Structural engineering and Software Engineering face the same fundamental challenges: impossibly complex systems, unclear boundaries, and the risk of catastrophic failure.

Architecture, foundations, frameworks, we have borrowed their vocabulary, but have we learned from their solutions? As a software engineer with a background in structural engineering, I’ll show you what we’re missing.

I will walk you through how structural engineering’s matured practices apply to software engineering:

– Reduce cognitive load by breaking complex systems into purposeful, stripped-down models.
– Design for failure to ensure graceful degradation rather than cascading collapse.
– Balance dependability and economics by deciding where to build in buffers and where to accept risk.
– Distinguish between Ultimate Limit States (safety-critical failures) and Serviceability Limit States (usability and user satisfaction).
– Prioritize collaboration and simplicity to thrive in a high stakes environment.

I’ll share time-tested lessons from an engineering discipline that’s been modeling reality for centuries and show you how to apply them to your domain models, your bounded contexts, and your team.