Everything you ever wanted to know about anarchy (but were afraid to ask) - Andrew Harmel-Law

“Patterns of Anarchy” is a collection of writings published in 1966. We should care about it as software professionals because a) Christopher Alexander quotes from it in “A Pattern Language” and b) it offers perspectives on different patterns of self-organizing what are increasingly relevant in a flow-and-team-topologies world.

This talk takes inspiration from the book section “Constructive Anarchism: Alternative Communities and Programs” that covers the how of anarchist organisation. I'll work through its key points, explaining what anarchist thought has to offer us, particularly in the world of socio-technical organisation design. I'll also mix in viewpoints and approaches from other anarchist ways of self-organizing.

At the end of it you'll have a greater awareness of alternatives to the top-down, hierarchical approaches that dominate everything we do in software. It might even help you unlock those high-performing teams you've been searching for so desperately.

About Andrew

A highly enthusiastic, self-starting and responsible Tech Principal; Andrew specialises in Java / JVM technologies, agile delivery, build tools and automation, and domain driven design.

Andrew is also an author and trainer for O’Reilly. They've written one book about facilitating software architecture and one chapter about implementing the Accelerate/DORA four key metrics. They also run regular online training sessions in Domain-Drive Design (First Steps) and Architecture Decision Making by Example.

Andrew is experienced across the software development lifecycle and in many sectors including government, banking, and eCommerce. What motivates them is the production of large-scale software solutions, fulfilling complex client requirements. They understand that people, tooling, architecture and process all have key roles to play in achieving this.

Andrew has a passion for open source software and its communities. They have been interested in and involved with OSS to a greater or lesser extent since their career began; as a user, contributor, expert group member, or paid advocate.

Finally, Andrew enjoys sharing their experience as much as possible. This sharing is not only seen in their formal consulting engagements, but also informally through mentoring, blog posts, conferences (speaking and organising), and open sourcing their code.