On (Modern?) Software Development

Talks

Over the last few years I have created multiple talks addressing professional software practitioners and students of computer science. These talks pin down what I – sometimes painstakingly – learned during my 20-year career progression as a professional software developer.

My primary motivation in doing so is to open up discussion spaces for professionals and to help fellow software development practitioners to guide their steps through „the wild out there“.

„A wise man learns from his mistakes; a wiser man learns from the mistakes of others.“

(Peter Goodliffe in “Code Craft”)

  1. Thoughts on (Modern?) Software Development
    Observations From a 20-Year Journey
  2. Solutions for (Modern?) Software Development
    Approximations From a 20-Year Journey
  3. Thoughts to Solutions
    Observations on (Modern?) Agility
  4. From Education to Employment
    A Requirements-Set for (Modern?) Software Developers

“Thoughts on (Modern?) Software Development – Observations From a 20-Year Journey”

“If someone is taking a journey, he (or she) can tell a story. Therefore I would take my staff and hat and would choose to travel.” (Matthias Claudius, 1740-1815)

Upcoming talks
Customer voices
  • “When I first met Alex it was impossible to know the scale of the impact he would have on my business strategy. Over the course of our conversations, he generously shared resources and intellectual context with astonishingly exact relevance, broadening my perspective and enriching my decision-making processes. After having the opportunity to view his presentation for Craft Conference 2025, I began to understand how the specific lens of software development could be applied more widely to the assessment and appreciation of the human condition. I was able to see this inflection and apply it to various aspects of my own work. Alex’s lucid interpretation of how things fit together combined with his encyclopedic recall of historical wisdom provides a foundation — and a catalyst — to imagine more.”
    • Sharyl Volpe, MS IOP, Work Culture Strategist & Leadership Coach | AI Mental Health Collective Founding Member
  • “I have recently hosted Alex for one of his talks on Modern Software Development and AI and I was truly impressed with the amount of data Alex was able to discern and talk to us about. An enormous amount of books and references helped us all to understand the current challenges and what the future plans for all of us. What impresses me most:
    – His ability to distill two decades of experience into lessons that are both technically sound and practically applicable.
    – His openness to engage in dialogue: his Q&A sessions show that he cares about understanding different perspectives, exchanging ideas, and pushing forward the community’s thinking.
    – His dual fluency: presenting in both German and English, across remote and in-person formats, he adapts well to different audiences and brings inclusivity.
    – His commitment to craftsmanship: quality, thoughtful architecture, maintainability are not just theoretical themes for him—they are actionable principles he encourages others to live by.
    If you are looking for a speaker, mentor, consultant or collaborator in modern software, architectural discipline, or exploring AI’s place in software ecosystems, Alex is someone you can rely on.”
    • Paulo Dias, Accreditor for ICAgile training courses and Instructor Authorizations, 20.09.2025
  • „I recently heard Alex speak on the topic “Thoughts on (Modern?) Software Development” at an online event. As a software engineer myself, I found his talk cut right to the core of many of the challenges I’ve seen time and time again; from why providing accurate estimates is so difficult, to what gets sacrificed when pressure to deliver skyrockets, to how the human aspect of development works. I remember feeling like I’d been seeing many of these challenges in black & white for a long time, and someone had just switched the colour on! I highly recommend and look forward to hearing more of Alex’s talks.”
  • „I had the privilege of gaining insight into Alex’s discoveries from his journey through professional life at a joint event by Softwerkskammer Köln and Rewe digital Events. I had expected a presentation about technical or organizational developments. These expectations were far exceeded. The entire evening was full of inspiration on culture and team development. I already knew that my view of the sea comes from a cutter trip around Rügen. Alex showed us glimpses of the ocean – from the ship and from the air. My biggest bonus: I can identify a possible cause of mentoring problems in the team and can already formulate the first part of the solution. Whoever is thinking about developing an organization would do well to engage Alex as a consultant and coach.”
    • Jens Rehsack, Senior System Architect (Embedded/IoT), 19.08.2025
  • „I attended Alex’s talk, “Thoughts on (Modern?) Software Development – Observations from a 20 years-long journey”, at Craft in Budapest this year. I’m a sucker for talks that understand software development with a historical context, as opposed to “it’s all novelty” or “here’s how to…”, and this is no exception. Alex’s talk embraced both personal and collective history, as well as offering broader suggestions and insights on systems and, well, life!”
  • „With his talk ’Thoughts on (Modern?) Software Development – Observations From a 20-Year Journey’ Alexander brings to the stage what is clearly distinguishing him: clarity, experience and the capability to communicate profound thoughts in an accessible way. Instead of getting lost in questions about technology and framework selection, he poses essential questions: How do we tackle complexity? How do we reduce cognitive load? How can we make sure to keep the human – developers and users – in the center of our reasoning? This talk is an inspiring reflection for all colleagues who not only want to build software but want to understand and responsibly shape it. A clear recommendation – be it for software development teams, architects, product managers or tech executives. If you experience Alexander you will leave his talk with new thoughts – and the urgent wish to build better software.”
    • Tobias Mehre, IT Recruiting Consulting and Training, 19.06.2025
  • „I did see Alexander’s talk ‚Thoughts on (Modern?) Software Development‘ at the techcamp Hamburg in 2025. My assigned category: ‘Mind-blowing‘. Very fascinating insights into a 20-year spanning career in the field of professional software development.”
  • „An honest, reflected and at the same time entertaining talk about the challenges of modern software development. Alexander manages to highlight known problem from the field by shedding new and different light on those – smart (in the best sense), close to the practitioner and with a wink of an eye. Very recommendable!”
  • “Alexander thank you for your very inspiring talk and the ensuing discussions. It was a real pleasure to get to know you and I am sure that your work will be providing many organizations with real benefits in the future.”
    • Sabine Hipp, Principal UX Designer, Opportunity Lead, 04.06.2025
  • „Alexander Thurow is an outstanding speaker with profound IT knowledge, which he very eloquently offers to his audiences by covering a wide range of topics. His talks offer a multitude of head starters and are inviting the listener to deepen his or her own knowledge. Very much recommended!“
    • Kenneth Keck, Software Engineer | IT Freelancer, 15.05.2025
  • „Thank you, Alex, for these inspiring impulses – I am blown away!“
  • „Alexander’s talk at our Software Architecture Meetup in Nürnberg was refreshingly different: different content, different style, and a different perspective. Drawing from his experience and numerous notable citations by renowned authors in and around the field of software development, Alex’s talk ‘Thoughts On (Modern?) Software Development‘ distilled the essence of software development: a people’s business where the success of projects is deeply rooted in the quality of human communication and interaction. Recognizing the challenges most developers often face in this area, Alex highlighted these issues and provided insights aimed at enhancing team dynamics and achieving successful software development outcomes. If you want to know what might be blocking your software development teams from being productive, listen to Alex’s talk.“
  • „’Thoughts On (Modern?) Software Development‘ is a talk worth hearing. It reminds listeners of the words regularly spoken by senior software professionals: software development is not only about ‚writing the code‘ in your lonely cubicle – instead it is a complex and collaborative team endeavor. Especially in our times of rising numbers of software developers in our industry, coinciding with the simultaneous steep increase in demand for software knowhow, we need more colleagues like Alexander. He employs his twenty+ years of experience in order to pass on urgently needed background knowledge to colleagues.”
    • Kai Reeh, Domain Lead Development, 20.02.2025
  • „Alex’s talks are controversial, inspiring and always thought-provoking. So watch out, throw in some glucose to prevent your head from exploding. :-)”
  • „I got to know Alexander when he was starting out his career as a software developer. Twenty years later I met him again when he presented the takeaways from his time as the software development professional he became in the meantime. Personally, I perceived the talk as very inspiring and I am sure that the talk provides every software developer, manager or superior with new impulses for reflection and discussion.”
    • Tobias Frech, IT Expert for Jakarta EE, JBoss/WildFly and Java Operations, 26.02.2025
  • „This year I was really sad, that I cannot participate in the CCC congress. At least until I heared Alex‘s talk in Karlsruhe – because it was a good compensation for the fact, that I will not be heading to Hamburg for the CCC.”
Recordings
Sources 
... see here.
Past talks
Photo of Alex during „Thoughts“ presentation at Craft 2025
Craft Conference Budapest, 29.05.2025

The present talk was designed with exactly this, 1000-times heard (and slightly updated), German proverb in the back of the head. Initially created for a student audience („From Education to Employment: A Requirements-Set for (Modern?) Software Developers“), it outlines what the presenter identified as relevant for a productive survival in the software development business (aka „the wild“). Category: „Possibly not so new – but subjectively noteworthy“.

Photo of Alex during „Thoughts“ presentation at Software Architecture Meetup Nuremberg
Software Architecture Meetup Nuremberg, 12.03.2025

So, have you ever been wondering why we, as a whole community of experts, so often struggle to tame the beast called software development? The “Thoughts on (Modern?) Software Development“ talk presents some possible answers to the question why our ongoing fight is – and will likely remain – a tough one.

Spoiler: Most of the time it is not about what you, or one of the other software development stakeholders think it is…

Slide: „Warning (1) - The anecdote"
Slide: „Imagination!"
Slide: „Challenges (Micro 3) - Simplicity"
Title slide: „Thoughts on (Modern?) Software Development - Observations From a 20-Year Journey"

Topics covered:

Audience:

  • All software development professionals + stakeholders

Level:

  • Beginner to Advanced

“Solutions for (Modern?) Software Development – Approximations From a 20-Year Journey”

„For every complex problem there is an answer that is clear, simple, and wrong.“ (H. L. Mencken, 1880-1956)

Upcoming talks
  • 2025
    • October/December Stuttgart (in planning, in person)
Customer voices
  • “I had the pleasure of working with Alexander Thurow, and I can recommend him unreservedly. If it comes to software development, real success often cannot be found in the resolution of technical challenges, but in the capability to identify and address „soft factors“ like unclear requirements, insufficient communication or wrong team composition. Alex repeatedly shows that he is able to address and resolve these, often invisible, but critical topics. With his broad and long-standing experience he identifies these hidden „bugs“ in the software development process – e.g. the so called technical debt that accrues over time and leads to a „grown and crowded system“. He clearly addresses those topics and brings them to the light of day, before they become major problems for the development organization. One of his especially impressive capabilities is his ability to take team dynamics into account (e.g. the assessment of a teams’ own capabilities) and to thereby improve the quality of its software development system. For me his work is a valuable eye-opener that should also inspire managers to pay more attention to the not immediately visible, but crucial aspects of their respective software projects. I can highly recommend Alex as an expert and valuable consultant for every software project that will be coming your way.”
    • Ralf Koch, IT executive (also on a journey that has been going on for a while 😄), 16.03.2025
Sources 
... see here.
Past talks
  • 2025
    • 24.01.2025 Überlingen (remote)
  • 2024
    • 11.11.2024 Überlingen (remote)

The talk is designed to find one possible answer to the following question which more and more clearly surfaced while I progressed through my 20 years of professional software development:

“How can we nudge the complex system of ‘software development’ into directions, which do not (repeatedly) lead us into dead ends?”

The detailed reasoning that led to the talk can be found on the Consulting page.

The talk is structured into the following four, complementary software development-relevant themes:

  1. Effectively managing complexity („The Code“)
  2. Effectively managing cognitive load („The Focus“)
  3. Effectively performing human interactions („The Team“)
  4. Learning how we as humans tick („The Individual“)
Slide: „The Real Challenge - The Cloud"
Slide: „Umm, so Alex: What is IT all about? Complexity, cognitive load, human interactions, how we as humans tick"
Slide: „Managing Cognitive Load - The environment (1)"
Slide: „Human Interactions - The Project Management Triangle"
Slide: „Human Interactions - The Software Management Triangle"
Slide: „Ok now, Alex: What’s the goal? (2)"
Title slide: „Solutions for (Modern?) Software Development - Approximations From a 20-Year Journey"

Topics covered:

  • The Status Quo – „The Cloud”
  • The Real Challenge – “The Cloud”
  • Management of complexity – (d)MiB = deliberately Make it Boring
  • Management of complexity – Check your metaphors
  • Management of cognitive load – Attention
  • Management of cognitive load – Distractions
  • Management of cognitive load – Inconsistencies
  • Human interactions – The Project Management Triangle
  • Human interactions – The Software Management Triangle
  • Human interactions – This thing called trust…
  • Human interactions – What matters most in IT?
  • Human interactions – The learning organization
  • How we humans tick – The way we operate…
  • How we humans tick – The Dreyfus-Model
  • How we humans tick – Cognitive biases
  • How we humans tick – Sustainable pace
  • Ok now, Alex: What is the goal?

Audience:

  • All software development professionals + managers

Level:

  • Intermediate to Advanced

„Thoughts to Solutions – Observations on (Modern?) Agility”

“More than twenty years after the Agile Manifesto, it can regularly be observed that the productivity increases hoped for by many software development managers have not occurred. Why is it so?”

Sources

… see here.

Past talks
  • 2025
    • TBA

More than twenty years ago the Agile Manifesto was codified in order to introduce new and more timely ways of creating software. Subsequently those methodologies – especially Scrum – were central to the hope for more advanced, „better“ software implementation efforts.

Over the past quarter of a century, however, disillusionment has set in, as even agile processes have often failed to deliver on this promise.

The „Thoughts to Solutions – Observations on (Modern?) Agility“ lightning talk sheds light on this disenchantment and explains the underlying root causes.

Slide: „Professional Software Development (1)"
Slide: „Agile Software Development (1)"
Slide: „Professional Meeting Modes"
Title slide: „From Thoughts to Solutions - Observations on (Modern?) Agility"

Topics covered:

  • Professional Software Development – The Cynefin framework
  • Agile Software Development – Two learning models: Dreyfus vs. Shu-Ha-Ri
  • Professional work modes – Simple vs. complex
  • Professional meeting modes – Introverted vs. extroverted

“From Education to Employment – A Requirements-Set for (Modern?) Software Developers”

“This talk summarizes what I wish I would have known in 2005, when I started my journey into the professional software development business (aka ’the wild’).”

Sources

… see here.

Past talks

The idea of creating this talk first came up in 2016. During that period of time I was approached by my superior and was asked whether I wanted to deliver a talk at a german university of applied sciences. The back story was that the university had just reached out to him and offered an opportunity to make the company visible to the students.

The real catch was that the talk’s topic was not limited to any predetermined themes. Therefore I started to think about a topic that might interest the students most and decided that I wanted to create a talk that should present an answer to the following question:

“What are the items out of the broad range of software development topics, that I would have rather liked to know about – but did not – when I commenced my career in the field?”

Over the years I continuously refined the talk and repeatedly presented it to students and junior developers on different occasions.

Slide: „The Environment - Imagination?"
Slide: „The Coding - Technical Debt"
Slide: „The Coding - Refactoring"
Title slide: „From Education to Employment - A Requirements-Set for (Modern?) Software Developers"

Topics covered:

  • The Environment – Where are you heading to?
  • The Environment – Factors of influence
  • The Environment – Imagination!?
  • The Environment – Challenges
  • The Tools – Learning & The Dreyfus Model
  • The Tools – Refactor Your Wetware
  • The Tools – Experience
  • The Tools – An anecdote & A scientific study
  • The Tools – Your head
  • The Coding – Characteristics of software development
  • The Coding – Characteristics of software projects
  • The Coding – Simplicity
  • The Coding – Technical Debt
  • The Coding – Automatic testing
  • The Coding – Refactoring
  • The Coding – Naming
  • The Summary – The Takeaways

Audience:

  • Students of computer science-related curriculums

Level:

  • Beginner