#43: From Fuzzy To Flawless

Hello DDDers,

Things are slowly getting back in motion after the Christmas holidays, so it's time to welcome the new year with our next event! Andreas Maniatakos, Senior Engineering Manager at T-Digital will be the first to take the stage for 2026, with an interesting experience report. Kostas Stroggylos will follow with a discussion on the synergy between DDD and AI.

Talk by Andreas: From Fuzzy to Flawless: A simple framework that transformed a team from task-takers to domain owners

Ever felt stuck in a project where the requirements are vague, the legacy code is a mystery, and the team is just executing tasks without a clear "why"?

You're not alone.

Our team was handed the classic "modernize the legacy monolith" project, surrounded by organizational chaos and fuzzy goals. Instead of waiting for perfect clarity, we decided to change how we worked.
In this session, I'll share the story of how we introduced a few key, simple practices and, more importantly, stuck to them with consistency. This wasn't about a magic tool or a top-down direction. It was about empowering the team with a framework that shifted us from being managed to leading, from being generalists to becoming subject matter experts, and from reacting to chaos to driving impact.

If you're curious about how practices like a 6-week delivery cycle, collaborative "3 Amigos" sessions, and rotating team facilitation can unlock autonomy and expertise, join us. Learn how we transformed from task-takers to true domain owners, and how you might apply the same principles to navigate your own complexity.

Speaker bio

I’ve spent the last 18 years building software and leading teams, mostly in complex, sometimes chaotic industries like insurance, music, and telcos.

I love helping teams do their best work even when the path isn’t clear and taking on messy problems and turning them into opportunities for teams to grow, own their domain, and deliver stuff that matters.

Outside of work, you can find me hiking up mountains, attempting to make pottery that doesn’t look like a sad pancake, or traveling somewhere with questionable Wi-Fi.

I’m always up for chatting about building great teams, better engineering cultures, or the last concert that blew your mind.

Talk by Kostas: Discovering domains in legacy codebases with the help of AI

With AI-assisted software development becoming the norm, we'll discuss what are the challenges when working with legacy code and how AI can help. We'll also explore how DDD can amplify the effectiveness of AI tools when using them to explore existing systems or build new ones.

Meetup Outline
18:30 - 18:45 Warm welcome
18:45 - 19:30 Talk by Andreas
19:30 - 20:00 Talk by Kostas
20:00+ Networking & Discussions

Sponsors

XM is kindly hosting the event on their premises, which are located only 5' on foot from Megaron Athens.

XM (https://www.xm.com/) is an award winning online trading broker firm that serves clients from over 190 countries on 5 continents. It is now an established fintech organisation with core capability of software, platforms and product development.

All the best,
DDDGreece meetup team.