Bliki: Future Of Software Development

13 February 2026

Martin Fowler

conferences

In Februrary 2026, Thoughtworks hosted a workshop called “The Future of

Software Development” in Deer Valley Utah. While it was held in the mountains

of Utah as a nod to the 25th anniversary of the writing of Manifesto for Agile Software

Development, it was a forward-looking event, focusing on how the rise of

AI and LLMs would affect our profession.

About 50 or so people were invited, a mixture of Thoughtworkers, software

pundits, and clients - all picked for being active in the LLM-fuelled changes.

We met for a day and a half of Open Space conference. It was

an intense, and enjoyable event.

I haven't attempted to make a coherent narrative of what we discussed and

learned there. I have instead posted various insights into my fragments

posts:

The retreat was held under the Chatham House

Rule, so most comments aren't attributed, unless I received specific

permission.

Thoughtworks

published a summary of thoughts from the event.