Maintainable

Robby 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 LinksKaren on TwitterKaren on LinkedIn[Book] How to Win Friends & Influence PeopleSubscribe to Maintainable on:Apple PodcastsOvercastSpotifyOr search "Maintainable" wherever you stream your podcasts.Join the discussion in the Maintainable Discord Community Subscribe to Maintainable on:Apple PodcastsSpotifyOr search "Maintainable" wherever you stream your podcasts.Keep up to date with the Maintainable Podcast by joining the newsletter.

Robby 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 LinksFollow Gianluca on TwitterGianluca's websiteConnect with Gianluca on LinkedIn[Book] Obsessed: Building a Brand People Love from Day One by Emily HeywardSubscribe to Maintainable on:Apple PodcastsOvercastSpotifyOr search "Maintainable" wherever you stream your podcasts.Join the discussion in the Maintainable Discord Community Subscribe to Maintainable on:Apple PodcastsSpotifyOr search "Maintainable" wherever you stream your podcasts.Keep up to date with the Maintainable Podcast by joining the newsletter.

Robby 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 LinksFollow Ali on TwitterFollow We Learn Code on TwitterAli Spittel's websiteZen of ProgrammingLadybug PodcastFollow General Assembly on TwitterWhat Productivity Looks like to MeSubscribe to Maintainable on:Apple PodcastsOvercastSpotifyOr search "Maintainable" wherever you stream your podcasts.Join the discussion in the Maintainable Discord Community Subscribe to Maintainable on:Apple PodcastsSpotifyOr search "Maintainable" wherever you stream your podcasts.Keep up to date with the Maintainable Podcast by joining the newsletter.

The 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 coursePlanet Argon's Rails Upgrade service[Book] Never Split the Difference by Chris VossOh My ZshFollow Robby on TwitterAbout Robby RussellConnect with Robby on LinkedInConnect with Kayla on LinkedInSubscribe to Maintainable on:Apple PodcastsOvercastSpotifyOr search "Maintainable" wherever you stream your podcasts.Join the discussion in the Maintainable Discord Community Subscribe to Maintainable on:Apple PodcastsSpotifyOr search "Maintainable" wherever you stream your podcasts.Keep up to date with the Maintainable Podcast by joining the newsletter.

Robby 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 LinksFollow Ryan on TwitterSparkbox[Book] Accelerate: The Science of Lean Software and DevOpsMichael Feathers on Maintainable[Book] Working Effectively with Legacy CodeSubscribe to Maintainable on:Apple PodcastsOvercastSpotifyOr search "Maintainable" wherever you stream your podcasts.Join the discussion in the Maintainable Discord Community Subscribe to Maintainable on:Apple PodcastsSpotifyOr search "Maintainable" wherever you stream your podcasts.Keep up to date with the Maintainable Podcast by joining the newsletter.

Robby 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 LinksFollow Camille on TwitterCamille on MediumThe Manager's Path: A Guide for Tech Leaders Navigating Growth and ChangeCamille's Blog: Elided Branches[Book] What Got Your Here Won't Get You There by Marshall Goldsmith and Mark Reiter97 Things Every Engineering Manager Should Know: Collective Wisdom from the ExpertsSubscribe to Maintainable on:Apple PodcastsOvercastSpotifyOr search "Maintainable" wherever you stream your podcasts.Join the discussion in the Maintainable Discord Community Subscribe to Maintainable on:Apple PodcastsSpotifyOr search "Maintai

Robby 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 LinksGonçalo on TwitterLaws of software evolutionDoistDoist's blogOpen positions at DoistTwist App[Book] Atomic Habits[Book] The Art of LearningSubscribe to Maintainable on:Apple PodcastsOvercastSpotifyOr search "Maintainable" wherever you stream your podcasts.Join the discussion in the Maintainable Discord Community Subscribe to Maintainable on:Apple PodcastsSpotifyOr search "Maintainable" wherever you stream your podcasts.Keep up to date with the Maintainable Podcast by joining the newsletter.

Robby 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 LinksGlamorous ToolkitFollow Girba on TwitterFollow feenk on TwitterGlamorous Toolkit on Github[Book] Man's Search for MeaningSubscribe to Maintainable on:Apple PodcastsOvercastSpotifyOr search "Maintainable" wherever you stream your podcasts.Join the discussion in the Maintainable Discord Community Subscribe to Maintainable on:Apple PodcastsSpotifyOr search "Maintainable" wherever you stream your podcasts.Keep up to date with the Maintainable Podcast by joining the newsletter.

Robby 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 LinksFollow Jeff on TwitterFollow Jeff on MediumPinpointConnect with Jeff on LinkedInPinpoint Insights[Book] Hard Thing About Things BuildingSubscribe to Maintainable on:Apple PodcastsOvercastSpotifyOr search "Maintainable" wherever you stream your podcasts.Join the discussion in the Maintainable Discord Community Subscribe to Maintainable on:Apple PodcastsSpotifyOr search "Maintainable" wherever you stream your podcasts.Keep up to date with the Maintainable Podcast by joining the newsletter.

Robby 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 LinksVladimir's books: Use promo code: podmaintainable20 for 20% off!Enterprise CraftsmanshipPainless Unit TestingVladimir's Pluralsight courses[Book] Atomic HabitThings You Should Never Do, Part 1Subscribe to Maintainable on:Apple PodcastsOvercastSpotifyOr search "Maintainable" wherever you stream your podcasts.Join the discussion in the Maintainable Discord Community Subscribe to Maintainable on:Apple PodcastsSpotifyOr search "Maintainable" wherever you stream your podcasts.Keep up to date with the Maintainable Podcast by joining the newsletter.

Robby 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 LinksCode ClimateThe Code Climate blogBryan on TwitterCode Climate on TwitterSubscribe to Maintainable on:Apple PodcastsOvercastSpotifyOr search "Maintainable" wherever you stream your podcasts.Join the discussion in the Maintainable Discord Community Subscribe to Maintainable on:Apple PodcastsSpotifyOr search "Maintainable" wherever you stream your podcasts.Keep up to date with the Maintainable Podcast by joining the newsletter.

Robby 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 LinksDr. Aino Vonge Corry on TwitterMetadeveloper[Book] Why We Sleep: Unlocking the Power of Sleep and Dreams by Matthew WalkerHow to Facilitate Distributed RetrospectivesSubscribe to Maintainable on:Apple PodcastsOvercastSpotifyOr search "Maintainable" wherever you stream your podcasts.Join the discussion in the Maintainable Discord Community Subscribe to Maintainable on:Apple PodcastsSpotifyOr search "Maintainable" wherever you stream your podcasts.Keep up to date with the Maintainable Podcast by joining the newsletter.

Robby 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 LinksFollow Trisha on TwitterTrisha's blogIntelliJ IDEARubyMind[Book] 97 Things Every Programmer Should Know[Book] Programmed Inequality: How Britain Discarded Women Technologists and Lost Its Edge in Computing by Mar HicksSubscribe to Maintainable on:Apple PodcastsOvercastSpotifyOr search "Maintainable" wherever you stream your podcasts.Join the discussion in the Maintainable Discord Community Subscribe to Maintainable on:Apple PodcastsSpotifyOr search "Maintainable" wherever you stream your podcasts.Keep up to date with the Maintainable Podcast by joining the newsletter.

In this episode of the Maintainable Software Podcast, Robby is joined by Sandi Metz, a renowned programmer, author, and speaker known for her expertise in object-oriented programming and maintainable code. Sandi shares her invaluable insights on various aspects of software development, focusing on writing code that stands the test of time.Episode HighlightsMaintaining Readable Code: Sandi emphasizes that the cost of software lies in its readability. She discusses the importance of writing code with good names and gentle organization, making it easier for future developers to understand.Avoiding Clever Code: Sandi warns against writing overly clever code that even the author might not understand later. Instead, she advocates for clear and simple code that conveys the programmer's good intentions to future readers.Documentation and Integration Tests: While Sandi believes in minimal documentation at the object level, she stresses the importance of integration tests and visual aids that show how everything fits t

Robby 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 LinksFollow Clare on TwitterIn Simple TermsClare's upcoming workshops and speaking engagementsMadeTechClare on MediumRefactoring: Improving the Design of Existing Code (2nd Edition) by Martin FowlerDelusions of Gender: How Our Minds, Society, and Neurosexism Create Difference by Cordelia FineSubscribe to Maintainable on:Apple PodcastsOvercastSpotifyOr search "Maintainable" wherever you stream your podcasts.Join the discussion in the Maintainable Discord Community Subscribe to Maintainable on:Apple PodcastsSpotifyOr search "Maintainable" wherever you stream your podcasts.Keep up to date with the Maintainable Podcast by joining the newsletter.

Robby 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 LinksFollow Kelly on TwitterKelly's website[Book] Seeing like a State: How Certain Schemes to Improve the Human Condition Have Failed by James C. ScottTalk on Desirable TestsSubscribe to Maintainable on:Apple PodcastsOvercastSpotifyOr search "Maintainable" wherever you stream your podcasts.Join the discussion in the Maintainable Discord Community Subscribe to Maintainable on:Apple PodcastsSpotifyOr search "Maintainable" wherever you stream your podcasts.Keep up to date with the Maintainable Podcast by joining the newsletter.

Robby 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 LinksJonathan on TwitterThe Prime DirectiveBBC CareersGoogle's Project AristotleGrowing Object-Oriented Software Guided by Tests by Steve Freeman and Nat PryceThe Power In Agile Talk by Sarah Mei[Book] The Phoenix Project by Gene KimSubscribe to Maintainable on:Apple PodcastsOvercastSpotifyOr search "Maintainable" wherever you stream your podcasts.Join the discussion in the Maintainable Discord Community Subscribe to Maintainable on:Apple PodcastsSpotifyOr search "Maintainable" wherever you stream your podcasts.Keep up to date with the Maintainable Podcast by joining the newsletter.

Robby 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 LinksFollow Jessica on TwitterJessica's websiteJessica's blogSymmathecist, Noun by Jessica Kerr[Book] Team Topologies bookArty's suggestion about "escalating risk":[Book] Ecology, the Ascendent Perspective by Robert UlanowiczThe Myth of the Sufficiently Smart Engineer by Aaron Blohowiak[Book] The Secrets of Consulting by Gerald M. Weinberg7 Rules for Positive Productive Change by Esther DerbySystems thinking: Mel Conway on TwitterSubscribe to Maintainable on:Apple PodcastsOvercastSpotifyOr search "Maintainable" wherever you stream your podcasts.Join the discussion in the Maintainable Discord Community Subscribe to Maintainable on:Apple PodcastsSpotifyOr search "Maintainable" wherever you stream your podcasts.Keep

Robby 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 LinksThree Kinds of Good Technical DebtCareers at Squarespace[Book] Nonviolent Communication by Marshall B. RosenbergJon on TwitterJon on GithubJon's websiteJon on LinkedInSubscribe to Maintainable on:Apple PodcastsOvercastSpotifyOr search "Maintainable" wherever you stream your podcasts.Join the discussion in the Maintainable Discord Community Subscribe to Maintainable on:Apple PodcastsSpotifyOr search "Maintainable" wherever you stream your podcasts.Keep up to date with the Maintainable Podcast by joining the newsletter.

Robby 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 TwitterTupleTuple on Twitter[Book] The Great CEO WithinSubscribe to Maintainable on:Apple PodcastsOvercastSpotifyOr search "Maintainable" wherever you stream your podcasts.Join the discussion in the Maintainable Discord Community Subscribe to Maintainable on:Apple PodcastsSpotifyOr search "Maintainable" wherever you stream your podcasts.Keep up to date with the Maintainable Podcast by joining the newsletter.