Looking back at key themes across technology in 2023
Dec 28, 2023
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The Thoughtworks Technology Radar team discusses key themes of the industry, including AI-assisted software development, coding assistants, the JavaScript explosion, querying documents with a chat interface, measuring developer productivity, and re-evaluating collaboration styles.
Experimentation with AI assistants like co-pilot in software development and the need for caution due to security vulnerabilities in coding models.
Growing interest in using Large Language Models (LLMs) and the challenges associated with training them, including the need for building patterns and tools around LLMs.
Deep dives
AI Assisted Software Development
The first theme discussed in the podcast is AI assisted software development. The hosts talk about the experimentation and usage of coding assistants, such as co-pilot, in software development. They highlight the existence of open-source coding models as alternatives to co-pilot. The hosts also touch upon the dangers of security vulnerabilities in coding models and the need for caution while using them.
Large Language Models (LLMs)
The second theme explored in the podcast is the use of Large Language Models (LLMs). The hosts discuss the growing interest in using both public and self-hosted LLMs, their applications in different contexts, and the emergence of related technologies like quantization. They also mention the challenges associated with training LLMs and the need to build patterns and tools around them.
Measuring Developer Productivity
The third theme discussed is the measurement of developer productivity. The hosts express skepticism towards traditional productivity metrics and highlight the importance of eliminating waste in the development process. They discuss the challenges of quantifying productivity gains and the need to focus on factors like flow state and effective collaboration rather than just lines of code.
Remote Delivery Workarounds
The final theme covered in the podcast is the maturity of remote delivery workarounds. The hosts discuss the transition to remote work during the pandemic and the subsequent development of tools and approaches to enhance remote collaboration. They highlight the benefits of in-person interaction for certain collaboration styles and emphasize the importance of adapting work practices for effective remote work.
With each edition of the Thoughtworks Technology Radar, we identify a number of key themes that we see as significant in the industry. In the most recent edition — volume 29, published in September — we picked out AI-assisted software development, the challenges of measuring productivity, the rapid growth of LLMs and remote delivery workarounds beginning to mature in a post-pandemic world.
For this, the final Technology Podcast episode of 2023, a few members of the team involved in putting the Technology Radar together — Neal Ford, Rebecca Parsons, Scott Shaw and Erik Doernenberg — got together to discuss these themes in more detail and offer their perspectives. As we leave the year behind, it's a great way to review some of the key issues and stories that shaped the way the world builds software.
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