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# Automate or Stagnate: Keep Your Dependencies up to date with Renovate


- **Date:** Friday, Jul 10, 2026
- **Time:** 13:40–14:10 (30 min)
- **Room:** Stage 12
- **Event:** World Congress 2026 Europe

## Recording

[Watch recording](https://www.wearedevelopers.com/videos/100289-automate-or-stagnate-keep-your-dependencies-up-to-date-with-renovate)

## Description

Maintaining software dependencies and updating external packages and dependencies is something that nobody really wants to do, and it is often forgotten and neglegted. We would all much rather spend our time actually developing new, exiting stuff. But leaving you dependencies unmanaged can leave you with security issues, and prevent you from using some of the nice, new features that might make your code even better than it is today.

In this talk, we'll dive into why managing external dependencies is a critical part of software development—even if it’s not always the most exciting thing to do. We'll explore the risks of ignoring them and, most importantly, show you how automation can transform this chore into a seamless, time-saving process using Renovate. Whether you're working on large-scale business applications or side projects in your free time, you'll leave with strategies to keep dependencies in check without sacrificing the fun parts of coding.

## Speaker

### [Susanne Bach Ladefoged Hou](https://www.wearedevelopers.com/@susanne-bach-ladefoged-hou)

Senior Software Developer @ Unioo.io | Speaker | Driven by Passion, Powered by ADHD


## Related talks at this congress

- [Confessions of a Software Archaeologist: What I Did Wrong in 10 Years of Restructuring Software](https://www.wearedevelopers.com/events/world-congress-2026-europe/sessions/1270-confessions-of-a) — Hendrik Lösch
- [Practical tips for keeping your C# code base clean](https://www.wearedevelopers.com/events/world-congress-2026-europe/sessions/1155-practical-tips-for) — Dennis Doomen
- [You Will Migrate Eventually: A developer approach to technology adoption](https://www.wearedevelopers.com/events/world-congress-2026-europe/sessions/977-you-will-migrate) — Luisa Rink, Wouter Ligtenberg
- [Refactoring in the Age of AI](https://www.wearedevelopers.com/events/world-congress-2026-europe/sessions/1254-refactoring-in-the) — Dominik Srednicki, Elena Lucarelli