SE Radio 721: Rob Moffat on Risk-First Software Development

SE Radio 721: Rob Moffat on Risk-First Software Development

Author: team@se-radio.net (SE-Radio Team) May 20, 2026 Duration: 52:31
Software Engineering Radio - the podcast for professional software developers
TechnologyEducation

In this episode, Rob Moffat, author of Risk-First Software Development and chief technical architect at the FinTech Open Source Software Foundation (FINOS), speaks with host Brijesh Ammanath about how all of software development is actually risk management. Rob introduces the concept of 'risk-first software development,' which sits in the context of existing methodologies like scrum and kanban. Showcasing multiple real-world project patterns to illustrate how things can go wrong when risk is ignored, he makes the case for why risk should be the primary lens behind every development decision, from architecture to prioritization. Through various examples, he shows how every developer action can be viewed as a risk trade-off and why making that explicit can lead to better outcomes. The conversation takes a deep dive into the risk-first framework and how teams can apply it in their existing processes.


For developers who build the world's most critical systems, Software Engineering Radio offers deep, substantive conversations that move beyond the hype cycle. This isn't about quick tips or news flashes; it's a dedicated audio library for career engineers seeking to solidify their foundational knowledge and explore advanced concepts. Each episode is crafted as an enduring resource, featuring either a comprehensive tutorial breaking down a specific technology or methodology, or a detailed interview with a leading practitioner shaping the field. You'll hear focused discussions on everything from low-level systems architecture and programming language design to team dynamics and project management, all through the lens of professional software creation. The content is exclusively produced for this podcast, ensuring thoughtful, in-depth analysis you won't find simply repackaged from conference talks. If your work demands a rigorous understanding of the craft, this is the podcast for you.
Author: Language: en-us Episodes: 100

Official website RSS
spotifydeezer
Software Engineering Radio - the podcast for professional software developers
Podcast Episodes
SE Radio 642: Simon Wijckmans on Third-Party Browser Script Security [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 1:07:32
Simon Wijckmans, founder of c/side -- a company that focuses on monitoring, securing, and optimizing third-party JavaScript -- joins SE Radio host Kanchan Shringi for a conversation about the security risks posed by thir…
SE Radio 641: Catherine Nelson on Machine Learning in Data Science [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 48:19
Catherine Nelson, author of the new O'Reilly book, Software Engineering for Data Scientists, discusses the collaboration between data scientists and software engineers -- an increasingly common pairing on machine learnin…
SE Radio 640: Jonathan Horvath on Physical Security [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 59:19
Jonathan Horvath of Z-bit discusses physical access control systems (PACS) with host Jeremy Jung. They start with an overview of PACS components and discuss the proprietary nature of the industry, the slow pace of migrat…
SE Radio 639: Cody Ebberson on Regulated Industries [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 39:20
Cody Ebberson, CTO of Medplum, joins host Sam Taggart to discuss the constraints that working in regulated industries add to the software development process. They explore some general aspects of developing for regulated…
SE Radio 637: Steve Smith on Software Quality [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 59:03
Steve Smith, founder and principal architect at Nimble Pros, joins host Jeff Doolittle for a conversation about software quality. The episode begins with a discussion of why software quality matters for businesses, custo…
SE Radio 636: Sriram Panyam on SaaS Control Planes [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 1:02:23
Sriram Panyam, CTO at DagKnows, discusses SaaS Control Planes with SE Radio host Brijesh Ammanath. The discussion starts off with the basics, examining what control planes are and why they're important. Sriram then discu…
SE Radio 635: Stevie Caldwell on Zero-Trust Architecture [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 50:21
Stevie Caldwell, Senior Engineering Technical Lead at Fairwinds, joins host Priyanka Raghavan to discuss zero-trust network reference architecture. The episode begins with high-level definitions of zero-trust architectur…
SE Radio 634: Jim Bugwadia on Kubernetes Policy as Code [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 1:02:22
Jim Bugwadia, CEO of Nirmata and a committer to the Kyverno projects, joins host Robert Blumen for a discussion of policy-as-code and the open source Kyverno project. The discussion covers the nature of policies; policie…

«1...5678910»