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
9:55am
9:45 - 9:55am — 10 Minute Break
9:55 - 10:40am - AI for Teams - Smart Adoption Not Blind FOMO (45min)
John Crosby
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 - SPARK Collaboration: Using AI to Break Down Silos and Build Seamless Solutions (45min)
Elizabeth Goede
9:00 - 9:45am - Making the Invisible, Visible (45min)
Jim VanderMey
12:30pm
12:30pm — Lunch
1:00 - 1:20pm — Lightning Talks
1:20 - 1:30pm — 10 Minute Break
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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 - 3:30pm — Ice Cream & Networking in the Lounge
3:30 - 4:15pm Collaborative Discussion
Andy Van Solkema - Founding Partner, Physics
Christy Ennis-Kloote - Director of Growth, Product Solutions and Experience Design, Augusto
Jeff Andersen - Head of Client Partnership, Michigan Software Labs
Moderated by Brian Tol - VP of Software Engineering, Mutually Human
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
