Turbo Mode: Job Queues in Parallel?

Building high performing code is great, but then you find yourself hoping that the Job Queue runs that 1 job faster and faster.
Sometimes, that's not enough, and we need to be creative to get even MORE performance out of our BC.

Join me for this session to find out how using deadlock resilient, batch operation code can increase your Job Queue speeds anywhere from 40 to 90% faster. I'm proud of this new dangerously powerful pattern, and want to see how the community can all benefit.

Markdown's Magical Mermaid

Documentation is seldom exciting, but it doesn't have to be a chore either! Sometimes a well documented idea at the beginning of a project can save weeks - or even whole projects.

This talk is born from having clients, developers, and consultants all amazed at how easy it can be to make use of a Markdown powered diagramming language called Mermaid.

We'll cover:
- How you can quickly validate ideas for product or project teams
- How you can help clients and partner channels by documenting process flows
- How to help your fellow devs (and future selves) by documenting code
- Troubleshoot workflows and coding

And yes, we'll talk about how Copilots can help with this, but you'll benefit even without Copilots.

Getting Started with AI (Vibe) Coding in Business Central

Ready to code at the speed of thought? In this 105-minute hands-on workshop, you'll explore Vibe coding with Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central and discover how to progressively build your AI collaboration skills from basic prompting to advanced agentic workflows.

We'll start with a reality check: what can AI do with no guidance? Then we'll work through a practical progression that changes how you collaborate with AI. You'll learn to use AI as a planning partner before jumping into code, master the art of crafting and refining instructions that get better results, and explore role-based AI personas that match your expertise level.

Through guided hands-on exercises using a familiar Contoso-style BC project, you'll build real extensions while learning sustainable AI adoption patterns. We'll cover environment setup, AL code generation techniques, and most importantly - how to train your AI to get better at helping you over time.

What you'll learn:
• How AI collaboration evolves from basic prompting to strategic partnership
• Practical techniques for using AI to plan your development work
• The art of crafting and iteratively improving AI instructions
• Role-based AI approaches for different experience levels
• Real-world integration of AI tools into your BC development workflow

From Chaos to Code: Building a Knowledge-First Development Workflow

Most development companies struggle with scattered documentation, inconsistent processes, and knowledge that lives only in people's heads. This is a 'Yes Copilot, but no fluff' session that walks through building a practical system where your company knowledge becomes the foundation for everything - from initial project planning to final release notes.

You'll see how to create shared knowledge repositories that fuel both human decision-making and AI assistants, turning your DevOps wiki into a living resource that everyone can actually use. We'll cover the complete workflow: capturing requirements, transforming them into implementation plans, and connecting code changes to documentation updates automatically.

This isn't about replacing developers - it's about creating systems that make good developers even more effective by giving them instant access to institutional knowledge and automated help with the repetitive stuff.

Partner Life: From Way Behind to Best Practices Front-Runners

I've worked with several partner organizations in the past year, helping them review their operations and teams. With that assessment, we created both organization and personal development plans. Even at great conferences like this, it may not always be clear where to begin, how to progress, and what the goals should be each step along the way.

This talk is sharing the learned lessons from multiple journeys with partners. We'll cover the phased approach, what key goals to think about, what new roles you need to cultivate, what skills will support those efforts, and how to help your customers and products stay with you along the way.

Breaking Barriers: Embracing Open Source in a Closed-Source Industry

Are you ready to explore the uncharted territories of open source within our traditionally closed-source industry?

Discover our journey so far, gain invaluable takeaways, and explore innovative ways to harness open source for better results that can reshape your solutions and your way of thinking.

Join us for a thought-provoking session where we will explain why open Source Software is still a thing, how commercial needs and free software intersect, what the benefits and downsides are, and most importantly:

How we can apply those concepts to our daily business and our industry.

Evolving Your Solution

You have a working extension or set of extensions. How can you take that solution through all the myriad best practices:
- SOLID Architecture to reduce the Cost of Change and future proof
- Telemetry Intro to understand feature uptake and problem spots
- Core Test Coverage and pipeline basics

And how do you communicate the value of the cost of these efforts to customers/stakeholders?

All of these topics are worthy of their own full exploration, but this session is to help folks catch up with the essentials of each in a fast-changing industry to get attendees -- and the whole team back home -- moving in the right direction.

Streamlining AL Development with GitHub Copilot

Join us for an insightful session where we delve into the world of AL development and the transformative capabilities of GitHub Copilot. Discover how this cutting-edge tool can streamline your development process and enhance your productivity.

🔧 Streamlined Coding: Learn how to leverage Copilot's chat and auto-complete code features to simplify and accelerate your coding tasks.

📝 Expressive Commits: Witness the magic of auto-describing commits with Copilot. Elevate your commit messages and make your development history more engaging and comprehensible.

⚙️ Under the Hood: Gain a deeper understanding of how VS Code Copilot works behind the scenes. Explore the AI-driven mechanisms that power this tool and use this knowledge to your advantage.

🎯 Enhancing Accuracy: Dive into strategies for improving your coding accuracy using insights from Copilot's functionality. Discover techniques to fine-tune your work and reduce errors.

Whether you're a seasoned developer or just getting started with Business Central, this session is designed to provide you with actionable insights and practical techniques for optimizing your development workflow. Don't miss out on this opportunity to unlock the true potential of GitHub Copilot. See you at Directions EMEA 2023!

Testability - The Hammer and the Nail

In the words of Abraham Maslow, the law of the instrument states that if we have a hammer, we tend to see everything as a nail. When it comes to Business Central, the Testing Framework IS a hammer that can help you identify and fix issues you encounter throughout normal operations.

Unleash the full potential of your Business Central toolbox with Testability and TestRunners - while these tools are undoubtedly essential for ensuring your code works, you may be surprised to learn that they can also give your Business Central lifecycle a major boost in many other ways. From debugging to optimization, your testability expertise can take your Business Central game to the next level.

Discover how to accelerate your demos like Microsoft is doing with Contoso, streamline your training and self-onboarding processes, and even create powerful diagnostics and support applications.

Multi-Application Architecture

Everyone is producting their Extensions/Apps and we are mostly driven by our intuition when to create new app or use existing one. It is time to bring some rules into this process.

Microsoft roundtable: Contoso Coffee - new demo data

Microsoft is intending to improve the onboarding and selling experience. This roundtable is intended to be an informal discussion about generating demonstrational data capabilities in Business Central. The first version was recently released and now it's time to hear feedback. Come prepared with suggestions, such as scenarios, patterns, and extensibility suggestions.

Microsoft presents: Contoso Coffee - new demo data

In this session, we will dive into the world of demo data in Business Central. We will share the new patterns we have introduced in Contoso Coffee and future improvements in demo data areas and patterns. We will also discuss the modern demo tool that can generate your custom demo data on demand and open sourcing demo data to the community so that everyone can contribute to it.

Multi-Application Architecture - Hands On

This developer workshop covers some of the deeper lifecycle and design strategies for how to ensure smooth multi-app development, moving from using intuition to thoughtful, rule-driven design. The morning will focus on design planning concepts, discussing pros/cons, and workshopping best practices. The afternoon will focus on how to handle events, interfaces, and dependency inversions.

Getting Traction with Testability: Bring It Forward!

In this session, we'll look at using the Test Framework in Business Central as part of the earlier parts of the sales & implementation cycle so you can get your company (and customers) to see the value earlier and throughout your whole lifecycle. You'll go home with ideas and tools on how to use the Test Framework in ways you've possibly never dreamed of - and just maybe, overcome resistance to getting onboard with Testability in your organization.

Despite being about Testing Tools, this talk is aimed at all the non-technical staff too.