Mendix World 2021 it's all about evolution

INTO THE BLACK
On day one of Mendix World, my colleagues from CLEVR and I met in a Teams meeting to view the opening Keynote together. We had snacks, we had fun, and we stared at the countdown with great expectations. In some new years eve mood, we saw the clock counting backward.

00:00:00 - The screen turns black. Nothing happened except the chat going crazy. We are all IT people, and everyone was happy not to be the person who needed to fix this. Whoever was this person, she/he deserves some special thanks. After a few moments and a few browser refresh attempts, it started working again, and we were ready for the Keynote. Derek kicked it off. Smart and professional as always. The first thing that surprised me was the fact that his Keynote was short. In 30 minutes, he was done. The second surprise was that, at least for me, there was no revolutionary new announcement (compared to 2019 and 2020). But hey? Is that a bad thing? I don't think so. A bit less excitement but a bit more professionalism seems to be a good direction.

To me, two things stood out. It's no longer about building applications; it's about assembling applications. This announcement may seem to be a small change, but it is a huge one. "Ready to use" components called App Services will become more and more important when building Mendix apps. It is just the logical next step. Microflow actions are already some sort of small, ready-to-use components. Now more and more modules will be usable like this. This usability will accelerate app development even more, and with IP security and a premium marketplace, it is opening a whole new market for module providers.

The second thing that stood out to me is that there seems to be more focus on the partners. In the Keynote, Derek did small showcases of several partners, including a presentation of the CLEVER PLM solution. The partners are not only solution providers. Partners are the drivers of the Mendix community, which is extremely important for all Mendix developers out there. I would be happy to get in touch with you in the forum, the Slack channel, or the marketplace.

MY GOD, IT'S FULL OF STARS
After the Keynote, Mendix World did kick-off when all the different sessions started. Please forgive me, I did not see all of them yet, but the pure variety is already breathtaking. Again, a lot of the partners, as well as customers, did host or co-host sessions. You can hear about technical solutions, customer stories, tooling, etc. If you didn't watch them already, you still have the chance. I, for example, highly recommend the session of my colleague Derryn Zwart "How Mendix outshines high-code in complexity: A business perspective." Not only that, the content was great. The style of the session was amazing. I don't want to spoil you. You will not be disappointed.

Day one ended with an inspiring session by Neri Oxman. Not really a keynote; it was more like an Interview. That was good because it felt like you were closer to the speaker, and it seemed like she was not only reproducing a prepared speech. I was at Mendix World 2019 and attended Mendix World 2020. Mendix always picks great externals for those guest keynotes. They are constantly providing a new view to things, and you should watch them even if (or maybe because) they are not related to Mendix.

THE DARK SIDE OF THE STUDIO
Day two started as always with the Keynote of Johan den Haan. I'm a developer, so it may not be surprising that this is the single most wanted session for me. The CTO Keynote usually is the session where you learn the first details about what Derek was telling on day one. As always, I was not disappointed. I will not repeat what I already wrote about Derek's Keynote. But there have been some exciting announcements. It was a lot about solutions and services and less about details of the runtime and the studio.

But wait. There is some stuff for developers. The Studio pro will get some nice redesigns, including tile views, building block previews, and the developer's most wanted feature: dark mode. Light attracts bugs; that's why developers love dark mode. Now that we know that dark mode is coming, the black screen on day one was probably not an accident; it was a forecast for the modeler. This announcement is all nice, but there are two things I am really looking forward to using. DataHub 2.0 and Studio Pro plugins.

From the Keynote, we know that DataHub 2.0 will contain events. It looks like it is a managed kafka service that is integrated into Studio Pro. That is awesome. Most of the modern microservice landscapes are event-driven. Till now, you need to set up and maintain your event system. With the newest integration, it will speed up and simplify this area dramatically. That is really exciting. It will make such systems available to everyone.

To me, as a developer, the Studio Pro plugins are even more exciting. Imagine what is possible if you can extend the modeler with your own functionality. Imagine what is possible if people start to share their extensions. That opens the door for a whole new type of product within the Mendix ecosystem. Hopefully, Studio Pro plugins will be available through the Mendix marketplace to make them easy to use. Right after this Keynote, Mendix unlocked some new sessions hidden at first so that no one was spoiled with the announcements made in the CTO keynote. Cool, isn't it?

TO INFINITY AND BEYOND
Day three started with an inspiring keynote by Simon Sinek about his book "the infinite game." Again it was not really a speech. Johan den Haan did interview him. Simon shared some very interesting views. Interesting not only from a business perspective but also for your personal life. In one sentence:

"You should not try to win a game that never ends."

Sounds logical? It is. But you will often find the opposite. If you ever get the chance to review this Keynote, do it. If not, I guess Simon's book is also worth a look.

LET'S GET TOGETHER AND FEEL ALRIGHT
Mendix World is over, and it was again some breathtaking event. Once a year, makers from around the world gather at this event. We share ideas, we share solutions, we share visions, and we have fun together. It's cool that with CLEVR, I can be part of it. If you have never been to Mendix World, you should definitely be at the next one. I am sure you will understand what I mean.

Yes, a real-life Mendix World is even more impressive than the virtual one. But we live in these times, and the virtual Mendix World is the best that can be done out of this situation. It can really transport the spirit of the maker movement and give you an idea of how a real-life Mendix World could look like. Hopefully, the next Mendix World can take place in real life. And hopefully, we will meet there. Till then, feel free to contact my other colleagues or me at CLEVR.

I'm looking forward to hearing from you.

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