A Brewer's Guide to Filtering Out Complexity and Churn in Software Development

Watch a 37-minute conference talk from Rocky Mountain Ruby 2024 exploring software design principles through the metaphor of mechanical coffee machines. Learn how to handle growing system complexity and extensibility challenges as presenters Alan Ridlehoover and Fito von Zastrow Alfonso demonstrate the parallels between adding new beverage options to vending machines and managing software feature requests. Discover strategies for creating flexible, maintainable systems that can accommodate new requirements without becoming overly complex or grinding development to a halt. Through the relatable example of a coffee machine needing to serve soup, explore the critical decision point between adding complexity versus investing in extensible architecture.