## Software Trends and People Practices of 2024**Introduction**As 2024 draws to a close, we revisit our software delivery trends and technology predictions from the previous year. AI, composability, and improved abstractions in the continuous delivery space were key themes in our 2023 predictions.## Key Trends in Architecture and Design- **Cell-Based Architectures:** Modularizing components into cells minimizes the blast radius and improves maintainability.- **Green Software:** Sustainable development practices like serverless computing and efficient software design promote sustainability and reduce environmental impact.## Key Trends in Culture and Methods- **Decentralized Decision Making:** Empowering teams with greater autonomy increases productivity and job satisfaction.- **Staff Plus Growth:** Organizations are investing in the professional development of their software engineers, recognizing the value of technical expertise and leadership skills.- **Human-Centric Metrics:** Psychological safety and team success are increasingly measured to promote a positive and productive work environment.## Key Trends in AI and Data Engineering- **Language Model Proliferation:** Large and small language models (LLMs and SLMs) are enabling generative AI, automating content and insight generation, and facilitating efficient and personalized interactions.- **Agentic AI:** Agents that can not only generate content but also act on it, automating tasks and enhancing human productivity.- **Local First Architecture:** AI computing is moving to devices and leveraging multi-agent workflows for enhanced quality and context awareness.## Key Trends in Cloud Technologies- **AI Dominance:** Cloud providers are heavily investing in AI services, recognizing its transformative potential in areas like database management and distributed computing.- **Postgres as the De Facto Standard:** Postgres has emerged as the preferred open-source database choice in the cloud, offering high scalability, performance, and flexibility.## Key Trends in DevOps and Platform Engineering- **Portal Proliferation:** Backstage, Port, and Cortex are leading the way in providing user-friendly portals and service catalogs, simplifying access to services and resources.- **Platform Orchestration:** A new layer is emerging between UIs and infrastructure to provide a bridge between developer needs and underlying infrastructure.- **Platform Engineering for Value:** Platforms must demonstrate business value and provide clear benefits to developers in order to avoid becoming mere technology initiatives.## Predictions for 2025- **Prediction 1 (Thomas Betts):** Sustainability will become a mainstream consideration in architecture, driving eco-friendly designs and practices.- **Prediction 2 (Shane Hastie):** Organizations will adopt a more balanced approach to remote and in-office work, recognizing the benefits of both models. AI and generative tools will become powerful partners for developers.- **Prediction 3 (Srini Penchikala):** - LLMs will become more business domain-specific, tailoring their capabilities to specific industries and use cases. - Agentic AI will revolutionize automation, enabling computers to perform complex tasks without human intervention.- **Prediction 4 (Renato Losio):** - Graviton processors will become the default choice for cloud computing, surpassing Intel processors. - Cloud providers will move towards distributed systems with less regional focus, simplifying deployments and improving performance.- **Prediction 5 (Daniel Bryant):** Platform engineering will face challenges due to a lack of clear business goals and architectural best practices. However, this will lead to a renewed focus on delivering value, composability, and developer productivity.