Join SSW’s Solution Architect Matt Wicks in this interview with Developer Advocate, Ben Dechrai, at NDC Sydney. They explore the world of coding, deployments, and legacy projects as they discuss strategies for managing deployment debt, the importance of keeping infrastructure and code in sync, and navigating through legacy codebases. Learn practical tips for maintaining code cleanliness and optimizing readability, along with valuable insights on levering cognitive complexity to elevate code quality.


0:00 | Introduction
0:41 | Importance of tracking deployment frequency
1:13 | Discussion on environment variables and configuration management
2:01 | Mitigating deployment debt and maintaining infrastructure as code
2:54 | Importance of logging, monitoring, and automation in infrastructure management
3:52 | Considerations for auto-scaling and managing infrastructure changes
5:02 | Discussion on clean code and its interpretation
6:37 | Approach to maintaining and refactoring legacy code
8:00 | Tips for refactoring code and making it more readable
10:06 | Introduction to cognitive complexity and its significance
12:38 | Discussion on code generation tools like Co-Pilot
14:10 | Example of code generated by AI and its limitations


Links:
Need help?: https://ssw.com.au/ssw/Consulting
NDC Conferences: https://ndcconferences.com/

Follow us:
LinkedIn: https://linkedin.com/company/ssw/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/ssw_tv
Facebook: https://facebook.com/SSW.page
Instagram: https://instagram.com/ssw_tv
Tiktok: https://www.tiktok.com/@ssw_tv

Get in touch:

Matt Wicks – SSW Solution Architect
About: https://www.ssw.com.au/people/matt-wicks/
https://www.linkedin.com/in/matt-wicks/

Ben Dechrai
https://www.linkedin.com/in/bendechrai/
https://bendechrai.com/


For more information about SSW’s consulting services, please visit https://ssw.com.au/


#SoftwareDevelopment #Coding #Deployments #LegacyProjects #CodeCleanliness #InfrastructureAsCode #CognitiveComplexity #SoftwareEngineering #DeveloperInsights #SSWTV #NDCSydney

v1 alex

About the speakers

About the speakers

Ben Dechrai

Ben Dechrai is a technologist with a strong focus on security and privacy. At 11 years old he wrote software to stop his parents from breaking the family PC, and now he works as a developer advocate at Sonar, helping developers avoid breaking the internet through better security and coding practices. He enjoys helping others find the joy of problem-solving and experimentation.

Related videos

Related videos

Want to be a better consultant? Master the art of managing up | Adam Cogan | SSW Rules

Want to become a better consultant and accelerate your career? Stop bringing problems to your manager and start bringing solutions!

Join SSW’s Adam Cogan in the beautiful city of Strasbourg, France, as he shares practical tips on managing up, a skill that helps you become more proactive, build trust with your manager, and make better decisions.

Adam explains why presenting options with a clear recommendation is far more effective than simply asking your manager what to do. Using real-world consulting examples, he demonstrates how to evaluate resource decisions, communicate your preferred solution, and help managers make faster decisions.

You’ll also discover how to manage up when you’re CC’d on an important email. Instead of waiting for your manager to ask for advice, learn how to proactively draft a suggested response, share your expertise, and save valuable time.

Whether you’re a developer, consultant, architect, or team leader, these simple habits can help you take ownership, demonstrate initiative, and grow professionally.

Takeaway: Don’t just identify the problem. Present the options, recommend the best one, and explain why.

Tick and Flick! 3 tips for better Sprint Reviews | Adam Cogan | SSW Rules

Want better Sprint Reviews? Adam Cogan shares 3 practical tips to keep your reviews short, engaging, and valuable. Learn how to use the “tick and flick” approach, involve stakeholders, and turn feedback into action.

Vibe Coding is fast, but is it Enterprise Ready? | Adam Cogan | SSW Rules

Vibe coding is transforming software development, allowing developers to build features in minutes instead of days. But does faster coding mean better software?

In this SSW TV episode, Adam Cogan explores the excitement and hidden challenges of AI-powered development. Using a Formula 1 analogy, he explains why speed alone isn’t enough when navigating the complexities of architecture, security, testing, and maintainability.

Discover how enterprise vibe coding, or AI-assisted engineering, combines the speed of AI with the right architecture, context, and guardrails to build reliable, maintainable software.

🚀 Enjoy the speed, but don’t forget the corners!

Microsoft Teams Etiquette: Simple Habits That Make Meetings Better | Adam Cogan

Whether you’re working remotely or in the office, small habits can make a huge difference in Microsoft Teams meetings.

Treat Your Code Like Uranium | Adam Cogan

Adam Cogan shares a striking story comparing two World War II factories—one ordinary, one handling uranium—and the surprising lesson that the uranium workers lived longer because they followed disciplined, risk-aware practices. He connects that idea to software teams: the best outcomes come from careful habits like automated tests, telemetry, pull requests, retrospectives, shared rules, and good tools. The message is simple: treat software delivery with the same respect as dangerous work, and you’ll reduce stress, avoid chaos, and get better results.

3 Tips for Better Video Recordings | Adam Cogan

Great coaching can dramatically improve how you present, communicate, and learn. In this video, Adam Cogan shares 3 practical coaching tips that SSW uses every day—from onboarding and role plays to improving video delivery. He explains why having a coach matters, why immediate interruption beats delayed feedback, and how repeating corrections helps lock in better habits.

TinaCMS + Fumadocs: Bring Visual Editing to Your Docs | Hark Singh

Discover how to connect Playwright with AI agents and unlock powerful workflows.

Stop Using 👍 Wrong in Teams | Adam Cogan

A quick communication tip from Adam Cogan: don’t use 👍 as a catch-all response when someone assigns you a task in Teams, Slack, or Google Chat. In the example Adam gives, if a task will take about five minutes, a thumbs up is too ambiguous because it does not clearly say whether you’ve read it, agree with it, are doing it now, or will do it later. Instead, use 👍 for agreement, 👀 to show you’ve seen the task and are actively working on it, and then replace 👀 with ✅ once the task is done. It is a small change, but it removes ambiguity and cuts down unnecessary follow-up messages.

How to record a done video in SSW | Sylvia Huang | SSW Rules

Sylvia Huang from SSW shares her SSW Cultural Exchange experience from Hangzhou, China to Australia

4 Essential Sales Tips for Engineers | Adam Cogan

Not a salesman? No problem. Adam Cogan shares 4 practical tips to help engineers navigate sales meetings with confidence. Learn how to stop “selling” and start solving, how to talk numbers without the awkwardness, and why being transparent about your process wins more clients.