2025 Schedule

Monday, April 28 • Grand Rapids, MI

Merge is where product managers, designers, and developers come together to explore overlaps between disciplines and build exceptional software as one team

7:00am

7:30am — Registration / Check-in Opens


8:00am

8:00am — Breakfast

8:45am — Introduction and Welcome with SoftwareGR


9:00am

9:00 - 9:45am - Coming soon!


9:55am

9:45 - 9:55am — 10 Minute Break

9:55 - 10:40am - Coming soon!

9:55 - 10:40am - Blending Product Thinking with Software Modernization (45min)

Brian McKeiver & Dave Valko


10:50am

10:40 - 10:50am — 10 Minute Break

10:50 - 11:35am - Seeing and Talking about Seeing: Establishing a common language of visual design for engineers and designers (45min)

Sam Bleckley

10:50 - 11:35am - A Pirate’s Guide to Modern Product Teams (45min)

Kristen DeLap

11:35 - 11:45am — 10 Minute Break


11:45am

11:45am - 12:30pm - Brooms Run Amok: AI Lessons from The Sorcerer's Apprentice (45min)

Joe Leo

11:45am - 12:30pm - Coming Soon! (45min)

12:30pm

12:30pm — Lunch

1:00 - 1:20pm — Lightning Talks

1:20 - 1:30pm — 10 Minute Break

🥪

1:30pm

1:30 - 2:15pm - From Rumble to Acceleration: Aligning Stakeholders for Digital Success(45min)

Paul Warner

1:30 - 2:15pm - One Codebase to Rule them All: Flutter to streamline Development(45min)

Ben Jacques


🍦🍨

3:30pm

3:10 - 3:30pmIce Cream & Networking in the Lounge


3:30 - 4:15pm Panel - Details coming soon!


4:15pm

4:15pm — Closing Remarks

4:30pm — Reception - Rooftop Deck

🍻

2:25pm

2:15 - 2:25pm — 10 Minute Break

2:25 - 3:10pm - Eliminate the Ego (45min)

Carlus Henry

2:25 - 3:10pm - Object Oriented UX and Developers: Best Frenemies Forever?(45min)

Billy Neuson & Jon Alderink