How much design is enough design? How much is overdesign? When does — or should — design happen? How big is 'design'?
Anyone who has ever looked at the methodology landscape or has juggled different roles in software development — programmer, architect, coach, therapist, code paramedic, politician — knows that there are many answers to these questions, and they often contradict one another.

In this talk, we will consider different scales and time frames of design in software, bringing some balance to competing perspectives and recommendations

Target Audience: Developers, Architects, Tech Leads, Project Leads
Prerequisites: Interest in software architecture and design
Level: Advanced

Unfortunately, this presentation has to be cancelled at short notice for personal reasons.

Traditional (i.e. hands-off, blessed-few) approaches to architecture rarely (if ever) work. But in the world of microservices, autonomous teams, and continuous delivery, architecture is more important than ever. Is there an alternative?

Target Audience: Architecture Practitioners (Architects, Lead Developers, etc.)
Prerequisites: Experience delivering software architecture
Level: Advanced

Extended Abstract:
I’m an architect, and I think a lot about architecture. Mostly I think about how irrelevant architecture is if it doesn’t get shipped to production. I worry a lot too. I worry about how to help all the teams I’m supposed to be helping, without slowing them down, getting in their way, or making their lives harder rather than easier.

This paper introduces a mindset and an associated set of practices which do away with the traditional idea of “Architects” while bringing the practice of “Architecture” to the fore. I’ll explain how I and colleagues have used this approach at multiple clients to help everyone become an architect, without things reducing to chaos (though there is a healthy dose of anarchy).

The cloud has fundamentally changed how we design applications and introduced whole new categories of software-development disasters. With a focus on Java, this talk will introduce some of the new tools, patterns, and best practices for modern distributed application development. It also gives a tour of some of the most painful anti-patterns Holly has seen as a cloud consultant.

Target Audience: Architects, Developers, Strategic Decision Makers
Prerequisites: Basic experience of cloud computing, Knowledge of Java
Level: Advanced

Extended Abstract:
The cloud is just someone else's data center, but it has fundamentally changed how we design software and what we expect from our platforms. Our applications have gotten bigger, more distributed, and more complicated, and there are whole new categories of mistakes we can make. Some things that were a good idea ten years ago turn out to be a terrible idea in the cloud; and what used to be ‘good enough’ for testing really isn’t anymore. Managing microservices architecture demands a lot of us, to ensure observability, operational resiliency, and organisational agility. With a focus on Java, this talk will introduce some of the new tools, patterns, and best practices for modern distributed application development. It also gives a tour of some of the most painful anti-patterns Holly has seen as a cloud consultant.

Green software engineering is an emerging discipline and being a part of the climate change solution is a relatively new part of many software companies' strategy. For some of us, building resource efficient solutions is something we have already done for a long time, but we called it performance work. Where do the two meet and when are they different? This talk introduces the field of green software engineering and explains where it intersects with performance optimizations, giving you the tools to take an active part in the climate solution.

Target Audience: Architects, Developers
Prerequisites: Basic understanding of software and performance metrics like latency and resource utilization
Level: Advanced

Extended Abstract:
Software has a huge carbon footprint and impact our global commitment to keep global warming to no more than 1.5°C – as called for in the Paris Agreement. To reach this goal, emissions need to be reduced by 45 % by 2030 and reach net zero by 2050. The rising interest in getting a better handle on the carbon emissions of software has garnered interest from the research and practitioner communities across industry, government, academia, and civil society.

The objective of this session is to break beyond surface-level discussions and dive deep into understanding the challenges and opportunities related to assessing and mitigating the carbon impacts of software systems, through the lens of high performing software.

In 2022, is having a dedicated software architect still useful, or are there better ways to fulfil this role? The answer, as usual, is "it depends”.

Target Audience: Software Developers and Architects
Prerequisites: None
Level: Advanced

Extended Abstract:
Traditional approaches to software architecture usually trigger thoughts of ivory tower dictators who are a long way removed from the process of building software, probably because they no longer write code anymore. This unfortunate stereotype of “architecture astronauts” delivering large design documents to the development team before running away to cause havoc elsewhere has unfortunately resulted in a backlash against having a dedicated architect on a software development team, particularly in environments where teams are striving to be autonomous and self-organising.
But, in 2022, is having a dedicated software architect still useful, or are there better ways to fulfil this role? The answer, as usual, is “it depends”.