Thoughtworks Technology Podcast

There's been a lot of discussion and debate in recent months about exactly how software engineering will be reshaped by AI. While it remains to be seen what the discipline will look like once things quieten down (if they ever do), one thing has been somewhat neglected: what does software engineering actually feel like in this AI-intensive environment? If we're no longer writing code, or even interfacing with it in the way we're used to, what does that mean for our professional experience? On this episode of the Technology Podcast, host Ken Mugrage is joined by Nate Schutta to discuss the software engineering experience today and to dig deep into what the work feels like when AI agents change our relationship with code. Nate is one of the authors of Fundamentals of Software Engineering (alongside Dan Vega) and appeared on the podcast in May 2025 to discuss the book; with so much change having taken place since then, Nate is perfectly placed to offer a perspective on what software engineering means today for an industry navigating significant change. Learn more about The Fundamentals of Software Engineering: https://www.thoughtworks.com/insights/books/fundamentals-software-engineering-book Listen to Nate discuss the book on an earlier episode of the Technology Podcast: https://www.thoughtworks.com/insights/podcasts/technology-podcasts/exploring-fundamentals-software-engineering

The Thoughtworks 2026 Looking Glass report was published in January. Designed to provide business and technology leaders with the tools to better understand and navigate future trends, this edition paid particularly close attention to what organizations need to do to reach a level of AI maturity that will effectively unlock an operational and commercial edge. Taking in everything from AI-assisted software delivery to AI-ready data, it bridges the gaps between what the world is doing today, what will be possible in the months to come and what may be coming on the horizon in the long-term. To discuss this year's Looking Glass, host Ken Mugrage is joined by Rickey Zachary and Thomas Squeo. Together, Rickey and Thomas provide both a technology and business perspective on the main insights from the report, exploring some of the key throughlines and issues Thoughtworks believes businesses need to contend with. With a complex and rapidly changing industry and economic picture, one thing emerges as critical: being brilliant at the basics. Read the 2026 Looking Glass: https://www.thoughtworks.com/insights/looking-glass

Managing distributed systems and complex workflows can be challenging. What happens when something fails? If a task isn't executed to completion, that can lead to serious problems. From transaction and billing failures to deploying software, even small issues can have significant consequences. This is one of the reasons for durable computing. Designed to isolate code from crashes, it preserves state so a task is completed even when something fails. To discuss durable computing, explore why it matters today and how we've been using it at Thoughtworks, Brandon Cook and John Coleman join host Alexey Boas on the Technology Podcast. They dive into the current platform ecosystem and what it means for developers — and requires of them. They also talk about the value of durable computing for AI, explaining why the concept of 'durable agents' offers an important of avenue of investigation in a world eager to embrace agentic systems. Learn more about durable computing in this blog post from July 2025: https://www.thoughtworks.com/insights/blog/cloud/durable-computing-making-easier-resilience-distributed-systems

In January 2026, Thoughtworks launched AI/works™, an agentic development platform. It promises to make the capabilities of AI agents a reality for the enterprise, helping in areas including understanding complex legacy code, forward engineering new software solutions and agent governance. How, though, does it actually work in practice? And what does it mean for the organizations and teams Thoughtworks works with? In this episode of the Technology Podcast, new host Rickey Zachary is joined by Bharani Subramaniam (CTO for Thoughtworks India and the Middle East) and Shodhan Sheth (Head of Enterprise Modernization, Platforms and Cloud) to discuss AI/works™, taking in how the platform emerged from a number of recent Thoughtworks projects to how it's delivering value to businesses today. As well as an inside perspective on Thoughtworks' new platform, the episode also offers a deep and timely exploration of questions and challenges the rapid rise of AI agents in software engineering has surfaced across every part across industry. Learn more about AI/works™: https://www.thoughtworks.com/ai/works

In a world that's being transformed by AI agents and agentic systems, how do software developers unlearn what they know while also maintaining engineering rigor? In an in-person conversation with Nathen Harvey, Developer Relations Engineer at Google Cloud, and Patrick Debois, Developer Relations at Tessl, host Ken Mugrage dives into the ways individuals, teams and organizations are walking the line between experimentation and well-established engineering practices as they seek to innovate while ensuring resilience, reliability and security. Thoughtworks is a platinum sponsor of the 2025 DORA report: https://www.thoughtworks.com/en-us/insights/reports/the-2025-dora-report

If AI agents really are the future of how work will be done — in software engineering and beyond — the platforms on which they are built, run and maintained will be crucial. This is a topic two Thoughtworkers, Ben O'Mahony and Fabian Nonnenmacher, are currently writing about. Although not due to be published until early 2027, the first two chapters of Building AI Agent Platforms are now available as part of O'Reilly's Early Release scheme. Its goal is to provide readers with a complete roadmap for developing AI agent platforms, from agent development to architectural principles to observability and governance. In this episode of the Technology Podcast, the authors speak to regular host Ken Mugrage about the book, why agent platforms are a critical part of any AI strategy and some of the challenges of developing and maintaining them. Listen for an early look at what looks set to be a valuable book in the world of AI development and to gain a clearer perspective on what agentic AI really means at the start of 2026. Learn more about Building AI Agent Platforms: https://www.oreilly.com/library/view/building-ai-agent/0642572243906/

You can grasp the basics of software architecture by learning design patterns, but you probably won't master it — to do that you have to get to grips with antipatterns too. Often these lessons are hard-won through experience, derived from seeing what happens when architectural decisions (or the lack of them) collide with the messy reality of the real world. While there's obviously no replacement for practical experience, Neal Ford, Mark Richards and Raju Gandhi want to share theirs to give architects the opportunity to avoid common antipatterns and pitfalls and make smarter decisions. That's what they're doing with their forthcoming book (due September 2026) Architecture Patterns, Antipatterns and Pitfalls. On this episode of the Technology Podcast, host Neal is joined by his co-authors and their editor from O'Reilly, Sarah Grey, to discuss the book and to explore why getting to know on antipatterns and pitfalls matters as much as learning design patterns. Learn more about Software Architecture Patterns, Antipatterns and Pitfalls: https://www.oreilly.com/library/view/software-architecture-patterns/0642572221119/ Listen to Neal and Mark discuss the various intersections of software architecture on an episode of the Technology Podcast from 2025: https://www.thoughtworks.com/insights/podcasts/technology-podcasts/exploring-intersections-software-architecture