Steering Engineering, Gartner Podcast for Software Engineering Leaders – Details, episodes & analysis

What is an architect? What do they or should they do? What’s the difference between a solution architect and an applications architect? Do we even need architects anymore?

In this episode of the Steering Engineering Podcast, host, Danny Brian, and co-host, Brent Stewart, are joined by Gartner Distinguished VP Analyst, Anne Thomas, to explore these questions and determine how the role of architect should be defined in software engineering.

Anne Thomas is a VP and distinguished analyst in the Software Engineering Strategies team in the Gartner for IT Leaders research group. Ms. Thomas covers application architecture and infrastructure. Her current major topics include application architecture, application platforms, cloud-native, microservices, APIs, modernization and open-source strategies.

 

Join hosts Brent Stewart and Danny Brian on the Steering Engineering Podcast as they dive into the transformative role of AI in software development. Featuring Kyle Davis, an expert in low-code platforms and generative AI, this episode explores AI coding assistants, the rise of low-code, and the potential of AI agents to reshape who builds software and how. Discover how AI is democratizing development, shifting traditional boundaries, and raising critical questions about the evolving role of software engineers in a rapidly changing landscape.

Kyle Davis is a VP Analyst at Gartner specializing in modernizing application development with expertise in low-code application platforms, generative AI, citizen development, and DevOps. He advises organizations and software vendors on evaluating, deploying, and governing low-code solutions built by professional, citizen, and fusion teams. With more than 15 years of experience delivering complex solutions across healthcare, financial services, and other industries, Kyle is a trusted advisor for organizations seeking to innovate and scale their application development strategies.

 

Software engineering leaders must take a holistic stance on what generative AI can do for software development versus the current, market-leader driven view of short-term gains and benefits. In this second half of a two-part series of the Steering Engineering Podcast, co-hosts Danny Brian and Brent Stewart explore predictions with Frank O’Connor, a Senior Director, Analyst and author of Predicts 2024: Generative AI Is Reshaping Software Engineering.

Frank O'Connor is a Senior Director Analyst in Gartner’s software design and development team. He helps CxOs and software engineering leaders to tackle modern-day challenges and develop successful technology and people strategies.

Software engineering leaders will face ever-increasing changes in the next three years, from evolving career tracks to managing digital backlash. Steering Engineering podcast hosts Danny Brian and Brent Stewart debate four predictions with analyst Jim Scheibmeir.

Gartner defines low-code application platforms (LCAPs) as application platforms that are used to rapidly develop and run custom applications by abstracting and minimizing the use of programming languages. They are the foundation for a wide range of application types, application components and process automation. In this episode, we dive deep into Gartner’s Magic Quadrant on low code with lead author, Oleksandr Matvitskyy to examine where the benefits, risks and innovations with this popular technology lie. 

Recommendations:

• Check out the full Magic Quadrant for Enterprise Low-Code Application Platforms
• Download the 2023 Technology Adoption Roadmap for Software Engineering (ebook)
• Join the conversation in the Gartner Peer Community

Our recommended five books are:

1. Software Engineering at Google: Lessons Learned from Programming Over Time (Titus Winters, Tom Manshreck and Hyrum Wright)
2. An Elegant Puzzle: Systems of Engineering Management (Will Larson)
3. Scaling People: Tactics for Management and Company Building (Claire Hughes Johnson)
4. Build Better Products: A Modern Approach to Building Successful User-Centered Products (Laura Klein)
5. Team Topologies: Organizing Business and Technology Teams for Fast Flow (Matthew Skelton and Manuel Pais)
   
    

Software Engineering at Google: Lessons Learned from Programming Over Time (2020, 575 pages, Titus Winters, Tom Manshreck and Hyrum Wright)

A fascinating insight into software engineering practices and tools used at technology leader Google. I love their definition of software engineering as programming integrated over time. The 25 in-depth chapters are written by Google domain experts and offer a glimpse into how scaling and sustainability are handled and traded against other concerns.

The is a big book full of useful information, but the density of multiple authors limited to a chapter apiecedoes make it challenging to read at times. Definitely recommended, but be prepared to devote a chunk of your time to study the book and get the most out of it.

An Elegant Puzzle: Systems of Engineering Management (2019, 288 pages, Will Larson)
A beautifully presented hardback book containing engineering leader Will Larson’s guidance on engineering management. There is a lot of strong and hard-won advice on organizations, tools, approaches, culture and careers. The content is practical and provides an unusual depth on engineering management in modern software organizations.

The figures are sometimes obtuse and the last 71-page appendix and endnotes are mostly superfluous. I also did not enjoy some of the referencing out either where no information is given other than a single word and Q-code link. Regardless, this is a great book.

Scaling People: Tactics for Management and Company Building (2023, 432 pages, Claire Hughes Johnson)
Author Claire Hughes Johnson is a corporate officer and advisor at Stripe after spending seven years as COO while they rapidly scaled from 200 to over 7000 people. Before this, she spent 10 years at Google leading successful business teams. The book is beautifully presented, full of valuable guidance and provides practical advice of great leadership and pragmatic scaling. The examples are perfectly placed and insightful to demonstrate the advice around them.

Build Better Products: A Modern Approach to Building Successful User-Centered Products (2016, 368 pages, Laura Klein)
I am starting to love the Rosenfeld Media series — high-quality books, presented beautifully, edited expertly and eminently practical. Color is used intelligently throughout as you would expect from design-focused books.

Lean startup expert and “What is Wrong with UX” podcaster Laura Klein writes a great book on how to build new products. This practical guide is organized around exercises with expert advice from experienced practitioners at the end of each chapter. Expect lots of strategy, design, analytics and empathy; heist teams are worth the price of admission on their own.

Team Topologies: Organizing Business and Technology Teams for Fast Flow (2019, 240 pages, Matthew Skelton and Manuel Pais)

Pragmatic and informative guide to organization design from IT consultants Matthew Skelton and Manuel Pais. Building on their work on 

Team Topologies

 with real experience, the authors cover teams as a means of delivery, team topologies that work for flow, and evolving team interactions for innovation and rapid delivery. The book is well written with a good level of depth, with valuable illustrations and strong use of color and design throughout. I recommend this book to anyone interested in creating effective teams and high-performance workplaces.

 

Peter Hyde is surely one of Gartner’s most prolific readers and writers. He is an enterprise agile coach with deep experience in helping global organizations transform product development to achieve higher performance, increased quality, faster delivery and an outstanding customer experience.

Gartner’s Hype Cycle for Software Engineering gives you a view of how software engineering technologies and patterns will evolve over time, providing a sound source of insight to manage its deployment within the context of your specific business goals. In this podcast, we feature Gartner Chief of Research Mark O’Neill to help us navigate this hype cycle — its purpose, a bit of history, and top trends.

Mark O'Neill is a VP Analyst and Chief of Research for Software Engineering. He guides Gartner's insights on software development, application architecture, and frameworks and tools for building software, spanning key initiatives in Gartner for IT Leaders as well as Gartner for Technical Professionals.

Check out the full Hype Cycle for Software Engineering - https://www.gartner.com/en/documents/4590099?utm_medium=podcast&utm_campaign=RM_GB_2023_ITSWEL_NPP_IA1_STEERSWENGPODNOV23&utm_term=diagnostic

 

Download the 2023 Technology Adoption Roadmap for Software Engineering eBook – https://www.gartner.com/en/publications/2023-technology-adoption-roadmap-for-software-engineering?utm_medium=podcast&utm_campaign=RM_GB_2023_ITSWEL_NPP_IA1_STEERSWENGPODNOV23&utm_term=ebook

 

Join the conversation in the Gartner Peer Community - https://www.gartner.com/peer-community/home?utm_medium=podcast&utm_campaign=RM_GB_2023_ITSWEL_NPP_IA1_STEERSWENGPODNOV23&utm_term=pc

 

Share the podcast – Link to podcast episode on Gartner.com once published if public page available

DevOps platforms provide an integrated alternative to custom toolchains, offering organizations an optimized and cohesive set of capabilities. Gartner’s latest Magic Quadrant on DevOps Platform offers insights on the past, present and potential future of these platforms.

Keith Mann is a senior director in Gartner, covering software engineering strategy and practices. Keith came to Gartner after a long background in development and enterprise architecture, and is one of the authors of the Magic Quadrant for DevOps Platforms.

In this episode of the Steering Engineering Podcast, we examine the fascinating and transformative potential of AI agents with our guest Haritha Khandabattu, one of Gartner’s leading experts on the topic. We delve into the evolving role of AI agents in human-AI collaboration, their ability to work together in complex multiagent systems, and how advancements in reinforcement learning are enabling these agents to plan, adapt, and optimize their behaviors over time, paving the way for more autonomous and intelligent digital ecosystems.

Haritha Khandabattu is a Gartner senior director analyst helping C-suite leaders globally. Haritha’s current focus is on AI (including generative AI) and software engineering. She helps software engineering leaders build and execute their strategies in AI, software engineering, and leadership. She also guides organizations on the strategic, organizational and technology aspects of using AI as a driving force of their growth. Before Gartner, Haritha worked in several engineering (and executive) leadership positions in banking, retail and automotive industries.

As AI-powered tools increasingly automate tasks like code generation, bug detection, and optimization, software engineers fear their roles may shift away from hands-on development toward higher level oversight, reducing the need for deep programming expertise. However, this shift also presents opportunities for engineers to evolve their skill sets, focusing more on AI integration, data-driven decision-making, and managing complex systems, thus staying relevant in an AI-augmented future. 

Our guest on today’s Steering Engineering Podcast, Cat Hicks, discusses key findings and insights from her research, including a set of thriving factors for software engineering leaders to promote and anti-thriving factors to avoid.