Blog & Articles

Leave It Better Than You Found It

Leave your code better than you found it. This advice, also known as the Scout Rule, sounds so simple, but what does it look like in practice? This is the story of how I followed the advice and cleaned up a fat controller along the way, and how this unexpectedly enabled us to handle new requirements quickly and with minimal effort. It’s a lesson in habits and continuous architecture.

Blog Post

I sandboxed my coding agents. You should too.

LLM coding agents are extremely powerful because they can run programs on our computers using our permissions. However, this same power also makes us very vulnerable. It only takes one mistake or one prompt injection to compromise the whole system.

Blog Post

Why not scatter @Transactional everywhere?

Article

Was, da geht noch mehr? Noch mehr Besonderheiten von und mit Java

Bereits vor ein paar Jahren haben wir uns Dinge angeschaut, die in Java funktionieren, aber sehr ungewöhnlich sind. Diese Liste werden wir in dieser Folge des Praktikers ergänzen.

Blog Post

From FOMO to Focus

AI is on every agenda – but where do you start? Many companies launch multiple AI initiatives in parallel, driven by the fear of missing out. The result: scattered resources, lack of prioritization, and unclear business impact. AI Opportunity Mapping provides a solution: it systematically guides you from vague AI visions to concrete, prioritized use cases with real business value. In five steps, teams develop AI opportunities in a structured way and make well-founded decisions. The result: focus instead of FOMO, clarity instead of chaos.

Blog Post

Speed vs. Skill

Developing with AI through the cognitive Lens

Article

Menschenlesbare Datenformate mit Jackson verarbeiten

Wir nutzen tagtäglich Datenformate. Zum Austausch von Informationen mit anderen Systemen oder auch zur Definition von Dingen wie unserem Build oder zur Konfiguration unseres Systems. Manche davon sind binär, aber auch viele bis heute direkt von Menschen lesbar. Für die Verarbeitung von JSON in Java hat Jackson eine hohe Verbreitung erreicht. Aber Jackson kann mehr als nur JSON, wie wir in diesem Artikel sehen werden.

Blog Post

Context Engineering: Managing AI-Generated Code Complexity

AI tools make developers more productive at writing code, but can overwhelm code reviewers with massive changes. Learn practical strategies for managing context in AI-assisted development to keep your code comprehensible, your reviews manageable, and your team’s productivity genuinely improved. Small scope was always good practice—with AI, it’s essential.

Article

Prompts als Programm in GPT-5

Das Ende des Geschreis

Blog Post

Swiss Army Knife for Salesforce: LLM with In-Memory Database

Large Language Models (LLMs) struggle with transforming large datasets, particularly when performing aggregations that require calculations - essentially anything where you’d normally use GROUP BY or ORDER BY in SQL. But what if we need to retrieve extensive data from a system and process it with an LLM, but only have an API with limited functionality available? In this blog post, I present a solution I’ve implemented and tested.

Blog Post

Git Clarity: Building Meaningful Commits and Linear History

Feeling overwhelmed by Git’s complexity? Discover a streamlined workflow that centers on creating single, comprehensible commits. Learn how this approach leads to clearer code reviews, fewer merge conflicts, and a beautiful linear commit history that tells the story of your code. This isn’t just about Git commands—it’s about aligning your tools with how your brain works.

Article

Achieving Digital Sovereignty with Standard Software

Article

Managing Geopolitical Risks with Enterprise Architecture

IT leaders in Europe increasingly face questions about whether geopolitical developments – such as data protection disputes or trade conflicts between the EU and the US – threaten the viability of US cloud services. The risks range from price increases and legal uncertainties to potential usage restrictions. CIOs must not only ensure functional IT operations but also proactively assess external risks. This article demonstrates how enterprise architecture methods can help identify risks early and develop viable alternatives.

Blog Post

Modern Legacy (thanks to AI)

The discussion around software modernization is currently dominated by solutions involving artificial intelligence (AI) in software development. AI-assisted code completion, agentic software engineering, and other tools promise to massively accelerate development processes. The obvious thought is to apply these tools directly to existing code as well: refactorings, re-documentation, or even generated code for new features in legacy systems. Technically, much of this is already possible, and the buzzword industry is once again in full swing. Yet these code-centric, AI-driven approaches can be shortsighted for organizations tangled in a jungle of legacy systems. A modernization that focuses solely on code quickly leads to modern legacy: systems that appear technically advanced and well documented thanks to AI, but whose actual purpose has long become questionable.

Blog Post

Modern Legacy (dank KI)

Warum der Fokus auf Code in der KI-Ära zu kurz greift

Article

A Governance Framework for Digital Sovereignty

In an increasingly connected world where digital infrastructure forms the backbone of our economy and society, the topic of digital sovereignty is gaining more and more attention. For decision-makers in German-speaking countries, this goes far beyond merely selecting a cloud provider. It’s about strategic agency, resilience, and the ability to actively shape one’s digital future. This article explores how a robust governance methodology can help organizations not only understand digital sovereignty but also put it into practice—without sacrificing convenience or innovation.

Article

The Path to Heterogeneous Cloud Platforms

Digital transformation brings both challenges and opportunities for businesses. To create future-proof and flexible IT infrastructures, more and more companies are adopting multi-cloud or hybrid cloud strategies. This isn’t just about cost reduction, but also about aligning innovative services from different providers with regulatory requirements - particularly in the area of data protection. This article shows how targeted integration strategies can help you leverage the benefits of multi-cloud to optimize your existing infrastructure, reduce technical dependencies, and ensure long-term business success.

Article

Data Inventories in the EU Data Act: The Democratization of IoT Devices

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Digital Sovereignty: Why Architecture Matters and How to Make Your Company Resilient

In an era where digital systems form the backbone of our economy and society, control over one’s digital future is increasingly becoming the focus of strategic decisions. For many technology decision-makers in German-speaking regions, this is not just a political or regulatory challenge, but a fundamental task with far-reaching implications for software architecture work.

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Digital Sovereignty as Self-Understanding

How implementation teams can escape the we-are-not-Google trap and collectively take responsibility for European solutions to European problems.

Article

EU Data Act: The Beginning of the End for Cloud Monoculture?

Article

Think Locally: On-Premise LLMs as Drivers of Competitive Advantage

Consider this scenario: Your organisation has integrated AI tools into critical business processes, your legal team has carefully reviewed data processing agreements, and your IT department has configured systems to comply with GDPR requirements. Then, a foreign court issues an order that overrides all these protections, requiring your AI provider to indefinitely retain data that should be deleted—including potentially sensitive corporate information shared by your employees.

Blog Post

Software Analytics going crAIzy!

I’ve long been an advocate of treating software like data and analyzing it accordingly with tools like Python, pandas, Jupyter Notebook, Neo4j, and jQAssistant. In the era of AI and code transformation tools, seeing software as data gets more and more important when you want to improve your software system at a large scale. This blog post is a short interim report from me about my efforts taking software analysis to the next level.

Article

Digitale Souveränität – Ein Definitionsversuch

Article

The Sovereignty Trap: Between Tiananmen and Trump

We talk a big game about values and privacy, yet depend on AI that either denies historical atrocities or could cut us off tomorrow. Is this what Europe gets for dropping the ball on high tech infrastructure?