FLOWCON 2025

Who are you?
I am Seb Rose and I've been involved with commercial software since 1980 when I was writing accounting software in compiled BASIC on an Apple 2. I went on to get a degree in Computer Science and Electronics and wrote firmware for the Linn Rekursiv after graduating. I spent my career swapping between freelance contracting/consulting and employment with larger companies (IBM, Amazon).

I've been involved in the world of agile and Behaviour Driven Development (BDD) for many years. I've spoken at many conference, organised a few (XP2016, Agile2023/24, SoCraTesUK 2023/24) and co-authored some books (The Cucumber for Java Book, The BDD Books Series (Discovery & Formulation)

What do you do for a living?
I was made redundant in 2023 and, although I'm still involved in the BDD community, most of my income comes from running my house in Scotland as an AirBNB. I'm working on updating The Cucumber for Java Book (with MK Korstanje) and compiling a catalog of BDD automation patterns (with Gáspár Nagy). There's not a lot of money in IT books, certainly not enough to live off.

What are you going to talk about at FlowCon?
I'm going to talk about the current cycle of Low Code/No Code platforms. I've had experience with them over the years and, despite their promises, I see far more pitfalls than most people consider. I'll have a few less-than-enthusiastic things to say about AI as well :)

What are you the proudest of?
I'm most proud of the XP2016 conference in Edinburgh, which attracted a lot of excellent participants and had a truly memorable party in Edinburgh Castle - complete with the Iron Throne (from Game of Thrones) and broadsword/axe fighting in the Grand Chamber.

What speaker and/or topic would you like to see at FlowCon?
I'd love to hear James Shore give a session that builds on his seminal paper How To Do Continuous Integration On A Dollar A Day.

If you were an art piece, which one would it be?
Ice Laid On Fallen Oaks (https://andygoldsworthystudio.com/ice-laid-on-fallen-oaks/)

What's your favorite band, artist or song?
Karine Polwart (https://www.karinepolwart.com/)

Sum up your session or workshop in only 1 sentence
There is no silver bullet (reprise)

What are the 3 top takeaways from your session or workshop?
- Essential complexity cannot not be simplified away
- No code/low code solutions are only beneficial in limited domains
- AI and ML are tools not solutions