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Frank O'Connor
Sr Director Analyst
Gartner
Speaker Topics
- Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Agents
- Creating a Digital Business Strategy
- Software Engineering and Application Development
- Emerging and Disruptive Technologies
- Leadership
- Developing an Application Strategy
- Developer Experience
Speaker Bio
Frank O'Connor is a Senior Director, Analyst in Software Design and Development team helping CxOs and Software Engineering Leaders to tackle modern-day challenges and develop successful technology and people strategies.
Before joining Gartner Frank worked at Forcepoint - a security vendor in several MQs - where he was the Director of Engineering. In that role, he built a new software center of excellence in Cork, Ireland, hiring and developing R&D teams to build out Forcepoint's Security Service Edge (SSE) offering, adopting lean-agile practices, improving quality, and lowering deployment times.
Frank's research focuses on the developer experience in software engineering. His research topics include how to move from project to product, how to measure and improve developer productivity, how to build great developer experience, and how to design software engineering organizations that minimize waste and maximize value creation.
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Before joining Gartner Frank worked at Forcepoint - a security vendor in several MQs - where he was the Director of Engineering. In that role, he built a new software center of excellence in Cork, Ireland, hiring and developing R&D teams to build out Forcepoint's Security Service Edge (SSE) offering, adopting lean-agile practices, improving quality, and lowering deployment times.
Frank's research focuses on the developer experience in software engineering. His research topics include how to move from project to product, how to measure and improve developer productivity, how to build great developer experience, and how to design software engineering organizations that minimize waste and maximize value creation.
Sessions
Monday, 14 September, 2026 11:45 AM - 12:15 PM BST
Creativity Is the New Productivity: A Software Leader's Playbook to Build Intrapreneurial Software Teams
Frank O'Connor,
Sr Director Analyst, Gartner
The future of software engineering lies in creativity and innovation rather than productivity. This playbook guides leaders in redefining success metrics, cultivating a founder’s mindset, and aligning AI-powered ideation and rapid prototyping with business goals. By prioritizing creative potential over traditional throughput, organizations unlock sustained value and reshape the next era of software engineering.
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Tuesday, 15 September, 2026 10:30 AM - 11:00 AM BST
Navigating the AI Impact: Application and Software Engineering Strategies for 2030
Frank O'Connor,
Sr Director Analyst, Gartner
AI is reshaping the human-digital experience. The way humans interact with software and how different software and solutions interact digitally, is creating a dynamic user experience. This boosts leaders to develop strategies that leverage successful AI use cases and avoids pitfalls associated with unproven applications that may pose serious security risks and other challenges. They must shape the future of software and applications within their organizations to drive critical business value and innovation while avoiding high costs, poor user experiences and wasted time.
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Tuesday, 15 September, 2026 12:00 PM - 12:45 PM BST
Ask the Analyst: How to Accelerate Your Impact as a New Software Engineering Leader
Frank O'Connor,
Sr Director Analyst, Gartner
Stepping into a senior software engineering leadership role for the first time comes with high expectations. New heads of software engineering are tasked with delivering quick wins, driving meaningful change and setting a compelling direction for their function. This session will address attendees' questions on how to navigate this transition to achieve lasting impact as a leader.
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Tuesday, 15 September, 2026 03:45 PM - 04:15 PM BST
Upgrade the Developer Experience to Enable AI-Native Delivery
Frank O'Connor,
Sr Director Analyst, Gartner
Software development teams have always needed a high-quality developer experience to do their best work, but this is even more true as AI fundamentally changes software delivery. While organizations implement AI-augmented tools and agents, developer experience continues to fall short — only 32% of developers are satisfied with the AI capabilities they use for work. Featuring the latest developer experience survey insights, this session will show how to provide a great developer experience in an AI-native environment.
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