Summit fever is what happens when the top becomes the only thing that matters, when a team pushes so hard for the goal that it stops noticing the cost along the way. It’s a mountaineering term, but any engineering team chasing a delivery date will recognise it instantly.

Human-centric engineering is the antidote; building software as a fundamentally human endeavour, where purpose, trust and connection are treated as leading indicators of great delivery, not distractions from it. This talk explores what that looks like in practice, drawing on the Adventure Mindset and Guide Mentality, a leadership approach built on what makes an outdoor guide worth following; someone who keeps you safe and still stretches you to your edge.

Ben gives engineering leaders a practical lens for building teams that ship without burning out the people who build.
Sobre Ben Popplestone: Ben Popplestone spent 25 years leading eCommerce technology teams internationally, most recently as Director, Adobe Commerce APAC, and before that leading one of Australia’s largest Magento agencies. He knows what it takes to grow a platform, a team and a P&L under real commercial pressure.

He also knows what it takes to survive a storm at 4000 metres. Ben is a mountaineer, ocean sailor, ultramarathon runner and spear-fisherman, and in 2025 he founded Adventure Mentors to bring those two worlds together; the discipline of high-performing teams and the hard-won lessons of adventure outdoors.

Ben draws stories and principles from adventure and translates them into practical frameworks, including the Adventure Mindset and the Guide Mentality, for leaders building high-performing teams under pressure. Grounded in 25 years of corporate leadership experience, he now works with organisations and leaders navigating uncertainty, fast growth and the pressure to perform without burning out. Show less