Architectural Katas Winter 2025: AI-Enabled Architecture
Published by O'Reilly Media, Inc.
Challenge your architecture knowledge and your creativity in leveraging generative AI
By registering for Architectural Katas, you get access to the three live online events and can vote for the winning presentation. Registration does not mean you’re also participating in the Architectural Katas challenge. If you’d like to take part, you must gather a team of three to five people and submit your team name to O’Reilly. Team registration will open February 5 following the first event. Your team must include at least one O’Reilly member in order to participate in the Architectural Katas challenge and attend the live events. The first 100 teams to sign up will be selected to participate.
About Architectural Katas: What could be better than practicing software architecture with your handpicked dream team of architects? This year, the Katas challenge will test both your architecture knowledge and your creativity in leveraging generative AI to help with your solution. Come to participate or just to watch, learn, and get ideas on how to bring these tools into your architecture.
Participants in Architectural Katas, moderated by Neal Ford and Mark Richards, work together in small groups of their choosing to solve a challenge a fictional organization is facing. Everyone gets the chance to practice their craft with a real software architecture problem in a safe and social environment, and the finalists and winners earn well-deserved bragging rights (not to mention an intriguing line on their résumé). Plus, this year attendees will get to see how some of the brightest minds are using generative AI to enhance their work.
How it works: You put together a first-rate team of three to five people, ready to tackle an architecture challenge. We’ll share the architecture problem with you at the kickoff on February 5. Then your team will have to solve it, working in whatever way is best for you (video calls, group chat, shared docs, etc.). Registration opens February 5 following the first event; the first 100 teams to sign up will be selected to participate.
Not ready to compete but want to be part of the action? Register for the event and join us to see how Architectural Katas works, cast your vote for the winning team, and learn how to successfully present architecture plans to stakeholders.
What you’ll learn and how you can apply it
- Learn how AI can be applied (reasonable vs boil the ocean)
- Learn about the tools and categories within the AI ecosystem
- Learn about AI architectural patterns and how they can be applied
- Learn about the limitations and risks associated with AI in architecture
- Learn how AI impacts the structure of a system (its architecture)
This live event is for you because...
- You're a senior-level developer who wants to make the move to architect.
- You're a practicing software architect who wants to hone your skills and learn new software architecture techniques and practices.
- You're responsible for creating a software architecture for your company, and you want to practice with a real-world challenge.
Prerequisites
- To participate in the Architectural Katas challenge, submit your team name to O’Reilly (Registration opens February 5 following the first event; only the first 100 applicants will be accepted. All registrants can attend Events 1, 2, and 3 and vote for the winning presentation.)
- Come with your questions
- Have a pen and paper handy to capture notes, insights, and inspiration
Recommended follow-up:
- Read AI Engineering (book)
- Read Fundamentals of Software Architecture, second edition (book)
- Read Building Evolutionary Architectures (book)
- Read Building Event-Driven Microservices (book)
- Take Microservices Bootcamp (live course with Sam Newman)
- Take Software Architecture by Example (live course with Neal Ford and Mark Richards)
Schedule
The time frames are only estimates and may vary according to how the class is progressing.
Event 1: Kickoff - February 5, 2025 Meet the judges, hear all the details on how Architectural Katas works, learn more about the software architecture problem you’ll be solving, and get the chance to ask Neal and Mark any questions you may have.
Event 2: Semifinals and Architectural Presentation - March 5, 2025 Get a master class on presentation skills and learn how to successfully showcase software architecture plans to developers and stakeholders (and judges). You’ll also find out the top teams that will submit their video presentations for the final event.
Event 3: Finals - March 27, 2025 The top teams’ videos are shown, judges provide feedback, attendees vote for their favorite, and judges announce the winner.
With today’s registration, you’ll be automatically signed up for Events 1, 2, and 3 in the Architectural Katas series. You’ll also get access to video recordings of all sessions as they become available, including any you may have missed.
Your Hosts
Neal Ford
Neal Ford is an independent software consultant, best-selling author, speaker, and innovator in building concrete verification mechanisms for software architecture, for humans or agents. He’s an internationally recognized expert on software development and delivery, especially at the intersection of agile engineering techniques and software architecture. Neal has authored magazine articles, nine books (and counting), and dozens of video presentations, and has spoken at hundreds of developers’ conferences worldwide. His topics include software architecture, continuous delivery, functional programming, cutting-edge software engineering, and improving technical presentations. Check out his web site at Nealford.com.
Mark Richards
Mark Richards is an experienced, hands-on software architect involved in the architecture, design, and implementation of microservices architectures and other distributed systems in a variety of technologies. He has been in the software industry since 1983 and has significant experience and expertise in application, integration, and enterprise architecture. Mark is the founder of DeveloperToArchitect.com, a free website devoted to helping developers in the journey to becoming a software architect. In addition to hands-on consulting, Mark has authored numerous technical books and videos, including his two latest books Fundamentals of Software Architecture and Software Architecture: The Hard Parts that he co-authored with Neal Ford. Mark has spoken at hundreds of conferences and user groups around the world on a variety of enterprise-related technical topics.