What Serverless Promised Us-And What It Actually Delivered
Article summary
In early 2018, serverless was everywhere. Slide decks promised simplicity. Diagrams showed elegant chains of Azure Functions replacing entire services. And pricing models made cost per execution feel magical. We bought in. But what we got wasn’t magic. It was speed. And friction. And a new kind of architectural pressure. What Serverless Got Right Speed of delivery: We built and deployed in minutes Elastic scale: Load spikes were handled effortlessly Focus: We wrote logic, not scaffolding It felt clean. Efficient. Sharp. Until it didn’t. Where It Got Hard Fast 1. State Management Wasn’t Just Awkward-It Was Missing Functions don’t keep state. That meant: Every piece of context had to be passed explicitly Multi-step flows required external coordination (queues, storage, orchestration) Durable Functions were promising-but new, and hard to reason about 2.
Read Full Article on MediumPractical takeaway
The main idea behind What Serverless Promised Us-And What It Actually Delivered is to help teams move from broad theory to clear, repeatable decision making. When teams apply this thinking, they reduce ambiguity and focus on improvements that deliver measurable momentum.
Example scenario
Imagine a team facing competing priorities. By applying the ideas in What Serverless Promised Us-And What It Actually Delivered, they can map dependencies, identify risks and choose the next move that produces progress without destabilizing their system.
Common mistakes to avoid
- Trying to redesign everything instead of taking small steps.
- Ignoring real constraints like incentives, ownership or legacy systems.
- Creating documents that do not lead to any change in code or decisions.
How to apply this in real work
Start by identifying where What Serverless Promised Us-And What It Actually Delivered already shows up in your architecture or delivery flow. Then pick one area where clarity would reduce friction. Apply the idea, measure its effect and share the learning.
Signs you are doing it correctly
- Teams make decisions faster and with fewer disagreements.
- Architectural conversations become clearer and less abstract.
- Changes land safely with fewer surprises or rework cycles.