This blog series is a long-overdue write-up of my presentation “Essential architectural work”. Of course, this is the 2026 version of the contents, i.e., it will also discuss the impact of AI on several aspects of architectural work. However, it is interesting to see that quite a bit of the stuff I discussed 7 years ago and learned over many years did not change. It is as valid now as it was back then.…

This post is about two observations I repeatedly make when looking around in our community. They are loosely connected by the topic of AI, which makes both observations more visible. The observations are about how we make our lives – IMO unnecessarily – harder.

It started many years ago with a dream – a dream about a universal automaton. Many people were involved in its invention: Ada Lovelace, Charles Babbage, Alan Turing, Conrad Zuse, and many more. John von…

AI is eating IT. At least this is how it looks at the moment. AI everywhere, in all stages of software development as well as part of the solutions, including SaaS and COTS. The promise and widespread AI application pattern:

To be clear: I do not think we should actually forget technical debt. Also, this is not the nth post discussing if “debt” is an appropriate metaphor. I do not have a strong opinion regarding the metaphor. My point is rather that I realized in a recent discussion that in the end, it is not so much about technical debt but rather about something else, and I wanted to share the thought.