In 2025, software architects must adapt to a world where teams are more autonomous and empowered. This series will explore how architects can design systems that support independent teams while maintaining organizational coherence. Topics include balancing flexibility with structure, leveraging emerging technologies, and fostering effective collaboration in decentralized environments. Discover strategies to excel as an architect in a future where team autonomy is key to innovation and success.
How to be an Effective Architect in 2025
Track Host
Andrew Harmel-Law
Technical Principal @Thoughtworks, Author of Facilitating Software Architecture, Trainer for O'Reilly, Consultant, and DDD (Over) Enthusiast
Andrew is a Tech Principal at Thoughtworks, specializing in Java / JVM technologies, agile delivery, build tools and automation, and domain driven design. They have experience across the software development lifecycle and in many sectors.
Andrew is also an author and trainer for O’Reilly. They've written one book about facilitating software architecture and one chapter about implementing the Accelerate/DORA four key metrics. They also run regular online training sessions in Domain-Drive Design (First Steps) and Architecture Decision Making by Example.
What motivates Andrew is the humane delivery and sustainable evolution of large-scale software solutions, that fulfill complex user needs. They understand that people, architecture, process and tooling all have key roles to play in achieving this.
Andrew has a great passion for open source software and its communities. They have been involved with OSS to a greater or lesser extent since their career began; as a user, contributor, expert group member, or paid advocate - most notably as one of the Jenkins JobDSL originators.
Andrew enjoys sharing their experience as much as possible. This sharing is not only seen in their formal consulting engagements, but also informally through mentoring, blog posts, conferences (speaking and organising), and open-sourcing their code.
