Uwe Friedrichsen

I released a new blog post, discussing the concept of "technical debt", how it is about much more than technical debt alone, what we actually try to achieve – resulting in an extensive graph of detrimental drivers we need to consider. enjoy if you like ... ;)

www.ufried.com/blog/forget_...

da hilft dann auch kein alibi-bildchen mit don quijote mehr, wenn der artikel voller ernst die „konsequenzen“ der aus der luft gegriffenen behauptung von herrn merz durchdekliniert, ohne je die behauptung auf ihren gehalt hin zu hinterfragen. da sehe ich ein versagen der medien auf ganzer linie /e

mich bringt es nicht mehr zum staunen. es ist so plump, dass es schon peinlich ist. traurig ist daran nur, wie die medien (auch der genannte artikel) solche plumpen aussagen dann voller eifer „analysieren“ und sie damit erst gefährlich machen - und die leute, die noch darauf hereinfallen /1

darum geht es herrn merz doch gar nicht. überlege einfach, wer von der verunsicherung profitiert - genau die parteien, deren oberster lobbyist herr merz ist. und wenn lobbyisten inhaltlich keine argumente haben, stellen sie einfach behauptungen auf. schade nur, dass die presse das noch verbreitet

➕ We solve problems by adding, not subtracting—even when subtracting is better.
@ufried.bsky.social : "The addition bias quandary"
We drown in complexity. Yet we keep adding more.

i released a new blog post discussing that based on scientific research we default to add things when solving problems instead of subtracting things, what it means for us and IT in general. enjoy if you like ... ;)

www.ufried.com/blog/additio...

1 year: It will become undeniable that LLMs write good code 1 year: We’re finally going to solve sandboxing 1 year: A “Challenger disaster” for coding agent security 1 year: Kākāpō parrots will have an outstanding breeding season 3 years: the coding agents Jevons paradox for software engineering will resolve, one way or the other 3 years: Someone will build a new browser using mainly AI-assisted coding and it won’t even be a surprise 6 years: Typing code by hand will go the way of punch cards

I joined the Oxide and Friends annual predictions podcast episode this week - here are my 1, 3 and 6 year predictions for AI and LLMs (and Kākāpō parrots) simonwillison.net/2026/Jan/8/l...

"The Human's world ends soon," said the cat.

"Again?" said the dog.

"They are fond of endings and beginnings. Even if nothing changes."

The dog whined.

"Same procedure as last year?" said the cat.

"Please."

The cat lay on the dog's head and purred, muffling the fireworks.
#CrossRepost

Thanks AI! Thanks AI! GitHub Gist: instantly share code, notes, and snippets.

Rich Hickey with the best #AI take of 2026 so far - gist.github.com/richhickey/e...

Saturday Morning Breakfast Cereal - The Consolation of Philosophy Saturday Morning Breakfast Cereal - The Consolation of Philosophy

i find this comic strip very reassuring in a strange way ... :)

www.smbc-comics.com/comic/the-co...

i just released the 2nd (and last) blog post discussing the well-known paper "the ironies of automation" and what its findings mean for the current agentic ai automation move (spoiler: some more questions we still need to take care of).

enjoy if you like ... ;)

www.ufried.com/blog/ironies...

I thoroughly recommend reading all of Cory Doctorow's recent speech on AI skepticism, it's crammed with new arguments and interesting new ways of thinking about these problems pluralistic.net/2025/12/05/p...

YouTube video by code.talks (ehem. Developer Conference) Simplify! 10 ways to reduce complexity in software development - Uwe Friedrichsen | code.talks 2025

the recording of my talk "simplify! 10 ways to reduce complexity in software development" from code.talks 2025 is live: www.youtube.com/watch?v=Psx6...

the unabridged slide deck is available at: speakerdeck.com/ufried/simpl...

enjoy if you like ... ;)

Final reminder! If you've got a software architecture practice story we'd love to hear it at ICSA 2026 next summer. Abstracts due this Friday (28/Nov) and submissions (paper or presentation) the following Friday (5/Dec). conf.researchr.org/track/icsa-2...

#icsa2026 #softwarearchitecture

as so often, hobbes nails it … imo, his observation has become even more accurate today …

i just released a new blog post (part 1 of 2) discussing the well-known paper "the ironies of automation" and what its findings mean for the current agentic ai automation move (spoiler: quite some questions we still need to find answers for). enjoy if you like ... ;)

www.ufried.com/blog/ironies...

simple observation, often hard to implement: if you want to implement change in your organization, you must be willing to sacrifice the heroes of your current organization.

(not always but) very often they are the preservers of the status quo because change threatens their hero status.

indeed! one of my all-time favorites - so much more raw energy than the default polish mix

in terms of creativeness and how much better a 12" can be compared to the 7" probably one of the best 12" ever made.

the only other ones i know that are getting close are also from ztt, e.g., "machinery (beta mix)" or "beatbox" (where the ending lets you understand everything you have heard before)

otoh, the ai solutions became more powerful since i wrote the blog series which pushed the boundaries a bit. still, demanding custom quirks that do not fit into a higher level abstraction everywhere takes its toll in terms of complexity – and may quickly go beyond the abilities of an ai solution /e

for prototypes, i fully agree.

however, if you build (big) production-ready systems, i think, a few simple prompts in lovable or alike will not do the trick. you will need to specify things in much more detail and chances are that you break the abilities of the ai coding solution. /1

Heute auf der W-JAX: Agile Flow Day – Modern Productivity
OKRs, Lean & Kanban im Fokus – mehr Flow, bessere Zusammenarbeit von Mensch & Technik.

Mit Wolfgang Pleus, Thomas Schissler, Tal Uscher, @felixstein.bsky.social, @hschwentner.bsky.social & @ufried.bsky.social.
#jaxcon

released a new blog post in the light of the recent aws outage, discussing why blaming aws is exhibiting outdated thinking patterns and what you need to do instead if you want to build reliable systems today: www.ufried.com/blog/it_is_y.... enjoy if you like ... ;)

nevertheless, ai technology used in a sensible way can be very useful. but due to the "silver bullet" attitude in wide parts of the market (pushed by the profiteers of such an attitude), ai currently is pushed more often with brute force than used in a sensible way ... :/ 2/2

yup, agreed ... :) ... i did not intend to claim that everything is nice and perfect at the software engineer's side (lots of room for improvement). my point was that ai will not solve the underlying problems and if used mindlessly, it most likely will reinforce those problems 1/2

The Majority AI View - Anil Dash A blog about making culture. Since 1999.

Okay, for the folks who asked: here's the majority AI view, writing up the reasonable, thoughtful view on AI that the vast majority of people in tech hold, that gets overshadowed by the bluster and hype of the tycoons trying to shill their nonsense. anildash.com/2025/10/17/t... Please share!

ah, okay. thx. did not know that tool yet. anyway, did not intend to limit the discussion on such tools

hmm … i did not intend to exclude any kind of genai-assisted or -based sw dev. but maybe i do not understand what you mean with „lovable“

well, the agents are what the market currently pushes. that is why i focus on it. that being said, i think that genai can do a lot of good things in sw dev. for me the problems start if we use the technology as an excuse not to address existing problems (which is what i see again with genai).

i released a new blog post discussing that using genai agents for coding – while impressive in their capabilities – primarily seem to be a technological distraction from underlying, deeper problems (again): www.ufried.com/blog/ai_assi.... enjoy if you like ... ;)