Building Better Software: Why Workflows Beat Code Every Time • Ben Smith & James Beswick

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This interview was recorded for GOTO Unscripted. https://gotopia.tech Check out more here: https://gotopia.tech/articles/407 Ben Smith - Staff Developer Advocate at Stripe James Beswick - Head of Developer Relations at Stripe RESOURCES Ben https://twitter.com/benjamin_l_s https://github.com/bls20AWS https://linkedin.com/in/bensmithportfolio http://developeradvocate.co.uk https://thewebsmithsite.wordpress.com James https://bsky.app/profile/jbesw.bsky.social https://twitter.com/jbesw https://linkedin.com/in/jamesbeswick Links https://stripe.dev https://serverlessland.com DESCRIPTION James Beswick and Ben Smith explore the evolution of modern software architecture. They discuss why workflow services are essential for managing distributed systems, the challenges of microservices versus monoliths, and the power of plugin architectures. The conversation covers practical topics like idempotency, circuit breaker patterns, and the importance of observability, while also diving into what makes a great developer advocate and how to build demos that truly resonate with developers. RECOMMENDED BOOKS Simon Brown • Software Architecture for Developers Vol. 2 • https://leanpub.com/visualising-software-architecture David Farley • Modern Software Engineering • https://amzn.to/3GI468M Kim, Humble, Debois, Willis & Forsgren • The DevOps Handbook • https://amzn.to/47oAf3l Simon Wardley • Wardley Maps • https://amzn.to/45U8Upr Simon Wardley • Wardley Mapping, The Knowledge • https://amzn.t

Published 2026-01-06 · Watch on YouTube ↗
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