Learn how AI can change the game in an important scenario. The age-old battle between Product Owners and Developers rages on: POs push for speed, while devs demand clarity. When specs are too vague, developers waste time making assumptions. When specs are too detailed, POs get bogged down in documentation.

The result? Context switching, frustration, and a backlog filled with half-baked work items.

In this talk, Adam Cogan will show how AI powered tools like YakShaver (for GitHub and Azure DevOps) and recently Loom (for Jira) can act as the ultimate peacemaker.

These tools capture discussions, structuring work items, and ensuring that every backlog item is ready… and assigned to the right backlog—all automatically.

Learn the lessons from deploying AI to solve one of the most persistent struggles in software development. This talk will show you how AI brings balance to your team.

Bonus: See how a solution can be:

• better with Microsoft Teams to capture audio + video, and leverage Whisper for transcription, all glued together with GPT-4o to generate structured content.
• have a decision-tree architecture with Semantic Kernel orchestration to enable seamless integration with Azure DevOps, GitHub, and more.

Agenda:

6pm - Pizza and networking at SSW TV
6:15pm - Tech news with Eve and Adam Cogan
6:30pm - Shaving the Yak with AI ➡️ Devs want specs, Product Owners want speed with Adam Cogan

Learn how AI can change the game in an important scenario. The age-old battle between Product Owners and Developers rages on: POs push for speed, while devs demand clarity. When specs are too vague, developers waste time making assumptions. When specs are too detailed, POs get bogged down in documentation.

The result? Context switching, frustration, and a backlog filled with half-baked work items.

In this talk, Adam Cogan will show how AI powered tools like YakShaver (for GitHub and Azure DevOps) and recently Loom (for Jira) can act as the ultimate peacemaker.

These tools capture discussions, structuring work items, and ensuring that every backlog item is ready… and assigned to the right backlog—all automatically.

Learn the lessons from deploying AI to solve one of the most persistent struggles in software development. This talk will show you how AI brings balance to your team.

• Bonus: See how a solution can be: better with Microsoft Teams to capture audio + video, and leverage Whisper for transcription, all glued together with GPT-4o to generate structured content.
• have a decision-tree architecture with Semantic Kernel orchestration to enable seamless integration with Azure DevOps, GitHub, and more.

​The explosive growth of web frameworks and the demands of users have changed the approach to building enterprise applications. Many challenges exist and just getting started can be a daunting prospect. Let's change that now.

This Superpowers will provide practical guidance and recommendations. We will cover architecture, technologies, tools and frameworks. We will examine strategies for organizing your projects, folders and files. We will design a system that is simple to build and maintain - now and well into the future.

You will leave this Superpowers having developed the foundation and structure for your next enterprise application, along with the knowledge to take your enterprise application development to the next level.

​The explosive growth of web frameworks and the demands of users have changed the approach to building enterprise applications. Many challenges exist and just getting started can be a daunting prospect. Let's change that now.

This Superpowers will provide practical guidance and recommendations. We will cover architecture, technologies, tools and frameworks. We will examine strategies for organizing your projects, folders and files. We will design a system that is simple to build and maintain - now and well into the future.

You will leave this Superpowers having developed the foundation and structure for your next enterprise application, along with the knowledge to take your enterprise application development to the next level.

The explosive growth of web frameworks and the demands of users have changed the approach to building enterprise applications. Many challenges exist and just getting started can be a daunting prospect. Let's change that now.

This Superpowers will provide practical guidance and recommendations. We will cover architecture, technologies, tools and frameworks. We will examine strategies for organizing your projects, folders and files. We will design a system that is simple to build and maintain - now and well into the future.

You will leave this Superpowers having developed the foundation and structure for your next enterprise application, along with the knowledge to take your enterprise application development to the next level.

NDC Melbourne is a 3-day developers conference taking place at the Melbourne Convention and Exhibition Centre from 29 April - 1 May 2025.

There will be awesome workshops and presentations by some of the world's leading developer trainers and speakers.

See the Agenda here: https://ndcmelbourne.com/agenda

Learn how AI can change the game in an important scenario. The age-old battle between Product Owners and Developers rages on: POs push for speed, while devs demand clarity. When specs are too vague, developers waste time making assumptions. When specs are too detailed, POs get bogged down in documentation.

The result? Context switching, frustration, and a backlog filled with half-baked work items.

In this talk, Adam Cogan will show how AI powered tools like YakShaver (for GitHub and Azure DevOps) and recently Loom (for Jira) can act as the ultimate peacemaker.

These tools capture discussions, structuring work items, and ensuring that every backlog item is ready… and assigned to the right backlog—all automatically.

Learn the lessons from deploying AI to solve one of the most persistent struggles in software development. This talk will show you how AI brings balance to your team.

Bonus: See how a solution can be:

• better with Microsoft Teams to capture audio + video, and leverage Whisper for transcription, all glued together with GPT-4o to generate structured content.
• have a decision-tree architecture with Semantic Kernel orchestration to enable seamless integration with Azure DevOps, GitHub, and more.

Skills for the age of AI developer tools

With the rise of AI and automation, how do we as humans find our value in the workplace? How do we work with these new technologies? How do we build resilience to changes? What skills are needed for us to thrive in this new world?

People have often felt apprehensive about change, especially big changes to the way we work. It happened in the industrial revolution and now it's happening with the rise of artificial intelligence. Five years ago these things existed, but now they are accessible to almost everyone.

In this session I'll cover:

• What is work and why should we work
• Industrial revolutions
• Artificial Intelligence and applications
• Fears and concerns
• Working with AI
• Skills for AI developer tooling
• Soft skills and how to cultivate them

SlashNEW is a celebration of all things technology, uniting the most innovative thinkers and passionate techies that are building a brighter future for the Hunter.

SlashNEW is Newcastle’s biggest technology conference. Running in 2025 for its third year, the two-day conference aims to celebrate the vibrant Newcastle technology scene and give technology professionals in the area access to upskilling and networking locally.

In 2025, SlashNEW will be held on the 28th and 29th of May, at NEX in Newcastle. SlashNEW showcases fantastic Keynotes, a line-up of speakers from Newcastle and beyond, panel discussions, workshops, and ample networking opportunities.

You can see a copy of the Agenda here: https://slashnew.tech/program/