Software engineering has a dark, hidden secret. Mountains and mountains and mountains of digital waste. Yet we can’t see it. It’s invisible because it’s ‘just’ time and money. It’s not like an obvious collapsed building, or a million electronic devices sent to landfill. They’re easy to see, and very hard to hide.

For the last 25 years, 20% of all software projects fail, not counting those that are very late and very over budget. And, despite Agile, better governance, and other initiatives, it’s not getting better. When a healthcare provider spends a $1.2 Billion on a failed payroll system, it makes you wonder how that money could’ve been better spent. Like on healthcare – for some of society’s more vulnerable people.

So why does this failure happen? It turns out that software engineering is the only engineering discipline without a formal Design step. Without this, we have to use written requirements that are ambiguous, incomplete and extraneous. But, have you ever heard an engineer say: A thousand words is so much better than a picture?

This talk introduces Software Design that is to software engineering what architecture is to civil engineering. It creates a visual blueprint that is precise, comprehensive, and relevant. But, if there’s now a formal Design step, what does that mean for the traditional Requirements step? What do we do differently? This talk also introduces a new approach to Requirements based on systems thinking, psychology and causality.

Craig is an industrial / organisational psychologist, software designer and business architect, specialising in connecting people, work and technology. Craig holds a Masters in Applied Psychology from the University of New South Wales (Australia), and is a Registered Psychologist in Australia.

For 30 years, he’s worked on requirements and design of complex software systems for the largest organisations in Australia including Commonwealth Bank, CUA, Telstra, Qantas, NSW Department of Education, NSW Department of Industry, ASIC, Australian Parliament House, and Tourism Australia. Craig has designed software applications used by millions of people, every day.