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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.

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.

The Path to Heterogeneous Cloud Platforms

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.

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

Starting in September 2025, the EU Data Act (Regulation (EU) 2023/2854) will require companies that collect or process data from connected devices to maintain comprehensive data inventories.

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

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.

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.

Software Analytics going crAIzy!

From analyzing problems in software systems to working solutions with AI

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?

Updating OWASP’s Microservice Security Cheat Sheet: Practical Considerations & Recommendations

Turning principles and patterns into practice — just as promised.

From Data Graveyards to Knowledge Landscapes

Updating OWASP’s Microservice Security Cheat Sheet: Decision Dimensions for Authorization Patterns

Choosing the right patterns is critical, as it directly impacts the system’s security posture, performance, scalability, and maintainability.

Updating OWASP’s Microservice Security Cheat Sheet: Authorization Patterns

Authorization patterns explain how distributed systems organize their access control — where and how decisions happen, where policies live — and influence, in turn, how identities and related attributes travel between components.

Updating OWASP’s Microservice Security Cheat Sheet: Identity Propagation Patterns

AI — Behind the Buzzword Garbage

Tired of AI hype? Me too. But beneath the buzzwords lies real value for developers. Tools like Claude Code save me hours on routine tasks, freeing me to focus on what matters: understanding problems and building the right solutions. It’s not magic—it’s practical support that makes development faster without replacing our core skills.

Updating OWASP’s Microservice Security Cheat Sheet: Authentication Patterns

Without knowing who the subject is, without verifying its identity, there is only a limited way to perform meaningful access decisions.

What’s Wrong with the Current OWASP Microservice Security Cheat Sheet?

Updating OWASP’s Microservice Security Cheat Sheet: Core Concepts

In part two of my series, I begin the journey to rethink the OWASP Microservice Security Cheat Sheet. This post focuses on core concepts, laying the groundwork for practical, real-world microservice security.

First Agile, Then Agentic

Agentic AI is supposed to accelerate software development. But new technologies can only reach their full potential when organizations adapt their structure, processes, and culture. Most organizations today are not yet able to truly benefit from faster software development. The prerequisite for this are the capabilities shaped by the agile and DevOps movements.

Context Engineering

Powering the Next Generation of Intelligent AI Agents

Technical and other Debt in IT Systems

This article explores the many hidden forms of technical debt that silently slow down IT teams—far beyond just messy code.

Enabling Stakeholders as a Success Factor

Sociotechnical architectures consider both technical and human-organizational aspects and promote their effective collaboration. To ensure the successful design and implementation of these systems, it is crucial to actively involve stakeholders and address their interests. In this article, we explore why enabling stakeholders represents a key function in sociotechnical projects and how you can implement this approach effectively.

Don’t Forget the People

When Architectural Changes Become a Change Project

Internal Development Platforms

Internal Developer Platforms (IDPs) help us accelerate software development. They represent the natural evolution of developments over the past decades. We’d like to show why this is the case with a historical overview and then examine current challenges.