Mark Richards is an experienced hands-on software architect involved in the architecture, design, and implementation of microservices architectures, service-oriented architectures, and distributed systems. He’s been in the software industry since 1983 and has significant experience and expertise in application, integration, and enterprise architecture. He’s the author of numerous technical books and videos, including Fundamentals of Software Architecture, Software Architecture: The Hard Parts (both with Neal Ford) several books on microservices, the Software Architecture Fundamentals video series, the Enterprise Messaging video series and was a contributing author to 97 Things Every Software Architect Should Know. A speaker and trainer, he’s given talks on a variety of enterprise-related technical topics at hundreds of conferences and user groups around the world.

Neal Ford is a director, software architect, and meme wrangler at Thoughtworks, a software company and a community of passionate, purpose-led individuals who think disruptively to deliver technology to address the toughest challenges, all while seeking to revolutionize the IT industry and create positive social change. He’s an internationally recognized expert on software development and delivery, especially in the intersection of Agile engineering techniques and software architecture. Neal’s authored eight books (and counting), a number of magazine articles, and dozens of video presentations (including a video on improving technical presentations) and spoken at hundreds of developers conferences worldwide. His topics of interest include software architecture, continuous delivery, functional programming, and cutting-edge software innovations.