Building Smarter Apps with AI | Josh Bermann & Adam Cogan | NDC Melbourne 2025

Josh Berman catches up with Adam Cogan at NDC Melbourne to explore the cutting-edge world of enterprise AI applications. In thischat, Adam teases his upcoming talk where he shares 12 essential lessons from building SSW’s AI-powered tool Yak Shaver.
e dives into the evolution from traditional apps to generative AI, the challenges faced with Microsoft Teams, cost modeling missteps, and how the newly emerging MCP is reshaping what intelligent agents can do. Whether you’re an AI developer, architect, or product owner, this session is a goldmine of practical takeaways to bring into your next AI project.

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Why 2025 is the Year of the Agent (or Is It?) | Gert Marx & Ulysses Maclaren | NDC Melbourne 2025

In this discussion from NDC Melbourne, Ulysses Maclaren sits down with Gert Marx to unpack one of the hottest topics in AI: agents. Are we truly in the “Year of the Agent,” or is the tech world just riding another buzzword wave? Ulysses shares what makes a real agent, contrasting them with rule-based systems, AI workflows, and generative models. With concrete examples and industry insights, he explains when it’s best to use an agent, when a workflow will suffice, and why so many companies are marketing non-agents as agents. If you’re building AI-powered solutions and unsure what tools are best suited to your problem space, this talk is a must-watch.

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The Hidden Cost of AI | Ulysses Maclaren & Richard Campbell | NDC Melbourne 2025

What does artificial intelligence have to do with nuclear reactors, brownouts, and humanity’s last exam? At NDC, SSW’s Ulysses Maclaren sits down with tech veteran Richard Campbell to explore the energy demands of AI, Microsoft’s nuclear strategy, and how our increasing data needs are impacting global infrastructure. They also examine whether artificial general intelligence is truly within reach or still a distant goal. From understanding the environmental cost of AI to dissecting the realities behind AGI, this conversation offers practical insights into where technology is heading and how it’s reshaping our world.

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Feature Management Simplified: A Deep Dive into Feature Boards | Matt Wicks & Lars Klint

Join SSW’s Solution Architect Matt Wicks as he dives into the world of feature management with Microsoft Azure MVP, Lars Klint, at NDC Sydney 2024. Explore the innovative approach of feature boards, shifting the responsibility from developers to product owners. Discover how feature toggling transcends the binary realm and adapts to dynamic audience segmentation. With insights into audience providers, SDK usage across multiple languages, and seamless integration into development pipelines, this conversation uncovers a new era of feature management.

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Unlocking Domain-Driven Design: Exploring Contextive | Gert Marx & Chris Simon

In this video, join Gert Marx, SSW Solution Architect, as he interviews Chris Simon, Start up CTO Coach, about his open-source project, Contextive. Contextive is inspired by Domain-Driven Design (DDD) principles, particularly focusing on the ubiquitous language aspect. Chris explains how miscommunication between developers and users can lead to issues in software projects, and how Contextive aims to mitigate this by documenting domain terminology.

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Navigating Coding, Deployments, and Legacy Projects | Matt Wicks & Ben Dechrai

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.

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TDD: How Fluent Assertions came to be | Luke Parker & Dennis Doomen

Join SSW’s Luke Parker in this insightful interview with Dennis, the author of the Fluent Assertions Library, as they discuss the origins of the library, its evolution, and the principles of Test-Driven Development (TDD). Dennis shares his journey from a small internal project to a widely used open-source tool, emphasizing the importance of self-describing tests and design clarity. Learn how TDD not only enhances code maintainability but also fosters a better understanding of system boundaries and design patterns.

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