Talks – Jessitron

Keynote: Collective Problem Solving in Music, Science, Art, and Software

July 17, 2020November 5, 2019

(originally titled: “On the Origins of Opera and the Future of Programming”) Blog write-up Abstract There’s a story to tell, about musicians, artists, philosophers, scientists, and then programmers. There’s a truth inside it that leads to a new view of work, that sees beauty in the painful complexity that is software development. Starting from The …

Keynote: From Puzzles to Products

September 9, 2020August 6, 2019

Blog post: From Puzzles to Products Abstract What does it mean to grow from a new developer to a senior one? What is the difference between programs and software? I started my career solving puzzles in code. Then I added understanding about the business, and about running software in production, and about making that software …

Principles of Collaborative Automation

May 13, 2020May 13, 2019

(this is a transcription of the talk by the same name. Here is a video.) Collaboration is crucial in software teams – and not only among people. We need our software, our tools, and our automations to collaborate as well. But what does that mean? I have four prerequisites for you here, and then four precautions …

The Architects Below

May 26, 2019April 6, 2017

This is the text of a short keynote for O’Reilly Software Architecture Conference 2017, New York. Power.Software developers have a particular power over the daily lives of our users. A hospital the nurse interacts with the patient, and they record those interactions in software. Software impacts the nurse: some things might be easier, but others …