On 12.06.2026 I held my 2 hour, in-depth „Thoughts on (Modern?) Software Development – Observations From a 21-Year Journey” talk at DDD Europe 2026 (in person and in english).
The talk’s sources and slides can be found here, the information about the talk and the link to the ticketing system at:
https://2026.dddeurope.com/speakers/alex-thurow
The event location was:
Queen Elisabeth Hall
Koningin Astridplein 20-26
Antwerp, Belgium

During the talk and in the ensuing discussions some additional sources were mentioned:
- Richard Sheridan‘s „Joy, Inc.“
- Tom DeMarco & Timothy Lister in „Peopleware (re-visited)“: „The High-Tech Illusion“
- Gunter Dueck‘s re:publica 2015 talk on the topic of „Swarm Stupidity“
- Uwe Friedrichsen‘s latest blog post „We Are Our Own Worst Enemies”
- Uwe Friedrichsen’s JAX 2026 slides: „The 7 Pitfalls of AI“
- Uwe Friedrichsen’s AI-related blog posts:
- Andrew Murphy’s „If you thought the speed of writing code was your problem – you have bigger problems“
- Post related to Charlie Warzel’s „AI is a Mass-Delusion Event”
- Steve McConnell’s „After the Gold Rush”
- Post by Paige Watson about how managers perceive AI vs. developer statements
- Donella Meadows: „Thinking in Systems”
- Frederic Laloux:
- Guide to my Mastodon hashtags
- Last but not least:
- The link to all other sources I did mention in the „Thoughts“-related discussions since 2024









