The Life and Death of a Rails App with Olivier Lacan - RUBY 635

May 1, 2024

Olivier Lacan from Pluralsight and the panel chat about the lifecycle of a Rails app, emphasizing the importance of planning for updates, managing technical debt, and integrating company acquisitions. They also discuss the emotional impact of app sunsetting and data privacy concerns. Episode covers various challenges in software development, company acquisition dynamics, and strategies for business growth.

Ask episode

Chapters

Transcript

Episode notes

Introduction

00:00 • 2min

Navigating the Complexities of Maintaining Rails Apps

01:57 • 14min

Exploring Technical Challenges and Team Dynamics in Software Development and Company Acquisition

15:58 • 5min

Navigating Challenges of Business Growth and Acquisitions

21:00 • 7min

Data Collection and GDPR Compliance in Tech Industry

28:15 • 11min

The Emotional Impact of Project Sunsetting

39:00 • 24min

Dietary Choices, Sustainability, and Techie Picks Discussed

01:03:26 • 5min

Machine Learning Search and Impressive Camera Specs

01:08:45 • 2min

Olivier Lacan joins the panel again. He currently works for Pluralsight. Today they are talking about the spectrum of creating a Rails app, or any app, from the birth of the idea to the death of the project. They stress the importance of planning for updates. Olivier talks about his experience in maintaining Code School, which has now been incorporated into Pluralsight. David also shares his experience with the life and death of a project. They talk about technical debt and the trouble that it can create, and the importance of making your Rails application maintainable.
Olivier talks about his experience when Code School was acquired by Pluralsight. The panel discusses the inevitability of the end of an application and different ways of managing company integration. They talk about ways to plan for shutting down a project. One of the best ways to make integration easier is to clean up your code and always be considering what data needs to be kept and what can be truncated. They discuss some of the issues around storing customer data and respecting individual privacy.
The panel talks more about sunsetting, or the ending of an app. People often think that shutting down an app doesn’t have any impact, but it is important to give customers time to adjust to change, as Olivier found out with Code School. Dave talks about different reactions that one could have when change happens. The panel talks about some of the emotional implications of having to destroy something that you’ve worked hard on for a long time. Ultimately, your project isn’t where you should put your self-worth, because projects will come to an end. When things do end, it’s important to look back at where you’ve come from and the impact that you’ve had on people.

Sponsors

Links

Picks

Andrew - Wild Sardines from Wild Planet
David - 5K screens from LG
Charles - Pluralsight
Charles - New Show: Adventures in DevOps
Charles - Butcher Box
Charles - Hotels.com
Nate - Keynote speech from RailsConf
Olivier - Oatley
Olivier - Horizonzerowaste.com
Olivier - Adobe Lightroom CC

Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/ruby-rogues--6102073/support.