The systems we build reflect the era that shaped them. From the era of early mainframe development when software was treated like an engineering discipline, to the speed of the dotcom boom, to moving fast and breaking things during ZIRP, each epoch had its own logic, its own incentives, and its own blind spots. This series examines those forces and makes the case for why our approach to software architecture must evolve as we enter a new era of intelligent, autonomous systems.
For over a decade, developers were told to move fast and break things. Platforms rot, morale fades, and design is dismissed as waste. It's time to revisit an era when architecture mattered.
The ZIRP era shaped a generation of software built for exits. Now the economics have changed, and so must our approach to architecture. It's time to rethink and build for longevity.
You can't decouple technical approaches from the economic forces that shape them. Three layers of challenges, system-level, organizational, and external, are compounding as AI accelerates delivery.
The machines are making decisions now. Fast ones. In finance, commerce, war, and science, little black boxes are whispering judgements about our collective future. We need systems that can explain themselves.
