Category: Talks

On 23.01.2026 (08:30 – 10:30 PM Berlin time) I held my talk „Thoughts on (Modern?) Software Development – Observations From a 21-Year Journey” at the Calgary Software Crafters and JUG Seattle Meetups (remote and in English).

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

https://www.meetup.com/calgary-software-crafters/events/312385143

UPDATE: JUG Seattle was so kind to cross-post the talk to its members, see here.

The talk has been recorded and will be available on YouTube soon (pending).

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

• Alex’s featured hashtags (books)
• Alex’s guide to his Mastodon hashtags
• Alex’s reader
• 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?
• Robert C. Martin in “Clean Agile”: The XP “Circle Of Life”
• John Allspaw: „How Your Systems Keep Running Day After Day”
• Carl Sagan: Cosmos (start here, then watch this)
• Peter Block: „The Answer to How Is Yes”
• Susan Goldsworthy at the Inner Development Goals Summit 2025
• Ian McGilchrist: „The Master and his Emmisary”
• Vox.com: „Flood the zone with s***: How misinformation overwhelmed our democracy“
• The Anatomy of AI: https://anatomyof.ai
  —> How is AI „created“ before it is delivered to the „customer”?
• Last but not least:
  • The link to all other sources I did mention in the „Thoughts“-related discussions since 2024

In case I did forget anything that you miss here, please get in touch.

Thank you very much for that extended and great discussion!

On 24.11.2025 I held my talk „Thoughts on (Modern?) Software Development – Observations From a 20-Year Journey” at the JUG Switzerland in Zurich (in person and in English).

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

https://www.jug.ch/html/events/2025/modern-software-development.html

The event location was:

PH Zürich, Lagerstrasse 2, 8090 Zürich
Building LAB, Room H014

Travel instructions: https://phzh.ch/en/About-us/Campus-PH-Zurich/Location

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

• Toot: „If your management model assumes your employees can’t be trusted, you are in big trouble. If it also assumes that the future is predictable, you are in even bigger trouble.“
• Toot: „Smart home enthusiast vs. software developer“
• Talk by „Richard Sheridan“ about his book „Joy, Inc.“ + my thread related to the book
• John Allspaw: „How your systems keep running day after day”
• Robert C. Martin in „Clean Agile“: The XP „Circle Of Life“
• Uwe Friedrichsen: „Thoughts on AI and Software Development“ (very good analysis about the current state of AI in the year 2025)
• Uwe Friedrichsen: „Solving the Wrong Problem“
• Uwe Friedrichsen: „AI and the Ironies of Automation – Part 1″
• Uwe Friedrichsen: „Simplify“ + „The Continuous Amnesia Issue“ + more
• Jonathan Blow: „Preventing the Collapse of Civilization“
• Baldur Bjarnason: „The Intelligence Illusion“
• Baldur Bjarnason: „Out of the Software Crisis“
• Kent Beck: „Extreme Programming Explained”
• Gunter Dueck’s re:publica 2015 talk on the topic of „Swarm Stupidity“ (german)
• Donella Meadows: „Thinking in Systems”
• Roger McNamee: „Zucked”
• Nicole Perlroth: „This is how they tell me the world ends“ (great book with supposedly bad title, about what „attack surface“ in IT really means)

On 24.11.2025 I held my talk „Thoughts on (Modern?) Software Development – Observations From a 20-Year Journey” at the JUG Bremen/Oldenburg in CTS Eventim AG & Co. KGaA’s Bremen office facilities (in person and in German).

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

https://www.meetup.com/jugbremen/events/311717603

The event location was:

Contrescarpe 75A · Bremen

Google Maps: https://www.google.com/maps/search/?api=1&query=53.07992%2C%208.810928

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

• Toot: „IT resiliency in one picture”
• Toot: „If your management model assumes your employees can’t be trusted, you are in big trouble. If it also assumes that the future is predictable, you are in even bigger trouble.“
• Toot: „Smart home enthusiast vs. software developer”
• Third Wave: “Wohin steuert die Tech-Branche?“ (very interesting read in relation to “AI before AI became really big”)
• Talk by „Richard Sheridan“ related to „Joy, Inc.“ + thread about the book
• Uwe Friedrichsen: „Thoughts on AI and Software Development“ (very good analysis about the state of things in AI in the year of 2025)
• Uwe Friedrichsen: „Solving the Wrong Problem”
• Uwe Friedrichsen: „AI and the Ironies of Automation – Part 1″
• Uwe Friedrichsen: “Simplify” + “The Continuous Amnesia Issue” + more
• Jonathan Blow: „Preventing the Collapse of Civilization”
• Michael Lewis: „The Undoing Project“
• Baldur Bjarnason: „The Intelligence Illusion“
• Baldur Bjarnason: „Out of the Software Crisis“
• Gunter Dueck’s re:publica 2015 talk about „Swarm Stupidity“
• Charles Duhigg: „The Power Of Habit“
• Yuval Noah Harari: „Nexus“ and his TED interview
• The Anatomy of AI: https://anatomyof.ai/
• Frédéric Laloux: „Reinventing Organizations visuell“
• Joana Breidenbach & Bettina Rollow: „New Work Needs Inner Work”
• Spiral Dynamics: „IMU’s integral map”
• Richard Clarke’s “Cyberwar” (dating back to 2010)
• Nicholas Carr: „The Shallows”
• Cathy O’Neill: „Weapons of Math Destruction”

On 06.11.2025 I held my talk „Thoughts on (Modern?) Software Development – Observations From a 20-Year Journey” at codecentric AG’s Berlin office (in person and in German).

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

https://www.meetup.com/codecentric-berlin/events/311505419

The event location was:

codecentric AG
Köpenicker Str 31 · Berlin

Google Maps: https://www.google.com/maps/search/?api=1&query=52.50805%2C%2013.427258

In the ensuing discussion after the talk some additional sources were mentioned:

• Tom DeMarco & Timothy Lister in „Peopleware (re-visited)“: „The High-Tech Illusion“
• Talk by „Richard Sheridan“ related to „Joy, Inc.“ + thread about the book
• Robert C. Martin in „Clean Agile“: The XP „Circle Of Life“
• Uwe Friedrichsen: „Thoughts on AI and Software Development“ (very good analysis about the state of things in AI in the year of 2025)
• Uwe Friedrichsen: „Solving the Wrong Problem”
• Uwe Friedrichsen: “Simplify” + “The Continuous Amnesia Issue” + more
• Michael Lewis: „The Undoing Project“
• Michael Lewis: „The Fifth Risk“
• Baldur Bjarnason: „The Intelligence Illusion“
• Baldur Bjarnason: „Out of the Software Crisis“
• Joseph Weizenbaum: „Plug & Pray“ (documentary)
• Gunter Dueck’s re:publica 2015 talk about „Swarm Stupidity“
• Charles Duhigg: „The Power Of Habit“
• Yuval Noah Harari: „Nexus“ and his TED interview
• The Anatomy of AI: https://anatomyof.ai/
• Frédéric Laloux: Reinventing Organizations
• Frédéric Laloux: „Reinventing Organizations visuell“
• Joana Breidenbach & Bettina Rollow: „New Work Needs Inner Work”

On 29.10.2025 I held my talk „Thoughts on (Modern?) Software Development – Observations From a 20-Year Journey” at the Agile Munich Meetup in codecentric AG’s Munich office facilities (in person and in English).

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

https://www.meetup.com/agilemunich/events/311522109

The event location was:

codecentric Plaza
August-Everding-Straße 20
81671 Munich

Google Maps: https://maps.app.goo.gl/8vcX59tiHLkZaZLY7

In the ensuing discussion after the talk some additional sources were mentioned:

• Talk by „Richard Sheridan“ related to „Joy, Inc.“ + thread about the book
• Frédéric Laloux: Reinventing Organizations
• Uwe Friedrichsen: „Thoughts on AI and Software Development“ (very good analysis about the state of things in AI in the year of 2025)
• Uwe Friedrichsen: „Solving the Wrong Problem”
• Uwe Friedrichsen: “Simplify” + “The Continuous Amnesia Issue” + more
• Maja Storch: „Das Geheimnis guter Entscheidungen“
• Michael Lewis: „The Undoing Project“
• Susan Goldsworthy: „Confronting and Navigating Inner Polarities in Leadership”
• Otto Scharmer: „u-lab: Leading From the Emerging Future“

On 17.09.2025 I held my talk „Thoughts on (Modern?) Software Development – Observations From a 20-Year Journey” at the Scrum Event London Meetup (remote and in English).

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

https://www.meetup.com/scrumevent/events/310507943

In the ensuing Q&A session (and in the talk) some additional sources were mentioned:

• Simon Wardley-recommended „You Vibe It – You Run It?“ post about AI as a “non-learning supporting“ technology
• Talk by „Richard Sheridan“ related to „Joy, Inc.“ + thread about the book
• Timothy Clark: „The 4 Stages of Psychological Safety“
• Patrick Lencioni: „The Five Dysfunctions of a Team“
• Frédéric Laloux: „Reinventing Organizations“
• Tom DeMarco & Timothy Lister in „Peopleware“ (re-visited): „The High-Tech Illusion“
• Robert C. Martin in „Clean Agile“: The XP „Circle Of Life“ (possibly the „better“ Scrum by Kent Beck)
• Uwe Friedrichsen: „Thoughts on AI and Software Development“ (very good analysis about the state of things in AI in the year of 2025)
• Baldur Bjarnason: „The Intelligence Illusion“
• Baldur Bjarnason: „Out of the Software Crisis“
• Alex’s „featured hashtags“

On 28.08.2025 I held my talk „Thoughts on (Modern?) Software Development – Observations From a 20-Year Journey” at the Scrum Masters HH Meetup (remote and in German).

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

https://www.meetup.com/scrum-master-meetup-hamburg/events/310385905

In the ensuing Q&A session some additional sources were mentioned:

• Talk by „Richard Sheridan“ related to „Joy, Inc.“ + thread about the book
• Tom DeMarco & Timothy Lister in „Peopleware“ (re-visited): „The High-Tech Illusion“
• Robert C. Martin in „Clean Agile“: The XP „Circle Of Life“ (possibly the „better“ Scrum by Kent Beck)
• Uwe Friedrichsen: „Thoughts on AI and Software Development“ (very good analysis about the state of things in AI in the year of 2025)
• Baldur Bjarnason: „The Intelligence Illusion“
• Baldur Bjarnason: „Out of the Software Crisis“
• Yuval Noah Harari: „Nexus“ and his TED interview
• Joseph Weizenbaum documentation: „Plug & Pray“
• Alex’s „featured hashtags“

On 18.08.2025 I held my talk „Thoughts on (Modern?) Software Development – Observations From a 20-Year Journey” at the joint event of Softwerkskammer Cologne and REWE digital Events Cologne (in person and in German).

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

https://www.meetup.com/softwerkskammer-koln/events/309359339

https://www.meetup.com/rewe-digital-events-cologne/events/309583766

The event location was:

REWE Digital
Schanzenstraße 6-20
Gebäude Kupferwerk 2.20, 1 OG
Köln

Google Maps: https://www.google.com/maps/search/?api=1&query=50.964565%2C%207.014446

In the ensuing discussion some additional sources were mentioned:

• Talk by „Richard Sheridan“ about „Joy, Inc.“ + thread related to the book
• Tom DeMarco & Timothy Lister in „Peopleware“ (re-visited): „The High-Tech Illusion“
• Baldur Bjarnason: „The Intelligence Illusion”
• Baldur Bjarnason: „Out of the Software Crisis“
• Joseph Weizenbaum documentary: „Plug & Pray”
• Toot about the XP „Circle Of Life“
• Uwe Friedrichsen: Thoughts on AI and Software Development
• Dave Thomas: „Simplicity”
• Matt Beane: „The Skill Code”
• Gunter Dueck’s re:publica 2015 talk about „swarm stupidity“
• John Allspaw: “How Your Systems Keep Running Day After Day“ (very good talk, e.g.: „What happens when your senior developers start to communicate their mental model?”)
• James Somers: “The Coming Software Apocalypse“ (bad title, great content)
• James Somers: „The Friendship That Made Google Huge“ (about THE central senior pair programming team at Google)
• Arlo Belshee: „Promiscuous Pairing – What Really Makes Pairing (and Mobbing) Work”
• Neil Postman: Technopoly
• Alex’s “featured hashtags“

On 09.07.2025 I held my talk „Thoughts on (Modern?) Software Development – Observations From a 20-Year Journey” at JUG Paderborn (remote and in German).

The talk’s sources can be found here, more details can be found here:

http://jug-pb.gitlab.io/blog/2025/modern-software-and-elixir.html

The event location was:

adesso SE Paderborn
Lise-Meitner Str. 1c
33104 Paderborn

Google Maps: https://maps.app.goo.gl/F9ackQLkcrR3W42y8

In the ensuing discussion some additional sources were mentioned:

• Dan McKinley „Choose Boring Technology“: https://mcfunley.com/choose-boring-technology
• Talk by „Richard Sheridan“ about „Joy, Inc.“ + thread related to the book
• Baldur Bjarnason: “The Intelligence Illusion“
• Baldur Bjarnason: “Out of the Software Crisis“
• Laloux, Frederic: Reinventing Organizations visuell
• Toot zum XP „Circle Of Life“
• Alex’s reading list