Approximation Before Precision

For this online event, we will have the opportunity to receive Alex Bunardzic as a speaker.

After a brief introduction of our community, Alex will share his journey on AI with us, by sharing the importance of Approximation Before Precision to avoid brittle and unmaintainable software.

Abstract:
Alex will try to explain the importance of outlining the system in broad strokes (i.e., approximation) before we dive into 'tightening the screws' and doing the detailed precision work. We will be planning to use an example of assembling IKEA furniture (we don't start tightening the screws on the shelf or a cabinet unless we first establish the shape of the product in broad outlines).

When using agentic AI to build systems, the danger is in having those agents overbid on work and prematurely tighten the 'screws', which leads to brittle, unmaintainable software.

About Alex:
Alex has been doing software development since 1990. His professional passion is bringing soft into software. Which means software must be soft, maleable, pliable. That quality enables the flexibility of the business operations.

In order to make sure that software we are building is flexible, we must evolve it one step at a time. Each step (and the smaller that step is, the better) must get verified by automated testing. Early failures are welcome, because they are small and they force us to fix them right away. In the software engineering discipline, giant steps are foolish steps. It is more prudent to stay with small steps (many, many small steps) on our journey to deliver value to customer satisfaction.

Move fast to delight customers!