Author: Alexander Thurow

On 21.10.2026 (9pm Berlin time / 12pm San Francisco time), I held my „No silver bullet to AI: On (Modern?) Software Development (aka: “Thoughts”)“ talk at the Scaling Intelligent Agility Meetup (remote and in English).

The talk’s sources can be found here, the event page here:

https://www.meetup.com/sia-global/events/315603071

The talk has been recorded and is available on YouTube.

During the talk and in the ensuing discussion some additional sources were mentioned:

• Uwe Friedrichsen‘s blog posts:
  • Uwes JAX 2026 slides: „The 7 Pitfalls of AI“ –> updated version
  • „We Are Our Own Worst Enemies”
  • „Thoughts on AI and Software Development“ (4 parts)
  • “AI and the ironies of automation” –> on the historic automation study that I mentioned
• The Atlantic: „The End of Reading is Here“
• Nicholas Carr’s: „The Big Switch – Rewiring The World From Edison to Google“ (especially the epilogue)
• Nicholas Carr: „The Shallows“
  —> What happens with human cognition when a media change occurs: Book -> Internet? Was it changing by that?
• Charles Duhigg: “The Power Of Habit“
  —> How do human habits work and what are they good (and bad) for?
• Guide to my Mastodon hashtags
  • Classics
  • Reader
• Last but not least:
  • The link to all other sources I did mention in the „Thoughts“-related discussions since 2024

On 18.09.2026 (5pm Berlin time), I held my „Thoughts on (Modern?) Software Development – Observations From a 21-Year Journey” talk at the GI regional group Ulm Ravensburg (in person and in German).

The talk’s sources can be found here, the event page here:

https://rg-ulm-ravensburg.gi.de/veranstaltung/vortrag-on-modern-software-development

The talk took place at the following location:

eXXcellent solutions GmbH
Beim Alten Fritz 2
89075 Ulm

Google Maps: https://maps.app.goo.gl/G1J2g7CF5nSH5Rwb6

During the talk and in the ensuing discussion some additional sources were mentioned:

• Uwe Friedrichsen‘s blog posts:
  • Uwes JAX 2026 slides: „The 7 Pitfalls of AI“ –> updated version
  • „We Are Our Own Worst Enemies”
  • „Thoughts on AI and Software Development“ (4 parts)
• Andrew Murphy‘s „If you thought the speed of writing code was your problem – you have bigger problems“
• The Atlantic: „The End of Reading is Here“
• Tom DeMarco & Timothy Lister in „Peopleware (re-visited)”: “The High-Tech Illusion“
• „Ten takeaways from the AI Engineering Report 2026: The Acceleration Whiplash”
• Nicholas Carr’s: „The Big Switch – Rewiring The World From Edison to Google“ (especially the epilogue)
• Nicholas Carr: „The Shallows“
  —> What happens with human cognition when a media change occurs: Book -> Internet? Was it changing by that?
• Richard Sheridan “Joy, Inc.“
  —> How does a company look like, that has Kent Beck’s XP in its DNA and where „joy at work“ is a central idea?
• Third Wave: “Wohin steuert die Tech-Branche?“ (German)
  —> Very interesting read in context of „AI before AI got really big”
• John Allspaw: “How Your Systems Keep Running Day After Day“
  —> Outstanding talk covering a lot of topics, e.g.: „What happens when your senior developer starts to talk about his/her mental model in front of the team?”
• Michael Lewis: „The Undoing Project“
  —> A portrait of Daniel Kahneman and Amon Tversky, the „inventors“ of Cognitive Biases
• Felienne Hermans: “The Programmer’s Brain“
  —> How does human cognition work and how should you „use“ your brains when it comes to being a developer?
• Felienne Hermans at DDD Europe 2026: “AI made me doubt everything about programming“
• Charles Duhigg: “The Power Of Habit“
  —> How do human habits work and what are they good (and bad) for?
• Matt Beane: “The Skill Code“
  —> How does learning change in the age of AI?
• Steve McConnell‘s „After the Gold Rush”
• Cory Doctorow: “Code is a liability (not an asset)”
• Mahayni, Ziad Prof. Dr.: “Mensch-Sein im Zeitalter Künstlicher Intelligenz” (German)
• Interview by Eberhard Wolff with Gitte Klitgaard on the topic of “Leadership and Psychological Safety“
  —> OnModernDev-YouTube “Culture” playlist
• Netflix documentary: “The AI Doc – How I Became an Apocaloptimist“
• Guide to my Mastodon hashtags
  • Classics
  • Reader
• Last but not least:
  • The link to all other sources I did mention in the „Thoughts“-related discussions since 2024

On 20.08.2026 (6:30pm Berlin time), I will be holding my talk „Thoughts on (Modern?) Software Development – Observations From a 21-Year Journey” at the Softwerkskammer Nuremberg Meetup (in person and in german).

The talk’s sources can be found here, the Meetup event page here:

https://www.meetup.com/softwerkskammer-nuernberg/events/315951339

The event will be taking place at the following location:

codecentric Office Nuremberg
Sophie-Germain Str. 12 · Nürnberg

Google Maps: https://www.google.com/maps/place/49%C2%B026’35.7%22N…

During the talk and in the ensuing discussion some additional sources were mentioned:

• Uwe Friedrichsen’s blog posts:
  • Uwe’s JAX 2026 slides: „The 7 Pitfalls of AI“
  • „We Are Our Own Worst Enemies”
  • „Thoughts on AI and Software Development“ (4 parts)
• Margaret-Anne Storey: „From Technical Debt to Cognitive and Intent Debt: Rethinking Software Health in the Age of AI“
• Andrew Murphy‘s „If you thought the speed of writing code was your problem – you have bigger problems“
• Gergely Orosz: “Why is Meta destroying its engineering organization?”
• The Atlantic: „The End of Reading is Here“
• Tom DeMarco & Timothy Lister in „Peopleware (re-visited)”: “The High-Tech Illusion“
  —> Why do we only think that we are working in the High-Tech business, while we are not really doing so?
• „Ten takeaways from the AI Engineering Report 2026: The Acceleration Whiplash”
• Nicholas Carr’s: „The Big Switch – Rewiring The World From Edison to Google“ (especially the epilogue)
• Richard Sheridan “Joy, Inc.“
  —> How does a company look like, that has Kent Beck’s XP in its DNA and where „joy at work“ is a central idea?
• John Allspaw: “How Your Systems Keep Running Day After Day“
  —> Outstanding talk covering a lot of topics, e.g.: „What happens when your senior developer starts to talk about his/her mental model in front of the team?”
• https://dontpastetheai.com/angry/ (thanks Chris Welcz!)
• Guide to my Mastodon hashtags
  • Classics
  • Reader
• Last but not least:
  • The link to all other sources I did mention in the „Thoughts“-related discussions since 2024

On 24.06.2026, 10am (Berlin time), I held my talk „Thoughts on (Modern?) Software Development – Observations From a 21-Year Journey” at the Domain-driven Design (DDD) Australia Meetup (remote and in english).

The talk’s sources can be found here, the Meetup event page here:

https://www.meetup.com/domain-driven-design-australia/events/314655463

During the talk and in the ensuing discussion some additional sources were mentioned:

• Margaret-Anne Storey: „From Technical Debt to Cognitive and Intent Debt: Rethinking Software Health in the Age of AI“
• „Ten takeaways from the AI Engineering Report 2026: The Acceleration Whiplash”
• Uwe Friedrichsen’s blog posts:
  • „We Are Our Own Worst Enemies”
  • „Thoughts on AI and Software Development“ (4 parts)
  • On top of that a further addition: Uwe Friedrichsen’s JAX 2026 slides: „The 7 Pitfalls of AI“
• Nicholas Carr’s: „The Big Switch – Rewiring The World From Edison to Google“
• Guide to my Mastodon hashtags
  • Classics
  • Reader
• Last but not least:
  • The link to all other sources I did mention in the „Thoughts“-related discussions since 2024

On 01.06.2026 it was planned that I would be holding my talk „Thoughts on (Modern?) Software Development – Observations From a 21-Year Journey” at the GI regional group Ulm Ravensburg (hybrid and in german).

Due to unforeseen circumstances the talk needs to be rescheduled and will not be taking place on the 01.06.2026.

As soon as the new schedule will be in place, I will inform you here.