Leadership in Software Design

Pre-conference workshops have limited capacity and are sold separately from conference tickets.

Summary

In an era where technology shapes industries, the ability to lead software design with clarity, foresight, and decisiveness is a game-changer. This workshop is designed for people who aspire to elevate their strategic impact and guide their teams toward building innovative, scalable, and future-proof software solutions.

Through a mix of interactive discussions, real-world case studies, and practical exercises, participants will explore the core pillars of leadership in software design:

Define and Communicate a Compelling Vision: Learn how to articulate a clear vision that aligns with business objectives and motivates your team(s).
Make Informed, High-Stakes Decisions: Dive into decision-making processes that weigh trade-offs, and prioritises business. Practice evaluating risks, opportunities, and the impact of architectural choices.
Shape the Future with Intentional Design: Discover how to anticipate market trends and integrate them into your strategy and design.
Align Stakeholders: Develop skills to bridge the gap between technical teams, product managers, and executives.

Whether you are a seasoned leader or simply trying to improve things, this workshop will provide valuable insights and real-world examples to help you lead successful design initiatives in your organisation.

For who?

This workshop is for team leaders, architects, and technical leaders. Leaders can be everywhere, whether you’re a software developer trying to improve things, or you have a CTO title.

What you'll learn

Understanding software design strategies
Learning how to create a strategy for culture shift
Learning how to pitch DDD in your company

Schedule

Software Design Strategy
Turn signals into strategy
Proactive decision making
Brutal DDD pitch
Negotiating techniques

What participants say

"Gien is a very good speaker, she brings interesting topics and nice discussions. I have learned some tricks on how to bring topics to people."

Jens Aernouts, Analysis & External Components lead, Mobile Vikings - workshop participant 2025

Prerequisites

The training is programming language agnostic Attendees should have a basic knowledge of DDD

Gien Verschatse is an experienced consultant and software engineer at Aardling. She specialises in domain modelling and software architecture. She has experience in many domains such as the biotech industry, where she specialised in DNA building. She's fluent in both object-oriented and functional programming, mostly in .NET. As a Domain-Driven Design practitioner, she always looks to bridge the gaps between experts, users, and engineers. Gien is studying Computer Science at the OU in the Netherlands. As a side interest, she's researching the science of decision-making strategies, to help teams improve how they make technical and organisational decisions. She shares her knowledge by speaking at international conferences. And when she is not doing all that, you'll find her on the sofa, reading a book and sipping coffee.