Latest
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Breaking down the WordPress drama
A dispute has riven the WordPress community in half, how does this impact developers?
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Build an AI roadmap that actually delivers value
There are lots of things to consider before you dive into the world of AI. If you want to do it correctly, consider these core elements.
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How to craft a realistic technology roadmap
Technology roadmaps are difficult things to navigate. Having a realistic approach can save you a lot of time and energy.
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Content sponsored by Chainguard
Does ‘shifting security left’ really work?
“Shifting security left” is a term in modern DevOps that refers to the practice of integrating security measures earlier in the software development lifecycle (SDLC).
Editor’s picks
November 4 & 5, 2025
The leadership conference for tech leads and engineering leaders.
Essential reading
How to build an effective technical strategy
Building a tech strategy requires a lot of moving parts. Learn about what routes to take and whether decisions should be top-down.
On our Technical Direction playlist
Managing architecture
Lutz Hühnken talks about the importance of a strategic approach to software architecture, that prevents teams from becoming architecture firefighters, who spent an excessive amount of energy applying short-term fixes to architectural problems.
Technical Vision vs. Technical Strategy: The difference and why it matters
Jonathan Maltz digs into the nuts and bolts of setting a successful technical strategy. Startin by talking about the difference between technical vision and technical strategy.
Writing your technical strategy
Bruce Wang talks about Writing your technical strategy (psst, it doesn’t have to feel like a Squid Game) at LeadDev Together in February 2022.
Good technical debt
Jon Thornton discusses how this framework was used to rapidly build and ship Squarespace’s Email Campaigns product in less than 15 months. Along the way, you’ll get several practical guidelines for how tech debt can supercharge your technical investments.
Creating, defining, and refining an effective tech strategy
Having a defined tech strategy creates alignment and keeps everyone on the same page. So how can you ensure yours is most effective? Panelists Anna Shipman, Randy Shoup, Papanii Nene Okai, Nimisha Asthagiri and Anand Mariappan share their tips.
November 4 & 5, 2025
The leadership conference for tech leads and engineering leaders.
More about Technical Direction
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Generate buy-in with compelling engineering strategies
Pitching a new technical direction requires different approaches depending on whether you’re addressing executives or your team.
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PostgreSQL: The database that quietly ate the world
How the open source database slowly but surely infiltrated the enterprise as a go-to, developer-friendly choice.
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AI models can’t understand code. Does that matter?
New research highlights how little large language models understand about the code they are churning out. Should we care?
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How Zalando uses its own Tech Radar to make better technology choices
A tech radar can help track emerging technologies and make better adoption decisions.
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4 things you need to know from the latest Thoughtworks Tech Radar
Here’s why AI-assisted software development, open-ish source, and the stubbornness of the pull request should all be on your radar.
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Evan Morikawa on how OpenAI scaled ChatGPT
Ahead of his talk at LeadDev West Coast in October, OpenAI’s Evan Morikawa goes behind the scenes on scaling ChatGPT, the constant need to reset as a leader, and how GPUs don’t grow on trees.
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AI and Kubernetes are pushing cloud costs out of control
How can you fight back against rising cloud costs while still adopting modern technologies like AI and Kubernetes?
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5 mistakes to avoid when choosing a software developer analytics tool
There are lots of things to consider when choosing software analytics tools.
Top Technical Direction videos
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Tactical tech: Short-term solutions for long-term strategy
Waterloo International station was opened in 1994 serving Eurostar trains through the channel tunnel to France. The station cost £130 million to build and won the EU prize for contemporary architecture but closed just 13 years later in 2007.
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Fitness Functions: Creating Consistency across Hundreds of Services
In this talk, I will show the different ways we employ fitness functions at Jimdo to keep track of the state of our over 200 services.
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Have AI Got News for You
This talk ventures beyond the surface to offer you a compelling deep dive into the nuances of working with large language models (LLMs).
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Sunsetting legacy: Navigating the Shop merchant eligibility data pipeline migration
In this talk, I’ll share the strategies used to disassemble our legacy data pipelines responsible for managing merchant eligibility on the Shop apps. Join me on a journey through our successes, challenges, and invaluable learnings in the meticulous orchestration of terminating our legacy data pipelines.
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Architecting for scale: Revisiting fundamentals for sustainable growth
In this talk, Viktor challenges this approach by advocating for adaptability and a return to basics in system design.
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Managing engineering teams in the era of AI
Drawing from my experience as Engineering Manager at incident.io, where I was part of a product team that built the company’s first AI-powered features, this talk combines personal insights and broader leadership strategies.
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Managing the marathon: Leading teams through lengthy migration projects
In this short talk, Lawrence will reflect on his experience leading teams through multi-year migration projects.
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Iterate to Greatness: Building High Performance, AI-native Engineering Teams
In this talk, we’ll discuss how Vercel transitioned to an AI-native company and how you too can operate highly effective, AI-native product engineering teams, from the tools used to the way to stay organised amid the rapidly changing pace of AI.