Episode 197 | Neal Ford - Architecting Appreciation

Guest: Neal Ford @neal4d Neal Ford talks with Dave Rael about architecture, creativity, feasibility, and great writing Neal Ford is Director, Software Architect, and Meme Wrangler at ThoughtWorks, a global IT consultancy with a focus on end-to-end software development and delivery. He is also the designer and developer of applications, articles, video/DVD presentations, and author and/or editor of an increasingly large number of books spanning a variety of subjects and technologies, including the most recent Presentation Patterns. His professional focus includes designing and building of large-scale enterprise applications. He is also an internationally acclaimed speaker, speaking at over 300 developer conferences worldwide, delivering more than 2000 presentations. You can email Neal at nford at thoughtworks.com. Chapters: 1:45 - Dave introduces the show and Neal Ford4:59 - The nature of architecture and whether it's still needed11:53 - Neal's sabatical after 10 years at ThoughtWorks14:10 - Working for ThoughtWorks and using software to make the world a better place19:22 - Neal the conference co-chair and the O'Reilly Software Architecture Conference22:10 - The things that "light Neal up"26:11 - How Neal got started in software31:55 - How Neal stays current with what he needs to know33:57 - Neal's enormous reading habit34:42 - Neal's book recommendations38:10 - Neal's story of failure - putting off delivering bad news and overlooking shortcoming of feasibility42:58 - Neal's success story - writing about evloutionary architecture44:49 - The things that have Neal most excited47:44 - The things about which Neal likes to geek out49:22 - Neal's top 3 tips for delivering more value51:54 - Keeping up with Neal Resources: The Architect in The Matrix The Matrix - the scene with The Architect Martin Fowler Article Including Ralph Johnson on Architcture as "Shared Understanding" Michael Nygard Architecture Decision Records - Nat Pryce Nat Pryce Rebecca Parsons O'Reilly Software Architecture Conference - Use Discount Code USRG for 10% off Avdi Grimm on Developer On Fire TRS-80 Clipper Programming Language Sierpinski Gasket Pat Kua on Developer On Fire Cruise to the Edge Hammock Driven Development - Rich Hickey David Heinemeier Hansson on Developer On Fire Neal's book recommendation: Infinite Jest: A Novel -- 20th Anniversary Edition - David Foster Wallace Consider the Lobster and Other Essays (including Authority and American Usage) - David Foster Wallace Neal's top 3 tips for delivering more value: Capture important descisions Leave room for creativity Find ways to get into the deep concentration flow state