On this page you can find the descriptions related to the talks I created over the years.
“Thoughts on (Modern?) Software Development – Observations from a 20 years-long 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)
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 tries to outline 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“.




Topics covered:
- What are the characteristics of software development?
- What is experience and how do you gain it?
- A learning model – The Dreyfus-Model
- Cognitive biases
- Factors of influence when you are developing software
- „Precision, guess work, unreliable data and questionable knowledge”
- Observations about people who code
- Hype Driven Development
- Artificial intelligence
- Micro challenges
- Macro challenges
Sources
... see here.
Recordings
… see: ASQF Net Week 2024 (in German)
“Solutions for (Modern?) Software Development – Approximations from a 20 years-long journey”
„For every complex problem there is an answer that is clear, simple, and wrong.“ (H. L. Mencken, 1880-1956)
The talk tries to find an approximate 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 following four topics are covered:
- Effectively managing complexity
- Effectively managing cognitive load
- Effectively performing human interactions
- Learning how we as humans tick




Topics covered:
- The Status Quo – „The Cloud”
- The Real Challenge – “The Cloud”
- Management of complexity – (d)MiB
- 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?
Sources
... see here.