A bank's AI demo works but cannot ship due to non-engineering problems like security, data ownership, and risk approval. Paden Gayle outlines a method focusing on early stakeholder discovery, iterative workflow scoping, gradual autonomy, and a comprehensive evidence pack to build AI systems with a credible path to production, emphasizing that "discovery is the engineering."
AI has shifted the software development bottleneck from coding to defining *what* to build. This talk emphasizes the critical role of human skills in eliciting true requirements and understanding business value, detailing practical tools like story mapping, a 4-question value framework, and the VAD thinking path to ensure valuable AI-driven solutions are built, focusing on impact over mere feature delivery.
Alice Bartlett, Tech Director at the Financial Times, offers a deep dive into her leadership role, managing a 70-person team responsible for FT.com and the mobile apps. She discusses the transition from principal engineer to director, the art of managing stakeholder relationships, strategies for tackling technical debt, and her nuanced perspective on the impact of AI on software development and team dynamics.