Principal Engineer at John Deere on how extreme programming saved his startup

Engineering teams whose work leaves an impact thrive on trust, collaboration, and the appropriate technical practices.

In this episode of the Distributed podcast, host Jack Hannah sits down with Ryan Bergman, Principal Engineer at John Deere, to explore the impact of Extreme Programming (XP) and agile practices on software development. Ryan shares how XP principles helped stabilize a struggling startup, why pair programming is essential for team cohesion, and how behavior-driven development (BDD) builds confidence in large-scale systems.

They also discuss the challenges of remote collaboration, lessons from scaling software at John Deere, and what it takes to align distributed teams around a shared technical vision.

Highlights:

• Rescuing a struggling startup by embracing Extreme Programming to improve collaboration, code quality, and technical execution
• Strengthening engineering teams with pair programming and the right balance of structure and flexibility
• Managing large-scale software development at John Deere
• Building trust across distributed teams through clear communication, shared technical vision, and an emphasis on psychological safety
• Using Behavior-Driven Development (BDD) to create reliable, well-tested systems that give teams confidence in their software

In this episode, we cover:

(00:00) – Kicking Things Off with Ryan Bergman

(01:10) – Ryan’s Journey: From Graphic Arts to Engineering

(03:59) – Discovering XP: How Extreme Programming Saved a Startup

(08:09) – Pair Programming and Agile Coaching: Rebuilding from the Ground Up

(14:14) – Navigating Large-Scale Systems at John Deere

(16:22) – The Power of Trust: Autonomy, Collaboration, and ‘Vampire Rules’

(21:37) – Building Strong Engineering Teams Through Open Knowledge Sharing

(26:49) – Pair Programming Pitfalls: Fixing What Doesn’t Work

(37:11) – Behavior-Driven Development: Creating Confidence in Complex Systems

Where to connect further:

Connect with Ryan Bergman on LinkedIn and check out John Deere

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Want to hear more? Check out distributed.fm

Connect with Jack Hannah