This talk was recorded at Scala Days New York, 2016. Follow along on Twitter @scaladays and on the website for more information http://scaladays.org/. Abstract: In order to be successful with asynchronous / reactive programming, when coming from synchronous execution models, you need to change your mindset and look at things from a slightly different perspective. In order to use Akka at it's best, you will have to change the way you think about application design (loosen coupling in space and time between components), and re-think what you've maybe learnt in the past. In this talk we uncover a number of rules that serve as a guide in designing concurrent distributed applications, how those apply to Akka and how they can help you in daily app development.