XConf 2022

The intensifying impacts of climate change has put a spotlight on sustainability. Investors, consumers, organizations and governments are all driving the shift to sustainability to build a better future. As technologists, we too have a vital role to play in protecting our planet. But it's not all doom and gloom. The climate disruption has become a catalyst for innovation, and companies like AWS are harnessing technology to accelerate sustainability initiatives for their customers and their business. Our guest keynote speaker will explore the why's and how's of green technology, and the best practices and guardails to designing more sustainable architectures.

The art of software design is facing a slow and painful death. Our mental muscles needed to produce high quality code via good software design are atrophying through the lack of deliberate practice, time, and less and less people in the industry who value these skills. It's time to get these muscles back into the mental gym! Andy and Pam will talk about the need to build and maintain software design skills, suggest tools and exercises to help develop this capability, and provide contrasting answers to the question of where these skills are best applied.

Engineering teams today have greater autonomy and are capable of directly committing the organization to spend. Providing new scaffolding for this change is 'FinOps' - a maturing discipline and cultural practice driving collaboration between business and engineering teams in order to unlock greater value and enable operational efficiencies. Follow our speakers on a path to less grumpy CFOs and good financial governance through transparency, shared financial accountability and democratic access to spending decisions, and discover some pragmatic steps to start your own journey.

In a rush to get product features shipped, accessibility is often left on the cutting room floor. Accessibility benefits everyone, so why is it still an afterthought in tech? Our speakers will share how we at Thoughtworks are shifting accessibility left in the product development process from discovery through to delivery and beyond. They'll also share their experience of making accessibility a default practice in cross-functional teams. Discover how to unlock the full value of technology by designing for everyone.

Imagine a world where compute is decentralized and power efficient with privacy built-in. A world where devices with a micro footprint have a macro impact. Move over big data, machine learning and cloud compute - and welcome to the world of TinyML. Our keynote speaker, Andy Nolan, will explore this emerging (yet highly underrated) technology. Discover the possibilities of internet-free microcontrollers and sensors with enough horsepower to run computer vision models and audio processing algorithms for ten years off a battery. Andy will examine the challenges and opportunities this technology will bring to agile software development, continuous delivery, privacy and security.

How is it that some of the most tenured CEOs can lead their organizations to its demise? The fact is that you don't need a title to be a great leader. True leadership is about building trust and taking responsibility, and it's an essential skill everyone can develop. In this talk, Giselle will share her experience of unknowingly stepping into a leadership role in a team without a technical lead, and the lessons learned along the way.

While databases are crucial to any digital experience, most organizations face challenges in terms of their scalability, resiliency and operational cost. Horizontally scalable NoSQL databases offer an alternative that meets scalability needs, but the lack of strong transactional and consistency capabilities make them impractical for many applications. NewSQL promises the best of both worlds - horizontal scalability together with relational modelling capabilities and full transactional consistency. In this talk, Gargi will share her experience evaluating the capabilities of NewSQL databases and the areas where they shine.

'Digital colonialism' involves using digital infrastructure to capture and re-sell data (particularly from the Global South) to Big Tech companies. So how can we continue to build technology that is useful and trustworthy in this digital landscape? Our speakers have been involved in the Indigenous Protocols and Artificial Intelligence Working Group, and they will explore the ways Indigenous epistemologies can inform our relationship with technology in a way that pushes humanity forward.

Over the years, we have seen many teams try and use feature toggles only to face bitter disappointment and make comments like, "We tried that and it doesn't work here". Most of the time, it didn't work because anti-patterns were implemented and a clear path forward couldn't be seen. In this panel discussion, we will open up the floor to answer your burning questions and also share our first-hand experience using feature toggles. Learn from our mistakes, so you don't have to make them too.