Blog

On 15.05.2025 I held my talk „Thoughts on (Modern?) Software Development – Observations From a 20-Year Journey” at JUG Darmstadt (in person and in German).

The talk’s sources can be found here, the registration page is located at:

https://www.jug-da.de/2025/05/Thoughts-on-Software-Development-Teil2

In the ensuing discussion some additional sources were mentioned:

• Tom DeMarco’s & Timothy Lister’s „The High-Tech Illusion“ in „Peopleware“
• Talk by Richard Sheridan about „Joy, Inc.“ + thread related to the book
• Gunter Dueck’s re:publica 2015 talk about „scwarm stupidity“
• Neil Postman: Technopoly
• Dan McKinley’s „Choose Boring Technology“: https://mcfunley.com/choose-boring-technology
• Toot about XP’s „Circle Of Life“
• Charles Duhigg: The Power Of Habit
• Yuval Noah Harari: Nexus and his TED interview
• Laloux, Frederic: Reinventing Organizations visuell
• Uncle Bob about „The Future of Programming“
• Talk by Arlo Belshee about „Promiscuous Pairing“
• Baldur Bjarnason: „Out of the Software Crisis”
• Donella H. Meadows: „Thinking in Systems – A Primer”
• Timothy R. Clark: „The 4 Stages of Psychological Safety”
• Adam Greenfield: Radical Technologies (archive.org)
• E. M. Forster: The Machine Stops
• Third Wave: „Wohin steuert die Tech-Branche?”
• Visualization about „Communication of ideas”
• Michael Feathers: “Working Effectively with Legacy Code“ (CHOOSE 2014 in Switzerland :-))
• Evan Osnos: „Age of Ambition”
• Ryan Holiday: „Ego is the Enemy”

On 14.05.2025 I held my talk „Thoughts on (Modern?) Software Development – Observations From a 20-Year Journey” at codecentric AG’s tech&talk Meetup in Frankfurt/Main (in person and in German).

The talk’s sources can be found here, the related Meetup post is located at:

https://www.meetup.com/tech-n-talk-frankfurt/events/306824227

During the talk „some” additional sources were mentioned:

• Tom DeMarco’s & Timothy Lister’s „The High-Tech Illusion“ in „Peopleware“: https://mstdn.social/@alexthurow/109711257008472448
• Gunter Duecks re:publica 2015 talk about the topic of „swarm stupidity“: https://youtu.be/rc37ov1iVFQ?feature=shared
• Neil Postman: Technopoly
• Dan McKinley’s „Choose Boring Technology“: https://mcfunley.com/choose-boring-technology
• Toot related to XP’s „Circle Of Life“
• Charles Duhigg: The Power Of Habit
• Yuval Noah Harari: Nexus and his TED interview
• Talk by Richard Sheridan about „Joy, Inc.“ + thread related to the book
• Laloux, Frederic: Reinventing Organizations

On 06.05.2025 I held my talk „Thoughts on (Modern?) Software Development – Observations From a 20-Year Journey” at codecentric AG’s tech&talk Meetup in Karlsruhe (in person and in German).

The talk’s sources can be found here, the related Meetup post is located at:

https://www.meetup.com/de-DE/tech-talk-karlsruhe/events/306273846

In the ensuing discussion some additional sources were mentioned:

• Tom DeMarco’s & Timothy Lister’s „The High-Tech Illusion“ from „Peopleware“: https://mstdn.social/@alexthurow/109711257008472448
• Neil Postman: Technopoly
• Yuval Noah Harari: Nexus and his TED interview
• Baldur Bjarnason: The Intelligence Illusion
• Charles Duhigg: The Power Of Habit
• Gunter Dueck’s re:publica 2015 talk about „Swarm stupidity“: https://youtu.be/rc37ov1iVFQ?feature=shared
• Laloux, Frederic: Reinventing Organizations visuell
• Richard Sheridan zu „Joy, Inc.“ + thread related to the book
• Dan McKinley’s „Choose Boring Technology“: https://mcfunley.com/choose-boring-technology
• Talk by Arlo Belshee about „Promiscous Pairing”
• RSA Animate: Dan Pink „Drive – The Surprising Truth AboutWhatMotivates Us
• Toot about XP’s „Circle Of Life“

On 24.04.2025 I held my talk „Thoughts on (Modern?) Software Development – Observations From a 20-Year Journey” at the Seattle Software Crafters Meetup (online and in English).

The talk’s sources can be found here, the related Meetup post is located at:

https://www.meetup.com/seattle-software-craftsmanship/events/305823329

The talk has been recorded and was uploaded to YouTube. You can watch it here.

In the ensuing discussion some additional sources were mentioned:

• Tom DeMarco’s & Timothy Lister’s „The High-Tech Illusion“ from „Peopleware“: https://mstdn.social/@alexthurow/109711257008472448
• Neil Postman: Technopoly
• Yuval Noah Harari: Nexus and his TED interview
• Baldur Bjarnason: The Intelligence Illusion
• Charles Duhigg: The Power Of Habit
• David Foster Wallace: This Is Water

On 19.03.2025 I held my talk „Thoughts on (Modern?) Software Development – Observations From a 20-Year Journey” at the ScrumTisch Darmstadt (online and in German).

The talk’s sources can be found here, the related Meetup post is located at:

https://www.meetup.com/scrumtisch-darmstadt/events/305493743

The talk has been recorded and was uploaded to YouTube. You can watch it here.

In the ensuing discussion some additional sources were mentioned:

• Tom DeMarco’s & Timothy Lister’s „The High-Tech Illusion“ from „Peopleware“: https://mstdn.social/@alexthurow/109711257008472448
• Gunter Dueck about „estimations (aka: guessing)“: https://mstdn.social/@alexthurow/109596189172698793
• E. M. Forster: The Machine Stops
• Neil Postman: Technopoly
• Dan McKinley „Choose Boring Technology“: https://mcfunley.com/choose-boring-technology
• Talk by „Richard Sheridan“ about „Joy, Inc.“ + thread related to the book
• Thread related to Nicole Perlroth’s (NYT) cyber weapon’s arms race book: https://mstdn.social/@alexthurow/111359073002581152
• Richard Clarke’s „Cyberwar“ book (2010)

On 17.03.2025 I held the extended version of my talk „Thoughts on (Modern?) Software Development – Observations From a 20-Year Journey” at the JUG Munich (offline and in German).

The talk’s sources can be found here, the related Meetup post is located at:

https://www.meetup.com/java-user-group-munchen-jugm/events/306569788/

The event location was:

Eden Hotel Wolff
Arnulfstraße 4
80335 München

Google Maps: https://www.google.com/maps/search/?api=1&query=48.14175%2C%2011.559352

On 12.03.2025 I held the extended version of my talk „Thoughts on (Modern?) Software Development – Observations From a 20-Year Journey” at the Software Architecture Meetup Nuremberg (offline and in German).

The talk’s sources can be found here, the related Meetup post is located at:

https://www.meetup.com/software-architecture-meetup-nurnberg/events/306217340

The event location was:

CodeCamp:N
Solgerstraße 18
90429 Nürnberg

Google Maps: https://maps.app.goo.gl/i7oCbBsbykSUPw3M7

During the talk additional sources were introduced to the audience and some sources were mentioned in bilateral discussions after the talk:

• Clark, Timothy R. Dr.: The 4 Stages Of Psychological Safety
• Uwe Friedrichsen: „Software – It’s not what you think it is – part 6“
• Gunter Dueck about „Estimations“: https://mstdn.social/@alexthurow/109596189172698793
• Gunter Dueck’s re:publication 2015 talk „Schwarmdummheit“: https://youtu.be/rc37ov1iVFQ?feature=shared
• Adam Greenfield: Radical Technologies (archive.org)
• E. M. Forster: The Machine Stops
• Neil Postman: Technopoly
• Adam Grant: Think Again