Unix Philosophy and Designing Stable Interfaces

Software engineering has an identity problem. Some software engineers want to be craftspeople and artisans, while others want to be more like the traditional engineers, while others just want to write some code. In this episode, Kris and Matt talk about the state of software engineering today and the areas that they think could use improvement.

For this week's episode of break, we're pulling one out of the archives! Sometimes we record an episode and don't ship it for quite a while, and this one was recorded all the way back on July 30th! Kris and Matt talk about their (at the time) yet to be recorded episode with Mitchell, Oxide's Series B announcement, and have another conversation about software artisans. Watch it on YouTube or listen with your favorite podcasting app! Learn more by going to https://break.show/15.

And we've got bonus content for our supporters, where you'll hear the duo's feelings about project management, the industry's lack of planning, and Kris' recent change in view around artificial intelligence. Not a supporter yet? Fix that today by heading over to https://fallthrough.fm/subscribe where you'll get not only extra content but also higher quality audio. Sign up today!

Thanks for tuning in and happy listening!

Table of Contents:

• Prologue (00:00:00)
• Chapter 1: The Current State of Software Engineering (00:02:28)
• Chapter 2: MVPs and the Challenge of Shipping Software (00:17:05)
• Chapter 3: Project Management and Workflows [Extended] (00:26:01)
• Chapter 4: The Invisible Things (00:26:24)
• Chapter 5: Path Dependency and Asking Why (00:31:26)
• Chapter 6: Engineering Is About Design (00:46:11)
• Chapter 7: We Need Better Planning [Extended] (00:58:42)
• Chapter 8: Matt wants to write less code (00:59:02)
• Chapter 9: Kris' view of AI has shifted [Extended] (01:02:38)
• Epilogue (01:03:06)

Hosts

• Kris Brandow - Host
• Matthew Sanabria - Host

• Website
• Bluesky
• Threads
• X/Twitter
• LinkedIn
• Instagram

• (00:00) - Prologue
• (02:28) - Chapter 1: The Current State of Software Engineering
• (17:05) - Chapter 2: MVPs and the Challenge of Shipping Software
• (26:01) - Chapter 3: Project Management and Workflows [Extended]
• (26:24) - Chapter 4: The Invisible Things
• (31:26) - Chapter 5: Path Depenency and Asking Why
• (46:11) - Chapter 6: Engineering Is About Design
• (58:42) - Chapter 7: We Need Better Planning [Extended]
• (59:02) - Chapter 8: Matt wants to write less code
• (01:02:38) - Chapter 9: Kris' view of AI has shifted [Extended]
• (01:03:06) - Epilogue