The InfoQ Podcast

In this podcast Michael Stiefel spoke to Luca Mezzalira about software architecture as a socio-technical discipline that balances technological design with an organization's social and managerial context. They explored how architectural choices must be adapted to a company's unique culture and team structure rather than relying blindly on universal best practices, noting that friction within a system serves as critical feedback regarding team and technical alignment. Since placing a dedicated architect on every team is unworkable, the discussion highlighted a shift toward an enablement mindset. Architects should be encouraged to act as coaches who empower developers to make decentralized decisions by establishing clear system guardrails and architectural fitness functions.

The best of architectural education comes from collaborative study and shared experiences rather than traditional lectures, allowing knowledge to organically evolve over time. As AI is increasingly used within systems, the architect must identify the areas of high volatility that require the careful supervision and guidance of experienced engineers, and the generic domains where delegation to AI agents can be more safely done.

Read a transcript of this interview: https://bit.ly/4BPciBA

Newsletter:

Subscribe to the Software Architects' Newsletter, a monthly roundup of the patterns and technologies senior practitioners are working through, with the news and lessons from people doing the work:

https://www.infoq.com/software-architects-newsletter

InfoQ Online Certification Programs:

5-week online cohorts for senior engineers and architects, built around QCon talks. Programs now cover software architecture, AI engineering, and organizational architecture. Each week you join a four-hour live session with a confidential peer group of practitioners from other companies, apply frameworks from QCon talks to the decisions you're making at work, and earn an InfoQ certification. You leave with new approaches, or confirmation that the calls you're already making are the right ones. Learn more:

https://certification.qconferences.com/

Upcoming Events:

QCon San Francisco 2026 (November 16-20, 2026)

https://qconsf.com/

QCon London 2027 (April 13-16, 2027)

https://qconlondon.com/

The InfoQ Podcasts:

Weekly conversations with senior software leaders about how they build systems and teams, including what they'd do differently. Listen to all our podcasts and read interview transcripts:

The InfoQ Podcast: https://www.infoq.com/podcasts/

Engineering Culture Podcast by InfoQ: https://www.infoq.com/podcasts/#engineering_culture

Generally AI: https://www.infoq.com/generally-ai-podcast/

Follow InfoQ:

Mastodon: https://techhub.social/@infoq

X: https://x.com/InfoQ

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/infoq/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/InfoQdotcom

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/infoqdotcom/

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/infoq

Bluesky: https://bsky.app/profile/infoq.com

Write for InfoQ:

Share what you've learned building software with a community of senior practitioners, and get your work in front of the people who read InfoQ.

https://www.infoq.com/write-for-infoq

In this episode of the podcast, members of the InfoQ AI and MIL editorial staff and friends of InfoQ discuss the current trends in the domain of AI, ML and Data Engineering.

One of the regular features of InfoQ are the trends reports, which each focus on a different aspect of software development. These reports provide the InfoQ readers and listeners with a high-level overview of the topics to pay attention to this year.

InfoQ AI, ML and Data Engineering editorial team met with an external guest to discuss the 2026 trends in AI and ML areas, and what to watch out for the next 12 months. In addition to the written report and trends graph, this podcast provides a recording of a discussion where expert panelists discuss how innovative AI technologies are disrupting the industry.

Read a transcript of this interview: https://bit.ly/47PKZt0

Newsletter:

Subscribe to the Software Architects' Newsletter, a monthly roundup of the patterns and technologies senior practitioners are working through, with the news and lessons from people doing the work:

https://www.infoq.com/software-architects-newsletter

InfoQ Online Certification Programs:

5-week online cohorts for senior engineers and architects, built around QCon talks. Programs now cover software architecture, AI engineering, and organizational architecture. Each week you join a four-hour live session with a confidential peer group of practitioners from other companies, apply frameworks from QCon talks to the decisions you're making at work, and earn an InfoQ certification. You leave with new approaches, or confirmation that the calls you're already making are the right ones. Learn more:

https://certification.qconferences.com/

Upcoming Events:

QCon San Francisco 2026 (November 16-20, 2026)

https://qconsf.com/

QCon London 2027 (April 13-16, 2027)

https://qconlondon.com/

The InfoQ Podcasts:

Weekly conversations with senior software leaders about how they build systems and teams, including what they'd do differently. Listen to all our podcasts and read interview transcripts:

The InfoQ Podcast: https://www.infoq.com/podcasts/

Engineering Culture Podcast by InfoQ: https://www.infoq.com/podcasts/#engineering_culture

Generally AI: https://www.infoq.com/generally-ai-podcast/

Follow InfoQ:

Mastodon: https://techhub.social/@infoq

X: https://x.com/InfoQ

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/infoq/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/InfoQdotcom

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/infoqdotcom/

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/infoq

Bluesky: https://bsky.app/profile/infoq.com

Write for InfoQ:

Share what you've learned building software with a community of senior practitioners, and get your work in front of the people who read InfoQ.

https://www.infoq.com/write-for-infoq

Rachel Lee Nabors, former React core team member, dives into the architecture and philosophy behind local-first applications, exploring how small language models (SLMs) running directly on-device can deliver privacy-focused, low-latency, and cost-effective alternatives to cloud-hosted LLM wrappers. Rachel shares key insights on evaluating models with golden datasets and leveraging client-side AI for moderation and social content aggregation.

The discussion also looks ahead to the future of web and application architectures in an AI-driven ecosystem. From the potential rise of OS-level personal agents and dynamic UI rendering standards like A2UI, to the evolving skill set required of software engineers.

Read a transcript of this interview: https://bit.ly/4zUywAr

Newsletter:

Subscribe to the Software Architects' Newsletter, a monthly roundup of the patterns and technologies senior practitioners are working through, with the news and lessons from people doing the work:

https://www.infoq.com/software-architects-newsletter

InfoQ Online Certification Programs:

5-week online cohorts for senior engineers and architects, built around QCon talks. Programs now cover software architecture, AI engineering, and organizational architecture. Each week you join a four-hour live session with a confidential peer group of practitioners from other companies, apply frameworks from QCon talks to the decisions you're making at work, and earn an InfoQ certification. You leave with new approaches, or confirmation that the calls you're already making are the right ones. Learn more:

https://certification.qconferences.com/

Upcoming Events:

QCon San Francisco 2026 (November 16-20, 2026)

https://qconsf.com/

QCon London 2027 (April 13-16, 2027)

https://qconlondon.com/

The InfoQ Podcasts:

Weekly conversations with senior software leaders about how they build systems and teams, including what they'd do differently. Listen to all our podcasts and read interview transcripts:

The InfoQ Podcast: https://www.infoq.com/podcasts/

Engineering Culture Podcast by InfoQ: https://www.infoq.com/podcasts/#engineering_culture

Generally AI: https://www.infoq.com/generally-ai-podcast/

Follow InfoQ:

Mastodon: https://techhub.social/@infoq

X: https://x.com/InfoQ

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/infoq/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/InfoQdotcom

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/infoqdotcom/

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/infoq

Bluesky: https://bsky.app/profile/infoq.com

Write for InfoQ:

Share what you've learned building software with a community of senior practitioners, and get your work in front of the people who read InfoQ.

https://www.infoq.com/write-for-infoq

In this podcast, Michael Stiefel spoke to Joy Ebertz about how the use of artificial intelligence is changing the way architects and developers do their jobs. Focusing on the long term success of the business is one of the most neglected tasks of an architect. This task becomes particularly important as the nature of artificial intelligence changes the landscape of software development. Architects must be especially aware of requirements and their inherent ambiguity. More than ever, they must be expert at explaining technology to the business people, and the business to the technology people. On the flip side, goals must be clearly explained to AI agents, and tests must be unambiguously written. Industry practice is uncertain on how to incorporate changes due to bug reports or new requirements. Should it be done incrementally, or should the module’s or application’s code base be regenerated? This is especially challenging in existing systems, especially old ones where nobody knows what the real requirements were. Unambiguous requirements definition may turn out to be the gating factor in AI driven software development because code reviews seem not to be effective, and verification of the AI work is a great burden.

Read a transcript of this interview: https://bit.ly/3VnVHUL

Newsletter:

Subscribe to the Software Architects' Newsletter, a monthly roundup of the patterns and technologies senior practitioners are working through, with the news and lessons from people doing the work:

https://www.infoq.com/software-architects-newsletter

InfoQ Online Certification Programs:

5-week online cohorts for senior engineers and architects, built around QCon talks. Programs now cover software architecture, AI engineering, and organizational architecture. Each week you join a four-hour live session with a confidential peer group of practitioners from other companies, apply frameworks from QCon talks to the decisions you're making at work, and earn an InfoQ certification. You leave with new approaches, or confirmation that the calls you're already making are the right ones. Learn more:

https://certification.qconferences.com/

Upcoming Events:

QCon San Francisco 2026 (November 16-20, 2026)

https://qconsf.com/

QCon London 2027 (April 13-16, 2027)

https://qconlondon.com/

The InfoQ Podcasts:

Weekly conversations with senior software leaders about how they build systems and teams, including what they'd do differently. Listen to all our podcasts and read interview transcripts:

The InfoQ Podcast: https://www.infoq.com/podcasts/

Engineering Culture Podcast by InfoQ: https://www.infoq.com/podcasts/#engineering_culture

Generally AI: https://www.infoq.com/generally-ai-podcast/

Follow InfoQ:

Mastodon: https://techhub.social/@infoq

X: https://x.com/InfoQ

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/infoq/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/InfoQdotcom

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/infoqdotcom/

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/infoq

Bluesky: https://bsky.app/profile/infoq.com

Write for InfoQ:

Share what you've learned building software with a community of senior practitioners, and get your work in front of the people who read InfoQ.

https://www.infoq.com/write-for-infoq

In this episode, Chris Swan, engineer at Atsign and security track host at QCon London, reflects on the ideas shared during QCon London 2026 and teases topics of the future edition. The discussion explores how security engineering is shifting from relying on human vigilance toward automated, system-level defences across the entire application stack. As well as the importance of governance and supply chain security in a world that sees rapid shifts toward machine-to-machine interaction.

Read a transcript of this interview: https://bit.ly/3Vg15sV

Newsletter:

Subscribe to the Software Architects' Newsletter, a monthly roundup of the patterns and technologies senior practitioners are working through, with the news and lessons from people doing the work:

https://www.infoq.com/software-architects-newsletter

InfoQ Online Certification Programs:

5-week online cohorts for senior engineers and architects, built around QCon talks. Programs now cover software architecture, AI engineering, and organizational architecture. Each week you join a four-hour live session with a confidential peer group of practitioners from other companies, apply frameworks from QCon talks to the decisions you're making at work, and earn an InfoQ certification. You leave with new approaches, or confirmation that the calls you're already making are the right ones. Learn more:

https://certification.qconferences.com/

Upcoming Events:

QCon San Francisco 2026 (November 16-20, 2026)

https://qconsf.com/

QCon London 2027 (April 13-16, 2027)

https://qconlondon.com/

The InfoQ Podcasts:

Weekly conversations with senior software leaders about how they build systems and teams, including what they'd do differently. Listen to all our podcasts and read interview transcripts:

The InfoQ Podcast: https://www.infoq.com/podcasts/

Engineering Culture Podcast by InfoQ: https://www.infoq.com/podcasts/#engineering_culture

Generally AI: https://www.infoq.com/generally-ai-podcast/

Follow InfoQ:

Mastodon: https://techhub.social/@infoq

X: https://x.com/InfoQ

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/infoq/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/InfoQdotcom

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/infoqdotcom/

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/infoq

Bluesky: https://bsky.app/profile/infoq.com

Write for InfoQ:

Share what you've learned building software with a community of senior practitioners, and get your work in front of the people who read InfoQ.

https://www.infoq.com/write-for-infoq

In this podcast, Michael Stiefel spoke to Erin Doyle about how artificial intelligence tools are transforming the software development process, and how they are affecting software engineers. Architecture skills are now critical because engineers need to understand how to build systems and handle the constraints and associated ambiguity in the requirements. At the same time, given the rapid change both in the nature of the AI tools, and the amount of code they can produce which can overwhelm developers, psychological safety becomes essential for successful AI adoption. Teams need a secure, non-judgmental environment to share their successes, admit failures, ask for help, and express skepticism.

Industry lacks a plan to train junior engineers because AI is taking over the tasks they were traditionally trained on, and university education is not adequate preparation for this new reality. The conversation concluded by discussing how software developers and organizations must retain complete ownership and assume full liability for the output generated by AI tools. To manage this, there is an urgent need to develop advanced verification and telemetry tools that can support the review process.

Read a transcript of this interview: https://bit.ly/4yNWi05

Newsletter:

Subscribe to the Software Architects' Newsletter, a monthly roundup of the patterns and technologies senior practitioners are working through, with the news and lessons from people doing the work:

https://www.infoq.com/software-architects-newsletter

InfoQ Online Certification Programs:

5-week online cohorts for senior engineers and architects, built around QCon talks. Programs now cover software architecture, AI engineering, and organizational architecture. Each week you join a four-hour live session with a confidential peer group of practitioners from other companies, apply frameworks from QCon talks to the decisions you're making at work, and earn an InfoQ certification. You leave with new approaches, or confirmation that the calls you're already making are the right ones. Learn more:

https://certification.qconferences.com/

Upcoming Events:

QCon San Francisco 2026 (November 16-20, 2026)

https://qconsf.com/

QCon London 2027 (April 13-16, 2027)

https://qconlondon.com/

The InfoQ Podcasts:

Weekly conversations with senior software leaders about how they build systems and teams, including what they'd do differently. Listen to all our podcasts and read interview transcripts:

The InfoQ Podcast: https://www.infoq.com/podcasts/

Engineering Culture Podcast by InfoQ: https://www.infoq.com/podcasts/#engineering_culture

Generally AI: https://www.infoq.com/generally-ai-podcast/

Follow InfoQ:

Mastodon: https://techhub.social/@infoq

X: https://x.com/InfoQ

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/infoq/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/InfoQdotcom

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/infoqdotcom/

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/infoq

Bluesky: https://bsky.app/profile/infoq.com

Write for InfoQ:

Share what you've learned building software with a community of senior practitioners, and get your work in front of the people who read InfoQ.

https://www.infoq.com/write-for-infoq

In this episode, a panel of AI experts, Meryem Arik (DoubleWord), Clara Higuera Cabañes (BBVA), and Jeff Smith (C Proof), demystify the current state of AI in the enterprise. The discussion navigates the "industrial revolution" moment in AI adoption, exploring why companies are rushing toward these technologies to maintain competitive advantages while grappling with reliability, ethical considerations, and the evolving role of software engineering.

The conversation highlights the growing tension between proprietary models like Claude and the rise of high-quality open-source alternatives. The guests delve into the technical debt of "generative code," the shift from deterministic to non-deterministic programming, and the critical need for sovereignty over the software supply chain. From local LLM usage to the next wave of "structuralist AI," this episode provides a roadmap for businesses and developers looking to navigate the complex AI landscape.

Read a transcript of this interview: https://bit.ly/3SCS4ZZ

Newsletter:

Subscribe to the Software Architects' Newsletter, a monthly roundup of the patterns and technologies senior practitioners are working through, with the news and lessons from people doing the work:

https://www.infoq.com/software-architects-newsletter

InfoQ Online Certification Programs:

5-week online cohorts for senior engineers and architects, built around QCon talks. Programs now cover software architecture, AI engineering, and organizational architecture. Each week you join a four-hour live session with a confidential peer group of practitioners from other companies, apply frameworks from QCon talks to the decisions you're making at work, and earn an InfoQ certification. You leave with new approaches, or confirmation that the calls you're already making are the right ones. Learn more:

https://certification.qconferences.com/

Upcoming Events:

QCon San Francisco 2026 (November 16-20, 2026)

https://qconsf.com/

QCon London 2027 (April 13-16, 2027)

https://qconlondon.com/

The InfoQ Podcasts:

Weekly conversations with senior software leaders about how they build systems and teams, including what they'd do differently. Listen to all our podcasts and read interview transcripts:

The InfoQ Podcast: https://www.infoq.com/podcasts/

Engineering Culture Podcast by InfoQ: https://www.infoq.com/podcasts/#engineering_culture

Generally AI: https://www.infoq.com/generally-ai-podcast/

Follow InfoQ:

Mastodon: https://techhub.social/@infoq

X: https://x.com/InfoQ

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/infoq/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/InfoQdotcom

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/infoqdotcom/

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/infoq

Bluesky: https://bsky.app/profile/infoq.com

Write for InfoQ:

Share what you've learned building software with a community of senior practitioners, and get your work in front of the people who read InfoQ.

https://www.infoq.com/write-for-infoq

In this episode, Sahil Agarwal talks about the critical challenges of identity, authorisation, and security in the age of AI agents. Sahil introduces the DPACT framework (Delegation, Policy, Auditability, Context, and Time) as a blueprint for building responsible, guardrailed agentic systems, moving away from simple token-based access toward bounded, delegated authority.

Read a transcript of this interview: https://bit.ly/3VuM8TJ

Newsletter:

Subscribe to the Software Architects' Newsletter, a monthly roundup of the patterns and technologies senior practitioners are working through, with the news and lessons from people doing the work:

www.infoq.com/software-architects-newsletter

InfoQ Online Certification Programs:

5-week online cohorts for senior engineers and architects, built around QCon talks. Programs now cover software architecture, AI engineering, and organizational architecture. Each week you join a four-hour live session with a confidential peer group of practitioners from other companies, apply frameworks from QCon talks to the decisions you're making at work, and earn an InfoQ certification. You leave with new approaches, or confirmation that the calls you're already making are the right ones. Learn more:

certification.qconferences.com/

Upcoming Events:

QCon San Francisco 2026 (November 16-20, 2026)

qconsf.com/

QCon London 2027 (April 13-16, 2027)

qconlondon.com/

The InfoQ Podcasts:

Weekly conversations with senior software leaders about how they build systems and teams, including what they'd do differently. Listen to all our podcasts and read interview transcripts:

The InfoQ Podcast: www.infoq.com/podcasts/

Engineering Culture Podcast by InfoQ: www.infoq.com/podcasts/#engineering_culture

Generally AI: www.infoq.com/generally-ai-podcast/

Follow InfoQ:

Mastodon: techhub.social/@infoq

X: x.com/InfoQ

LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/company/infoq/

Facebook: www.facebook.com/InfoQdotcom

Instagram: www.instagram.com/infoqdotcom/

YouTube: www.youtube.com/infoq

Bluesky: bsky.app/profile/infoq.com

Write for InfoQ:

Share what you've learned building software with a community of senior practitioners, and get your work in front of the people who read InfoQ.

www.infoq.com/write-for-infoq

In this podcast Michael Stiefel spoke to Scott Hanselman about developing new software engineers when artificial intelligence agents are doing most of the work on which junior developers were trained. Hanselman suggests the software industry should adopt a preceptorship model similar to the nursing profession. Under this model, the industry needs preceptors whose sole job is to train new engineers, and these preceptors would be evaluated on how well they train people rather than how much code they ship. The use of AI agents requires experienced engineers because while they are capable of generating software features, they perform poorly at software architecture because they often miss the larger context. In addition, engineers must maintain oversight of artificial intelligence tools by acting as reviewers and coordinators to ensure that human judgment remains central to the development process.

The conversation then broadened to discuss the environment in which agentic AI should be used. When businesses prioritize short term, hyper-optimization, they neglect the longer term investments in human capital and mentorship which will make it impossible to cultivate future senior talent. Beyond that, Hanselman addressed the sociological impacts of modern development, observing that the intersection of remote work, social media, and artificial intelligence severely isolates developers. To counter this isolation and ensure healthy growth, intentional human connection and in-person interactions are vital for the next generation of users and developers of technology.

Read a transcript of this interview: https://bit.ly/4ydBK0H

Newsletter:

Subscribe to the Software Architects' Newsletter, a monthly roundup of the patterns and technologies senior practitioners are working through, with the news and lessons from people doing the work:

https://www.infoq.com/software-architects-newsletter

InfoQ Online Certification Programs:

5-week online cohorts for senior engineers and architects, built around QCon talks. Programs now cover software architecture, AI engineering, and organizational architecture. Each week you join a four-hour live session with a confidential peer group of practitioners from other companies, apply frameworks from QCon talks to the decisions you're making at work, and earn an InfoQ certification. You leave with new approaches, or confirmation that the calls you're already making are the right ones. Learn more:

https://certification.qconferences.com/

Upcoming Events:

QCon San Francisco 2026 (November 16-20, 2026)

https://qconsf.com/

QCon London 2027 (April 13-16, 2027)

https://qconlondon.com/

The InfoQ Podcasts:

Weekly conversations with senior software leaders about how they build systems and teams, including what they'd do differently. Listen to all our podcasts and read interview transcripts:

The InfoQ Podcast: https://www.infoq.com/podcasts/

Engineering Culture Podcast by InfoQ: https://www.infoq.com/podcasts/#engineering_culture

Generally AI: https://www.infoq.com/generally-ai-podcast/

Follow InfoQ:

Mastodon: https://techhub.social/@infoq

X: https://x.com/InfoQ

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/infoq/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/InfoQdotcom

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/infoqdotcom/

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/infoq

Bluesky: https://bsky.app/profile/infoq.com

Write for InfoQ:

Share what you've learned building software with a community of senior practitioners, and get your work in front of the people who read InfoQ.

https://www.infoq.com/write-for-infoq

In this episode, Scott Jenson, a veteran UX designer known for his work on the Macintosh, Google Maps, and Chrome examines the long-term stagnation of desktop operating systems and the limitations of current mobile and cloud-centric models. The conversation shifts toward specialised "Local-First" software, exploring how we can move beyond the "status quo" of interface design to create more intuitive, powerful, and privacy-conscious computing environments in the advent of the “LLM everywhere” era.

Read a transcript of this interview: https://bit.ly/4gwuQwC

Newsletter:

Subscribe to the Software Architects' Newsletter, a monthly roundup of the patterns and technologies senior practitioners are working through, with the news and lessons from people doing the work:

https://www.infoq.com/software-architects-newsletter

InfoQ Online Certification Programs:

5-week online cohorts for senior engineers and architects, built around QCon talks. Programs now cover software architecture, AI engineering, and organizational architecture. Each week you join a four-hour live session with a confidential peer group of practitioners from other companies, apply frameworks from QCon talks to the decisions you're making at work, and earn an InfoQ certification. You leave with new approaches, or confirmation that the calls you're already making are the right ones. Learn more:

https://certification.qconferences.com/

Upcoming Events:

QCon San Francisco 2026 (November 16-20, 2026)

https://qconsf.com/

QCon London 2027 (April 13-16, 2027)

https://qconlondon.com/

The InfoQ Podcasts:

Weekly conversations with senior software leaders about how they build systems and teams, including what they'd do differently. Listen to all our podcasts and read interview transcripts:

The InfoQ Podcast: https://www.infoq.com/podcasts/

Engineering Culture Podcast by InfoQ: https://www.infoq.com/podcasts/#engineering_culture

Generally AI: https://www.infoq.com/generally-ai-podcast/

Follow InfoQ:

Mastodon: https://techhub.social/@infoq

X: https://x.com/InfoQ

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/infoq/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/InfoQdotcom

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/infoqdotcom/

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/infoq

Bluesky: https://bsky.app/profile/infoq.com

Write for InfoQ:

Share what you've learned building software with a community of senior practitioners, and get your work in front of the people who read InfoQ.

https://www.infoq.com/write-for-infoq