Maintainable
178 episodes - English - Latest episode: 3 days ago - ★★★★★ - 29 ratingsFeel like you’re hitting a wall with your existing software projects? You're not alone. On the Maintainable software podcast, we speak with seasoned practitioners who have worked past the problems often associated with technical debt and legacy code.
In each episode, our guests will share stories and outline tangible, real-world approaches to software challenges. In turn, you'll uncover new ways of thinking about how to improve your software project's maintainability. We're in this together. Enjoy the show!
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Episodes
Adrianna Chang: Using the Strangler Fig Pattern at Shopify
November 16, 2020 14:00 - 41 minutes - 37.6 MBRobby speaks with Adrianna Chang, Software Developer at Shopify. They discuss the benefits of using SOLID principles. Adrianna also shares how Shopify has been turning a Ruby on Rails monolith into a module monolith, along with an overview of Shopify's Dev Degree Program and her experience through it. Helpful Links Adrianna on Twitter Adrianna on LinkedIn Article: Refactoring Legacy Code with the Strangler Fig Pattern [Book Recommendation] The Art of Learning: An Inner Journey to Optima...
Mark Downie: Balancing The Promises That Open Source Projects Make
November 09, 2020 14:00 - 41 minutes - 37.8 MBRobby speaks with Mark Downie, Program Manager at Microsoft. They discuss the benefits of frameworks and approaches to making your open source project accessible and welcoming to new contributors and users. Mark also shares how Visual Studio's workflow for navigating customer requirements and getting early feedback, along with an introduction to what a Program Manager role is responsible for on the Visual Studio team. Helpful Links Mark on Twitter Mark's Blog [Book Recommendation] The Cu...
Glenn Vanderburg: Don't Ask For Small Things
November 02, 2020 13:00 - 42 minutes - 38.5 MBRobby speaks with Glenn Vanderburg, Executive Director of Software Development at RE/MAX. They discuss what types of documentation should go in the repository vs external content tools and the importance of acknowledging how helpful older code was to get you to here. Glenn also shares the benefits of hiring developers who had made a career change prior to becoming a developer, along with the challenges for software engineers and organizations during COVID with everyone being distributed. He...
Suzan Bond: Embracing Discomfort and Navigating Transitions
October 26, 2020 12:00 - 43 minutes - 39.5 MBRobby speaks with Suzan Bond, Leadership Coach. They discuss how to advocate for your growth within your existing teams and the responsibilities of the individual and the organization. Suzan also shares how COVID is resulting in the fear of burnout and indicators that you might be nearing it yourself, along with advice to managers and developers on how to approach their next one-on-ones. Helpful Links Suzan on Twitter Suzan’s Website [Book] Transitions: Making Sense of Life's Changes, Wi...
Nicolas Carlo: Changing Messy Software Without Breaking It
October 19, 2020 12:00 - 47 minutes - 43.4 MBRobby speaks with Nicolas Carlo, Senior Tech Lead at BusBud. They discuss the tradeoffs when testing out new features and the benefits of using feature toggling/flags to keep code getting merged into main branches. Nicolas also shares how Busbud has quarterly sustainability weeks to work on improving things, along with advice for listeners who might feel like they are at a loss for how to get stakeholder buy-in on dealing with technical debt challenges. Helpful Links Nicolas on Twitter Ni...
Brittany Martin: How to Quit Your Job and Leave Your Code in Good Hands
October 12, 2020 12:00 - 47 minutes - 43.7 MBRobby speaks with Brittany Martin, Engineering Lead at TextUs. They discuss the mistakes that developers make when discussing technical debt with stakeholders and why it is important to write automated tests against a live/production API. Brittany also shares how she became the host of the 5by5 Ruby on Rails podcast, along with her recent journey of changing jobs and passing technical knowledge over to peers and a future replacement. Helpful Links Brittany on Twitter Brittany's website 5...
Luke Redpath: User Stories Should Prompt Conversations
October 05, 2020 12:00 - 52 minutes - 47.8 MBRobby speaks with Luke, experienced software developer and consultant. They discuss the challenges of being an iOS developer and what effective user stories should look like. Luke also shares how he is navigating the world of looking for full-time employment after a decade of freelancing. For interview practice, Robby asks Luke an interview question that Planet Argon asks prospective Ruby on Rails developers — hear his response! Helpful Links Luke on Twitter Luke's Website Subscribe to ...
Hampton Lintorn Catlin: Only Add Complexity When Necessary
September 28, 2020 12:00 - 1 hour - 63.5 MBRobby speaks with Hampton Lintorn Catlin, CEO at Veue. They discuss how to reframe technical updates as investments and lessons learned from collaborating in open source. Hampton also shares how why he avoids the phrase "technical debt", along with his first-hand story of how he helped invent the open-source projects Haml and Sass. Helpful Links Hampton on Twitter Hampton's website Veue Hampton's Wikipedia [Book] Cryptonomicon [Book] Snow Crash Subscribe to Maintainable on: Apple Po...
Pat Kua: The Challenges that Come with Becoming a Tech Lead
September 21, 2020 12:00 - 34 minutes - 31.8 MBRobby speaks with Pat Kua, Advisor, Mentor, and Coach at Patkua.com. They discuss good documentation and the consequences of the hero culture. Pat also shares how he transitioned from an individual contributor to his current role, along with the benefits of finding mentors and seeking advice from people in other fields. Helpful Links Pat on Twitter Pat on LinkedIn Pat's Website Level Up Newsletter Courses [Book] Drive [Book] Thinking in Systems Subscribe to Maintainable on: Apple P...
Aaron Blohowiak: The Myth of the Sufficiently Smart Engineer
September 14, 2020 12:00 - 51 minutes - 46.9 MBRobby speaks with Aaron Blohowiak, Senior Software Engineer at Netflix. They discuss mistakes teams make when refactoring too much before finding a product-market-fit and how Netflix deals with technical debt. Aaron also shares some early era Ruby on Rails stories, along with reasons why developers might be intimidated to apply at top-tier organizations like Netflix. Helpful Links Aaron on Twitter Aaron on LinkedIn [Book] Radical Candor [Book] Thinking in Systems Subscribe to Maintaina...
Magda Miu: Building a Technical Leadership Career Around Teaching
September 07, 2020 12:00 - 58 minutes - 53.6 MBRobby speaks with Magda Miu, Squad Leader Developer at Orange. They discuss the benefits of a healthy pull-request & review process and the unique challenges of mobile device app development. Magda also shares how she transitioned from being a day-to-day code contributor to team leader, as well as her strategies for keeping her technical skills sharp when she is not coding on a regular basis. Helpful Links Magda on Twitter Magda on LinkedIn Magda's Website Magda on dev.to Magda on Medi...
Gant Laborde: Technical Debt — Trading Risk for an Advantage
August 31, 2020 12:00 - 45 minutes - 41.4 MBRobby speaks with Gant Laborde, CIO of Infinite Red. They discuss the unique challenges of maintaining React Native apps and the importance of sync points in an asynchronous work environment. Gant also shares an overview of the types of projects that Infinite Red focuses on and his experience being an open-source maintainer. Helpful Links Gant on Twitter Infinite Red on Twitter Gant's Website AI-FYI Website [Book] The War of Art Subscribe to Maintainable on: Apple Podcasts Overcast ...
Karen Lee Rigg: Where Are the Bad Habits Coming From?
August 24, 2020 12:00 - 48 minutes - 44.4 MBRobby speaks with Karen Lee Rigg, Engineering Lead at Permutive. They discuss being a good guest in another team's code base and dealing with imposter syndrome. Karen also shares how she moved from the consulting world to a startup working on a product, along with her journey from being a code contributor to a team lead. Helpful Links Karen on Twitter Karen on LinkedIn [Book] How to Win Friends & Influence People Subscribe to Maintainable on: Apple Podcasts Overcast Spotify Or searc...
Gianluca Arbezzano: Technical Debt Beyond Code & Your First Contributions to Open Source
July 13, 2020 12:00 - 44 minutes - 40.6 MBRobby speaks with Gianluca Arbezzano, Sr Staff Software Engineer at Packet. They discuss the value of consistent documentation (and why deciding where to document something is so difficult for developers!), how Gianluca began contributing to open source projects early in his career, and share tips for those who are intimidated about the idea of contributing to open source. Helpful Links Follow Gianluca on Twitter Gianluca's website Connect with Gianluca on LinkedIn [Book] Obsessed: Buil...
Ali Spittel: Junior Developers and Helping Unlock Their Potential
July 06, 2020 12:00 - 47 minutes - 43.2 MBRobby speaks with Ali Spittel – podcast host at Ladybug Podcast, writer, and Faculty Lead at General Assembly. They discuss mentoring Junior Developers, how she built a community around her written content and daily coding puzzles, how to build your writing as a developer, and her experience being a digital nomad. Helpful Links Follow Ali on Twitter Follow We Learn Code on Twitter Ali Spittel's website Zen of Programming Ladybug Podcast Follow General Assembly on Twitter What Product...
Robby Russell: Turning the Mic Around with Kayla Reopelle
June 29, 2020 12:00 - 1 hour - 65.1 MBThe mic is turned around on Robby for this special episode of Maintainable. Robby is interviewed by guest host Kayla Reopelle, a Ruby on Rails Developer at Planet Argon. They discuss the need for more conversations about improving existing code in the community, learning to manage client expectations as a consultant, and when he learned he was a mender, not a maker. Helpful Links: Robby's Maintainable Rails email course Planet Argon's Rails Upgrade service [Book] Never Split the Differen...
Ryan Cromwell: Is the Juice Worth the Squeeze?
June 22, 2020 12:00 - 48 minutes - 43.9 MBRobby speaks with Ryan Cromwell, Technical Director at Sparkbox. They discuss the importance of simplifying deployments, technical debt in the client-services industry, and the traits to seek when hiring software engineers for client-services based work. Helpful Links Follow Ryan on Twitter Sparkbox [Book] Accelerate: The Science of Lean Software and DevOps Michael Feathers on Maintainable [Book] Working Effectively with Legacy Code Subscribe to Maintainable on: Apple Podcasts Overc...
Ryan Cromwell: Is the Juice worth the Squeeze?
June 22, 2020 12:00 - 48 minutes - 43.9 MBRobby speaks with Ryan Cromwell, Technical Director at Sparkbox. They discuss the importance of simplifying deployments, technical debt in the client-services industry, and the traits to seek when hiring software engineers for client-services based work. Helpful Links Follow Ryan on Twitter Sparkbox [Book] Accelerate: The Science of Lean Software and DevOps Michael Feathers on Maintainable [Book] Working Effectively with Legacy Code Subscribe to Maintainable on: Apple Podcas...
Camille Fournier: How Does a Developer Become a Manager?
June 15, 2020 12:00 - 46 minutes - 42.8 MBRobby speaks with Camille Fournier, Head of Platform Engineering at Two Sigma and author of The Manager's Path. They discuss the importance of avoiding overly clever code, onboarding developers to existing software projects and teams, and how to start approaching mentoring others and be a good mentoree. They also discuss topics from her book, like determining if a path toward management is right for you and navigating career growth in a technical role. Helpful Links Follow Camille on Twitt...
Gonçalo Silva: How A Fully-Remote Team Builds and Maintains Software
June 01, 2020 12:00 - 44 minutes - 40.8 MBRobby speaks with Gonçalo Silva, CTO at Doist. They discuss embracing continuous improvements, having a healthy level of skepticism about rewrites. Gonçalo also shares how Doist onboards new engineers to their team, along with the challenges of hiring remote junior developers. Helpful Links Gonçalo on Twitter Laws of software evolution Doist Doist's blog Open positions at Doist Twist App [Book] Atomic Habits [Book] The Art of Learning Subscribe to Maintainable on: Apple Podcasts ...
Tudor Girba: Moldable Development and Software Environmentalism
May 25, 2020 12:00 - 44 minutes - 40.4 MBRobby speaks with Tudor Girba, CEO and Co-Founder at Feenk. They discuss how engineers work in the decision-making business, what skills are essential to build in engineers, and get an introduction to the concept of Moldable Development and the Glamorous Toolkit. Helpful Links Glamorous Toolkit Follow Girba on Twitter Follow feenk on Twitter Glamorous Toolkit on Github [Book] Man's Search for Meaning Subscribe to Maintainable on: Apple Podcasts Overcast Spotify Or search "Maintain...
Jeff Haynie: How Can We Make Software Development Better for Dev Teams?
May 18, 2020 12:00 - 52 minutes - 47.8 MBRobby speaks with Jeff Haynie, Co-Founder and CEO at Pinpoint. They discuss boundaries around APIs and contracts, useful and less-useful metrics for development teams to focus on, and more. Jeff also gives an introduction to Pinpoint's tooling for software development teams and stakeholders, and shares a story about how he had to reverse-engineer a proprietary application in under 24hours to keep the trains running on time. Helpful Links Follow Jeff on Twitter Follow Jeff on Medium Pinpo...
Vladimir Khorikov: 100% Test Coverage is an Artificial Metric
May 11, 2020 12:00 - 1 hour - 55.7 MBRobby speaks with Vladimir Khoriko, Tech Lead, Architect & Author. They discuss all things unit tests – what they are, the four pillars of good ones, examples of low-value unit tests, and more. They also discuss the age-old debate of rewrites vs. refactoring, and how to effectively prioritize maintenance work. Helpful Links Vladimir's books: Use promo code: podmaintainable20 for 20% off! Enterprise Craftsmanship Painless Unit Testing Vladimir's Pluralsight courses [Book] Atomic Habit ...
Bryan Helmkamp: Don't Let Perfect Be The Enemy of Good
May 04, 2020 12:00 - 36 minutes - 33.3 MBRobby speaks with Bryan Helmkamp, Founder and CEO at Code Climate. Bryan discusses the use of the term "technical debt" now vs. 15 years ago, what he's learned from having thousands of engineering teams use their tools, and the long-term benefits of choosing to build their main application in Ruby on Rails. You'll also get an overview of Code Climate's main products. Helpful Links Code Climate The Code Climate blog Bryan on Twitter Code Climate on Twitter Subscribe to Maintainable on: ...
Dr. Aino Vonge Corry: Why Do We Have Retrospectives, Again?
April 27, 2020 12:00 - 45 minutes - 31.5 MBRobby speaks with Dr. Aino Vonge Corry, founder of Metadeveloper, technical conference editor, and agile retrospective facilitator. They discuss effective vs. ineffective communication with stakeholders, how to prepare for retrospectives, and why it's important to focus on "What should we do better?" when reflecting on work. Helpful Links Dr. Aino Vonge Corry on Twitter Metadeveloper [Book] Why We Sleep: Unlocking the Power of Sleep and Dreams by Matthew Walker How to Facilitate Distrib...
Trisha Gee: Developers Should Invest More Time Into Learning Their Tools
April 20, 2020 12:00 - 42 minutes - 28.9 MBRobby speaks with Trisha Gee, Developer Advocate at JetBrains. They discuss Trisha's role as a Developer Advocate, how open source library maintainers are underappreciated, and how developers can overcome their fear of writing, speaking, and contributing back to the community. Helpful Links Follow Trisha on Twitter Trisha's blog IntelliJ IDEA RubyMind [Book] 97 Things Every Programmer Should Know [Book] Programmed Inequality: How Britain Discarded Women Technologists and Lost Its Edge...
Sandi Metz: Making is Easy, Mending is a Challenge
April 13, 2020 12:00 - 47 minutes - 32.3 MBRobby speaks with author, speaker, and 40-year programming veteran Sandi Metz. They discuss why it's hard to teach maintenance skills, how humans tend to get themselves into messy situations, Sandi's "Rules for Developers", and more. You'll also hear You'll also hear some thoughts on Ruby and Rails, and how Sandi uses the phrase, "Lambs to the Slaughter". Helpful Links Follow Sandi on Twitter Working Effectively with Legacy Code by Michael Feathers Refactoring by Martin Fowler CodeDevot...
Clare Sudbery: Refactoring Should Be Part of Your Daily Work
April 06, 2020 12:00 - 50 minutes - 34.8 MBRobby speaks with Clare Sudbery, Lead Engineer with Made Tech. They discuss how to document and prioritize technical debt with a visual tool, trunk-based development patterns, and the importance of getting fast feedback. Helpful Links Follow Clare on Twitter In Simple Terms Clare's upcoming workshops and speaking engagements MadeTech Clare on Medium Refactoring: Improving the Design of Existing Code (2nd Edition) by Martin Fowler Delusions of Gender: How Our Minds, Society, and Neuro...
Kelly Sutton: Custodians of the Monolith
March 30, 2020 17:21 - 37 minutes - 25.9 MBRobby speaks with Kelly Sutton, Software Engineer at Gusto. They discuss how to deal with technical debt from the pre-product/market fit era, the benefits of monoliths and knowing when to begin abstracting to micro-services, and the challenges of keeping Ruby on Rails applications up-to-date. Kelly also gives advice for developers who want to convince stakeholders to invest in refactoring projects – a common challenge. Helpful Links Follow Kelly on Twitter Kelly's website [Book] Seeing l...
Jonathan Abourbih: Creating a Culture Where It's Okay To Take Risks
March 23, 2020 12:00 - 43 minutes - 30.1 MBRobby speaks to Jonathan Abourbih, Engineering Team Lead at the BBC in Voice & AI. They discuss how to conduct blameless post-mortems, what's technical debt vs. bad code, and the challenges of measuring your success as a manager after years of being a developer. Jonathan also shares stories about large Java apps in a pre-Garbage Collection world. Helpful Links Jonathan on Twitter The Prime Directive BBC Careers Google's Project Aristotle Growing Object-Oriented Software Guided by Tests...
Jessica Kerr: Software Is Not A Craft (or an Art)
March 09, 2020 12:00 - 40 minutes - 28.1 MBRobby speaks with Jessica Kerr, Symmathecist at Jessitron LLC. They discuss why working on existing projects is more interesting than greenfield ones, the overuse and harm of the term "technical debt", and how software is not a craft. Jessica also gives an introduction to being a Symmathecist. Helpful Links Follow Jessica on Twitter Jessica's website Jessica's blog Symmathecist, Noun by Jessica Kerr [Book] Team Topologies book Arty's suggestion about "escalating risk": [Book] Ecology...
Jon Thornton: Technical Debt is a Good Thing (Sometimes)
March 02, 2020 13:00 - 39 minutes - 27.4 MBRobby speaks with Jon Thornton, Engineer at Squarespace. This discuss examples of good technical debt, implementing a new monolith alongside another monolith (and when to extract to a microservice), metrics to track within your engineering team, and more. Helpful Links Three Kinds of Good Technical Debt Careers at Squarespace [Book] Nonviolent Communication by Marshall B. Rosenberg Jon on Twitter Jon on Github Jon's website Jon on LinkedIn Subscribe to Maintainable on: Apple Podcas...
Ben Orenstein: "Someday We'll Go Clean That Up" Doesn't Work
February 24, 2020 13:00 - 30 minutes - 21.1 MBRobby speaks with Ben Orenstein, CEO and Co-founder of Tuple, a remote pair programming app. They discuss why saying, "someday we'll go clean that up" doesn't work in reality, the downsides to putting maintenance work into a backlog, and implicit vs. explicit knowledge. Ben also gives an intro to Tuple. Ben on Twitter Tuple Tuple on Twitter [Book] The Great CEO Within Subscribe to Maintainable on: Apple Podcasts Overcast Spotify Or search "Maintainable" wherever you stream your podc...
Ernesto Tagwerker: Tracking Technical Debt With Metrics (aka Stink Score)
February 17, 2020 13:00 - 46 minutes - 32.2 MBIn the latest episode of Maintainable, we're joined by Ernesto Tagwerker, Founder and CTO of OmbuLabs. This isn't just another podcast episode; it's a deep dive into the world of technical debt and Ruby on Rails. Ernesto starts by demystifying technical debt – it's more than just a buzzword; it's a real challenge that can turn your project into a Tar Pit. And, believe it or not, there are actual tools to measure this. We explore these tools and how they can help identify technical debt and ...
Marit van Dijk: How Are We Going to Test This?
February 10, 2020 13:00 - 37 minutes - 25.7 MBRobby speaks with Marit van Dijk, Software Engineer at bol.com. They discuss effective communication with stakeholders about technical debt, Marit's scenic route to becoming a software developer, and automated testing strategies when dealing with several services. They also cover lessons in mob programming and touch on README file best practices. Helpful Links Marit on Twitter Careers at bol.com Test Automation University Use Testing to Develop Better Software Faster Marit on Medium T...
Mike Perham: How Developers Underestimate Long-Term Costs of External Dependencies
February 03, 2020 13:00 - 36 minutes - 25.4 MBRobby speaks with Mike Perham, Founder and CEO at Contribsys and author of Sidekiq and Faktory. They discuss the pros and cons of using external dependencies, how Mike built a business off of his open source project, Sidekiq, and the dIfference in maintaining Ruby vs Go software projects. Helpful Links Mike on Github Mike on Twitter mikeperham.com Contribsys Sidekiq [Book] Rising by Elizabeth Rush [Book] The Watch, Thoroughly Revised by Gene Stone and Stephen Pulvirent Subscribe to ...
Ev Haus: Good Code Can Be Easily Deleted
January 27, 2020 13:00 - 46 minutes - 32.1 MBRobby speaks with Ev Haus, Head of Technology at ZenHub. They discuss how to get to zero technical debt, metrics an engineering team can measure, good pull-request etiquette, and more. Helpful Links Ev on Twitter Ev on Linkedin Ev's writing on Medium Subscribe to Maintainable on: Apple Podcasts Overcast Spotify Or search "Maintainable" wherever you stream your podcasts. Join the discussion in the Maintainable Discord Community Subscribe to Maintainable on: Apple Podcasts Overcas...
Adam Tornhill: Prioritizing Technical Debt With Behavioral Code Analysis
January 20, 2020 13:00 - 42 minutes - 29.3 MBRobby speaks with Adam Tornhill, founder of Empear and CodeScene. They discuss the benefits of having clear boundaries between teams, strategies for prioritizing where to start tackling technical debt, and how to improve the onboarding experience for developers new to a software codebase. Adam also shares a rare example of a successful rewrite project. Helpful Links Follow Adam on Twitter Adam's Website Empear CodeScene [Book] Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance Your Code as a C...
M. Scott Ford: Menders In Hiding and the Joy of Legacy Code
January 13, 2020 13:00 - 42 minutes - 29.4 MBRobby speaks with M. Scott Ford, CTO and Chief Code Whisperer at Corgibytes and co-host of the Legacy Code Rocks podcast. They discuss the difference between Makers and Menders, how to prioritize a technical debt backlog, and how to provide feedback to other developers. Helpful Links M. Scott Ford on Twitter Corgibytes Legacy Code Rocks [Book] Lehman’s Laws of Software Evolution and the Staged-Model [Book] Radical Candor Subscribe to Maintainable on: Apple Podcasts Overcast Spotify...
Gitte Klitgaard: Making Space For Psychological Safety in Software Teams
January 06, 2020 13:00 - 39 minutes - 27.3 MBRobby speaks with Gitte Klitgaard, Agile Coach and Owner of Native Wired. They discuss how to create space for psychological safety, the importance of sharing mistakes and fuck-ups of the week, and understanding, coping and taking advantage of your Imposter Syndrome. Helpful Links Native Wired Gitte on Twitter Gitte on LinkedIn [Book] I Thought It Was Just Me by Brene Brown Brene Brown's Ted Talk on vulnerability Subscribe to Maintainable on: Apple Podcasts Overcast Spotify Or sea...
Nathaniel Bibler: Communication Strategies Between Developers and Clients
December 23, 2019 13:00 - 53 minutes - 36.9 MBRobby speaks with Nathaniel Bibler, CTO at Envy Labs. They discuss how to talk about technical debt as a team, navigating communication challenges with clients, and how to be a good guest in another team's code base. If you work – or want to work – at an agency, you should listen to this episode. Helpful Links Follow Nathaniel on Twitter Insights by Envy Labs Nathaniel on Github Connect on LinkedIn Subscribe to Maintainable on: Apple Podcasts Overcast Spotify Or search "Maintainabl...
Abby Bangser: Building Trust In Your Deployment Pipeline
December 16, 2019 13:00 - 30 minutes - 21.1 MBRobby speaks with Abby Bangser, Senior Test Engineer on the Platform Engineering Team at MOO. They discuss how maintainable code leans on a dependable build and test process, what metrics Moo's platform engineering team measures, and codifying your pipeline – including having pipelines build on a regular basis. Helpful Links Follow Abby on Twitter Careers at Moo Tester by Choice Deep Work: Rules for Focused Success in a Distracted World by Cal Newport Subscribe to Maintainable on: App...
Viktor Klang: Condensing The Codebase Over Time
December 09, 2019 13:00 - 53 minutes - 36.9 MBRobby speaks with Viktor Klang, Deputy CTO at Lightbend Inc. They discuss how to avoid constant firefighting, effective use cases of TODO and FIXME comments, and how to create a safe space for developers to make mistakes. Helpful Links Follow Viktor on Twitter Viktor's website Lightbend Cloudstate Subscribe to Maintainable on: Apple Podcasts Overcast Spotify Or search "Maintainable" wherever you stream your podcasts. Join the discussion in the Maintainable Discord Community Subsc...
Beth Long: Maintainable Code Prioritizes How Humans Interact With It
December 02, 2019 13:05 - 34 minutes - 23.4 MBRobby speaks with Beth Long, Software Engineer on the Build & Deploy Tools Engineering team at New Relic. They discuss the origin of the technical debt metaphor, considering when a rewrite is necessary (spoiler alert – it rarely is), and speak about the limitations of agile across modern engineering teams. Helpful Links Beth's website Follow Beth on Twitter Connect with Beth on LinkedIn [Book] Beyond Human Error by David D. Woods [Book] Sources of Power by Gary Klein Subscribe to Main...
Beth Long: Maintainable Code Prioritizes How Humans Interact With It
December 02, 2019 13:05 - 34 minutes - 23.4 MBRobby speaks with Beth Long, Software Engineer on the Build & Deploy Tools Engineering team at New Relic. They discuss the origin of the technical debt metaphor, considering when a rewrite is necessary (spoiler alert – it rarely is), and speak about the limitations of agile across modern engineering teams. Helpful Links Beth's website Follow Beth on Twitter Connect with Beth on LinkedIn [Book] Beyond Human Error by David D. Woods [Book] Sources of Power by Gary Klein Subscri...
Beth Long: Maintainable Code Prioritizes How Humans Interact With It
December 02, 2019 13:05 - 34 minutes - 23.4 MBRobby speaks with Beth Long, Software Engineer on the Build & Deploy Tools Engineering team at New Relic. They discuss the origin of the technical debt metaphor, considering when a rewrite is necessary (spoiler alert – it rarely is), and speak about the limitations of agile across modern engineering teams. Helpful Links Beth's website Follow Beth on Twitter Connect with Beth on LinkedIn [Book] Beyond Human Error by David D. Woods [Book] Sources of Power by Gary Klein Subscri...
Emily Bache: It's Always More Fun to Code with Others
November 25, 2019 13:05 - 35 minutes - 24.2 MBRobby speaks with Emily Bache, Technical Agile Coach at ProAgile. They talk about her experience coaching teams on how to improve the long-term maintainability of their software – including how to still see your direct impact when coaching instead of coding. They also dig into the social aspect of development, mob programming, and how coding is a social activity. Helpful Links Follow Emily on Twitter [Book] Training From the Back of the Room by Sharon Bowman Coding is Like Cooking Conne...
Zee Spencer: How Can We Reduce Carrying Costs?
November 18, 2019 13:05 - 38 minutes - 26.1 MBRobby speaks with Zee Spencer, owner of Zinc Cooperative, and programmer at Cohere. They speak about how social systems impact software maintainability, why legacy code is profitable code, and consulting within a timebox constraint. Helpful Links [Book] Mental Models: 30 Thinking Tools that Separate the Average From the Exceptional. Improved Decision-Making, Logical Analysis, and Problem-Solving [Book] Observing the User Experience Zee on Twitter Cohere Cohere on Twitter Zinc Cooperat...
Ana Nelson: Writing Maintainable Code Documentation with Automated Tools and Transclusion
November 04, 2019 13:00 - 37 minutes - 25.7 MBRobby speaks with Ana Nelson, a software developer, writer, improv performer, and creator of Dexy — an open-source tool for writing any kind of technical document that incorporates code. Helpful Links Ana's website Dexy Follow Ana on Twitter Ana on Github Connect with Ana on LinkedIn What is Transclusion? The Modern Scholar by Professor Michael D. C. Drout [Book] On the Origin of Stories: Evolution, Cognition, and Fiction [Book] The Anatomy of Story: 22 Steps to Becoming a Master S...
Dave Aronson: Putting the M in ACRUMEN
October 28, 2019 12:05 - 44 minutes - 30.3 MBRobby speaks with Dave Aronson, Owner, Consultant (and T. Rex) at Codosaurus. Helpful Links Codosaurus Dave on Github Follow Dave on Twitter [Video] The Six Key Aspects of Software Quality [Book] The Pragmatic Programmer Subscribe to Maintainable on: Apple Podcasts Overcast Or search "Maintainable" wherever you stream your podcasts. Join the discussion in the Maintainable Discord Community Subscribe to Maintainable on: Apple Podcasts Overcast Spotify Or search "Maintainable" ...