Temporal is often introduced through clear, simple patterns—and for most use cases, those patterns work extremely well. But sometimes, real-world requirements push beyond the obvious.

In this talk, we’ll take a closer look at some less conventional uses of Temporal that we’ve encountered in the field—some successful, some less so. In each case, success depends less on workflow code, and more on how the SDK and worker behave under the hood.

By unpacking these examples, we’ll make the worker’s execution model more visible—not as something to “tune” after the fact, but as a powerful part of the system that can be understood and leveraged. The goal is to help you recognize when you’re stepping outside the usual paths—and give you the mental model to do so intentionally.