Fallthrough

An Exploration of Complexity

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Modern software development feels so complex. In this episode, Ian Wester-Lopshire is joined by Kris Brandow, Matthew Sanabria, and Angelica Hill to discuss complexity. They propose hypotheses for the root cause of complexity, explore the ways complexity affects our technology and organizations, and ponder if artificial intelligence can aid us in reducing complexity. As always, we've got some great unpopular opinions at the end.

As always thanks for tuning in and happy listening!

This episode is a pilot for a planned mini-series on complexity. We'd like to explore complexity deeper by having conversations with and interviewing a diverse set of people. Do you have thoughts about complexity, know someone who thinks deeply about this topic, or have something you'd like to add? Reach out to us on social media and let us know!

Notes & Links:

  • CPU.fm
  • Changelog & Friends #77


Chapters:

  • (00:00) - Intro
  • (00:31) - How are we doing?
  • (01:24) - Where did complexity come from?
  • (02:53) - Ian's Hypothesis
  • (07:00) - Kris' (Hot Take) Hypothesis
  • (14:38) - FAANG & Engineering Excellence
  • (19:21) - Do better practices lead to complexity?
  • (24:02) - The Cloud's enablement of complexity
  • (24:39) - Some of the complexity is worth it
  • (26:01) - Systems become more complex over time
  • (27:33) - Moving Faster & Thinking Less
  • (31:18) - Accidental complexity
  • (31:47) - Where else does complexity surface?
  • (32:03) - Human Organizations & Trading Complexities
  • (37:46) - Documenting Decisions
  • (38:20) - Hypoethsis: Bad information organization is the root of complexity
  • (49:01) - Can AI be our librarian?
  • (54:39) - Search is not a text box
  • (55:57) - Machine learning for indexing
  • (01:00:17) - Can AI write our code?
  • (01:05:44) - Easy & Hard Learning
  • (01:12:27) - Hypothesis: mixed and unclear terminology
  • (01:14:46) - Concise Hyopthesis of Complexity
  • (01:18:05) - Letters by mail?!
  • (01:18:56) - Unpopular Opinions
  • (01:19:14) - Matthew's Unpop
  • (01:23:10) - Ian's Unpop
  • (01:28:30) - Kris' Unpop
  • (01:35:47) - Fallthrough & CPU.fm
  • (01:37:39) - Complexity Mini-Series
  • (01:38:26) - Outro

    • Hosts
    • Kris Brandow - Host
    • Ian Wester-Lopshire - Host
    • Matthew Sanabria - Host
    • Angelica Hill - Producer

      • Socials:
      • Website
      • Bluesky
      • Threads
      • X/Twitter
      • LinkedIn
      • Instagram
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