{dev.talk} - The One Where We Ask, "Could This Be Any More Useful?"

Hi there,

Join us for an evening about building technology that works for real people and stays safe to change. Explore how making user needs visible can improve alignment, team design, and flow, then hear candid lessons from putting AI products in front of diverse users. Finish with a short, honest talk on hidden technical debt, N+1 API calls, and designing software that remains easy to change as it scales.

Thank you for being part of our amazing community of software engineers and tech enthusiasts.

Quick Reminder: Organising these events takes a lot of time and effort from our dedicated volunteers. If your plans change and you can't make it, please cancel your ticket via the ticketing app or drop us an email at contactus@devdottalk.uk. This helps us manage the event better and allows others to attend.

Event Details

Date: Wednesday, 21st October 2026

Time:

• Doors open: 6:50 PM
• Event starts: 7:00 PM
• Event ends: 9:00 PM

Location: Bournemouth University, Talbot Campus

Venue

Maps & Directions

• 🅿️ If driving, head to the visitors car park: Parking Location (Parking marked with a P pin on the campus map below)
• 🎥 Watch the video showing how to get from the car park to Kimmeridge house: Car park to Kimmeridge house Video
• 📍 Navigate to Kimmeridge House entrance: Google Maps pin for Room K101 or what3words (Kimmeridge House marked with a KH pin on campus map below)
• More directions on the BU website & official Talbot Campus map

Visitors Car Park

Courtyard

Kimmeridge House - Room K101

Bus Stop

Building Entrance: Kimmeridge House has one entrance, accessed via the courtyard in the middle of campus (CY pin on Campus map). The room is on the first floor - take the stairs or lift, then turn left from the stairs or right from the lift.

Accessibility: Flat entrance at ground level with lift access to the first floor.

Travel Options

• Bus: Drops off at the main entrance on Fern Barrow (BS pin on the campus map above)
• Train: Nearest station is Bournemouth Station (~45 min walk). Taxi or bus from station takes 15 mins.
• Bike: Bike racks available on campus.
• Parking: Free during the event. Check signage when parking: Google Maps location

Lineup

Mapping True North with User Needs

Many organizations pursue better outcomes, yet struggle with misalignment, slow delivery, and growing coordination overhead. Strategy exists, teams work hard, but the connection between the two often feels unclear.

In this talk, Rich explores why user needs are the missing anchor between strategy and teams. When user needs remain implicit, outcomes become fuzzy and alignment becomes effortful. When made visible, they can guide clearer priorities, safer autonomy, and more effective team interactions.

Using real examples and a practical case study, Rich introduces User Needs Mapping, a collaborative visual technique for uncovering dependencies, reducing cognitive load, and designing for better flow.

Attendees will leave with a fresh perspective on alignment, outcomes, and how to organise around what truly matters.

Key takeaways:

Understand why outcomes often feel disconnected from day-to-day work: Learn why many organisations jump from strategy to initiatives without a clear translation layer rooted in real user needs.

Reframe alignment as a structural challenge, not just a communication problem: See how unclear ownership, tight coupling, and coordination overhead create friction even in capable teams.

Learn how user needs can act as a north star for decision-making: Understand how explicit user needs create clearer priorities, safer autonomy, and stronger local decision-making.

Discover a practical visual technique for improving flow: See how User Needs Mapping helps leaders and teams reveal dependencies, assess cognitive load, and explore more coherent team boundaries.

Leave with a new question for your own organisation: What would change if user needs truly shaped how we organise, fund, prioritise, and measure work?

Rich Allen Bio

Rich Allen is a sociotechnical architect and independent consultant who helps organizations achieve sustainable fast flow by optimizing team design, reducing cognitive load, and aligning around user needs.

With over two decades of hands-on experience as a developer, tech lead, architect, and CTO, Rich brings a deep technical foundation to his work at the intersection of software delivery and organizational design. As one of the longest-serving Team Topologies Valued Practitioners (https: //teamtopologies.com/all-ttvp/rich-allen-ttvp), Rich has supported a wide range of organizations in applying Team Topologies patterns and principles in real-world contexts.

He is the author of the book User Needs Mapping: Aligning Teams Around What Matters and the creator of several widely used tools and practices, including the Fast Flow Toolkit, Flow Decision Records, and User Needs Mapping.

Rich co-founded the Developer South Coast technology user group and holds a BEng in Microelectronics and Computing from Bournemouth University.

Built Fast, Hard to Live With

Early in my career I thought my job was simple: ship fast, ship features people use, make it look good. Then I built a table where every row quietly rendered its own modal. It looked perfect and worked perfectly, right up until it didn't.

Years later I found 39 identical API calls firing on a single page load, a classic N+1 problem written by someone else, and recognised my own old mistake staring back at me.

This is a short, honest story about the costs that stay invisible until scale arrives, why the durable version is often no slower to build, and the one question I now ask before shipping anything: in six months, at twice the scale, will this still be safe to change?

For developers at any level. Juniors will recognise themselves in the first half; seniors will recognise the code they've inherited in the second.

Menahil Tanveer Bio

Menahil Tanveer is a senior software engineer who builds TypeScript systems for the moment success arrives: when users multiply, data grows, and early shortcuts start costing real money.

Her work spans fintech, healthtech and high-growth startups, from a Dutch company-registration platform for notaries to Snap!Raise, a US fundraising platform for school and youth teams. She contributes to open source, including a merged fix to Forem, the platform behind DEV, and is the creator and maintainer of Express 5 + TypeScript Snippets on the VS Code Marketplace. She has spoken at TechSpark and mentors early-career engineers through code review, with a focus on writing maintainable code and building sound engineering habits.

What to Expect

We'll have soft drinks and some snacks available to keep you refreshed throughout the evening. If you have any dietary restrictions or allergen concerns, please let our organisers know.

Upon arrival, we'll check your ticket and provide you with a name badge. This is a great opportunity to network with fellow attendees, so don't be shy, introduce yourself.

The night will consist of some software focussed talks (normally 2) interspersed with networking opportunities.

For more on the event format, see our Attending page and FAQs.

Important Notes

By attending this event, you agree to our Privacy Policy and Code of Conduct.

Photography & Recording: Please note that the event will be recorded and photographed. If you prefer not to be included in any photos or videos, kindly inform the camera operator. These materials will be used to promote future events and shared on platforms like YouTube.

We Can't Wait to See You

Thank you for being part of {dev.talk}. We're excited to connect, learn, and grow together as a community. See you soon!

Warm regards,

The {dev.talk} Team