this particular topic for your talk?

Luke: When I worked in the Client Integration Development team at NIQ Brandbank we needed to improve the reliability of our custom integrations. I had not been aware that Microsoft provided Durable functions, which turned out to be ideal for our use case. Implementing durable functions freed up developer time for other projects. My motivation for the talk is to introduce durable functions to more developers and possibly save them implementing something that already exists.

🗝️ How would you say your talk would benefit the developers, or professionals in other fields?

Luke: It will benefit developers by demonstrating a tool that allows you to put together a reliable workflow, without the need to write the system from scratch. This allows them to focus on the business logic and not worry about the underlying workflow system. The durable functions framework provides patterns, which will most likely fit the business process help separate responsibilities helping you write software that is maintainable and extensible. This talk is targeted towards developers and solution architects. But anyone interested in building software to undertake business workflows may find it useful to be aware of a potential framework.

🗝️ If you could give us 1-3 main takeaways for your upcoming talk, what would they be?

Luke:

• 🔑 Explanation of durable functions in Azure and benefits.
• 🔑 Design patterns and potential pitfalls when implementing durable functions.
• 🔑 How to monitor durable functions once they are in use.

🗝️ Are there any specific tools, technologies, or frameworks that you will be discussing in your talk?

Yes, the talk will be on Durable Functions, which are Azure specific. Although they can be written in different languages the talk will focus on C#.

🗝️ What kind of audience engagement do you prefer, if any?

Luke: As the talk will cover a lot, I'm happy for people to ask questions whilst I'm on the relevant topic. Though if it's too in depth it may be best to wait till afterwards.

🗝️ Are there any “teasers” you could give us?

Luke: I think by showing a real world example of using durable functions at NIQ Brandbank developers will find it easier to see how durable functions can be used in their organisations.

---

We, of course, encourage you to meet Luke up close and personal at the upcoming NorDevCon 2024, but if fate has it otherwise, you can also get in touch with him online via his LinkedIn.

If you haven't already, you can, of course, get the tickets to see Luke and other speakers here.

Thanks, Mez, Alex, Ida, & The nor(DEV):con Team