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World Congress 2023 • Sep 27, 2023

The QUEST for Better Software

Richard Bown

Overwhelmed by conflicting software development advice? Cut through the noise with the QUEST framework to build resilient systems using five actionable, human-centric principles.

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#1 about 5 min

Navigating the overwhelming amount of software development advice

The abundance of conflicting programming principles can overwhelm developers trying to build cohesive software infrastructure.

#2 about 4 min

Understanding software development as a deeply human activity

Continuous daily maintenance and active human collaboration remain structural necessities despite rapid AI tooling advancements.

#3 about 3 min

Understanding the impact of Conway's law on system architecture

Software architectures inevitably parallel and mirror the internal communication structures of the originating organizational teams.

#4 about 4 min

Cultivating programmer virtues and psychological safety in teams

Fostering an economy of coding effort and psychological safety reduces friction to encourage productive collaboration.

#5 about 6 min

Unifying core software principles for better team performance

Analyzing foundational methodologies uncovers recurring practices for modernizing software delivery and elevating cross-functional engineering execution.

#6 about 3 min

Applying the QUEST framework to daily software engineering

A continuous focus on quality, open workflows, end users, simplicity, and teamwork significantly accelerates feature deployments.

#7 about 3 min

Building atomic habits for continuous improvement in software systems

Lasting technical transformations depend entirely on adopting consistent daily routines over attempting massive spontaneous overhauls.

Matching moments

3:40 min

Identifying core challenges in modern software development

Markus Eisele Markus Eisele · WWC 2024

1:31 min

Assessing software team maturity through targeted self-reflection questions

Martyna Zurek · LIVE

2:25 min

Building engineering cultures that support long-term software architecture

Oskar Kruschitz Oskar Kruschitz · Europe 2026 Virtual

1:34 min

Reviewing the foundational concepts of the agile manifesto

Jose Reales · WWC 2023

2:05 min

Cultivating a learning-focused and empathetic engineering culture

Tom George · LIVE

3:32 min

Prioritizing continuous learning and reasoning in software engineering

Mike Butcher Mike Butcher +3 · WWC 2024

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