Neal is Director, Software Architect, and Meme Wrangler
at ThoughtWorks, a software company and a community of
passionate, purpose-led individuals, who thinks disruptively to
deliver technology to address the toughest challenges, all while
seeking to revolutionize the IT industry and create positive social
change. He is an internationally recognized expert on software
development and delivery, especially in the intersection of agile
engineering techniques and software architecture. Neal has authored
magazine articles, seven books (and counting), dozens of video
presentations, and spoken at hundreds of developers conferences
worldwide. His topics include software architecture, continuous
delivery, functional programming, cutting edge software innovations, and includes a business-focused book and video on improving technical presentations. Check out his web site at nealford.com.
ThoughtWorks’ Technical Advisory Board creates a “technology radar” twice a year, a working document that helps the company make decisions about what technologies are interesting and where we will spend our time. This is a useful exercise both for you and your company. This session describes the radar visualization, how to create litmus tests for technologies, and the process of building a radar. You need two radars. As an individual, a technology radar helps guide your career decisions and focus your precious R&D time. For your company, creating a radar helps you document your technology decisions in a standard format, evaluate technology decisions in an actionable way, and create cross-silo discussions about suitable technology choices. Attendees will leave with tools that enhance your filtering mechanisms for new technology and help you (and your organization) develop a cogent strategy to make good choices.
