- Speakers
Nico Krijnen
- Description
Most systems don't turn into "legacy" because of bad code. They turn into legacy when the people who carry the system's mental model leave. Peter Naur called it the "theory of the system": the why, the trade‑offs, the language, and the shape of the solution.
Intuitively, we know this. Yet as an industry, we keep trying to solve legacy with more tech and explicit knowledge tracking: better docs, code comments, wikis, diagrams, automated tests and AI coding assistants. We don't tackle the actual problem: tacit knowledge loss.
What you will learn from this talk:
- Understand why this cannot be solved by better docs and tech alone.
- How only human collaboration through practices like modeling, pairing and living language can keep theory alive.
- How to measure and improve knowledge continuity in your team with simple metrics.
If we want to create software that lasts, we need to encourage human collaboration across disciplines, backgrounds and personalities (including our new AI buddies). Learn how to use your human power skills to better understand the problems you're facing and build systems that last!
About Nico Krijnen (he/him)
An explorer at heart, Nico loves to navigate the ever changing technology landscape and find practical solutions to complex problems. For a big chunk of his career, he disrupted the DAM space by building an innovative file management solution called Elvis, which is being used by media organizations all over the world. Besides leading and supporting teams and giving direction, he likes to roll up his sleeves and experience first-hand how (and whether) the latest technologies work in the real world. He is never shy of making unconventional choices to achieve radical results. Meetup host for DDD NL: http://meetup.com/domain-driven-design-nederland/ Host for Luminis Podcast: https://app.springcast.fm/podcast/luminis-tech-talks Recordings: https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLpsPwCgJlHhyONy7_4fb-AfYcmAS0oD7P Slides: https://speakerdeck.com/nicokrijnen Experienced speaker and workshop facilitator. Gave conference talks at: 2025: KotlinDevDay, Apeldoorn IT Congres, AWS Community Day NL, Appdevcon; 2024: Global Domain‑Driven Day, AxonIQ Con, DDD Europe, Future Tech, World Information Architecture Day; 2023: Kubernetes Community Day Utrecht, Blipz on the Radar, Devoxx Belgium, AWS Community Day NL, DDD Europe, AWS Summit Amsterdam; 2022: Blipz on the Radar, Devoxx Belgium, ContainerDays Hamburg, FortX, DDD Europe, Kotlin Dev Day Amsterdam, TEQnation; 2021: Kotlin Dev Day. Regular speaker at meetups: DDD NL, ArnhemJUG, ApeldoornJUG, AWS Meetup, Kotlin.amsterdam, NLKUG Kotlin Meetup.
