The Bike Shed

Joël strikes up a dialogue with fellow thoughtboter Elaina Natario about the various use cases of modals. Together they discuss their pros and cons, the dos and don’ts, their functionality and accessibility to the end user as well as the subtle differences you'll notice when compared to dialogs. — The Sponsor for this episode has been Judoscale - Autoscale the Right Way. Check out the link for your free gift! Your guest for this week has been Elaina Natario and you host has been Joël Quenneville. If you would like to support the show, head over to our GitHub page, or check out our website. Got a question or comment about the show? Why not write to our hosts: hosts@bikeshed.fm This has been a thoughtbot podcast. Stay up to date by following us on social media - YouTube - LinkedIn - Mastodon - BlueSky © 2025 thoughtbot, inc. — Credit: Ad-read music by joystock.orgSupport The Bike Shed

Joël and Steve sit down to discuss the ins and outs of decomposition within their respective workflows and how they use it to their advantage when working on certain projects. Together they look at working with vertical slices over other decomposition methods, when and how to break down code as efficiently as possible, and Joël lays out his three key principles that help him write code dubbed “The Triangle of Separation”. — The Sponsor for this episode has been Judoscale - Autoscale the Right Way. Check out the link for your free gift! Learn more about Joël’s triangle of separation and working with vertical slices! Your guest this week has been Steve Polito, and your host for this episode has been thoughtbot’s own Joël Quenneville. You can find Steve’s work over on GitHub, or dive into more of his thought processes over on his thoughtbot’s blogs. If you would like to support the show, head over to our GitHub page, or check out our website. Got a question or comment about the show? Why not write to our hosts: hosts@bikeshed.fm This has been a thoughtbot podcast. Stay up to date by following us on social media - YouTube - LinkedIn - Mastodon - BlueSky © 2025 thoughtbot, inc. — Credit: Ad-read music by joystock.orgSupport The Bike Shed

Joël talks with fellow thoughtboter Sara about the different ways developers can help one another across the various stages of an app’s lifecycle. They highlight the importance of utilising notes early on to clarify your work for others who may need it later down the line, how tooling can aid with this at all stages of development, and what lessons can be learnt from coding decisions made by someone else. — The Sponsor for this episode has been Judoscale - Autoscale the Right Way. Check out the link for your free gift! Check out Steve Polito’s Hotwire essentials project, featured in Episode 452. Your host for this episode has been Joël Quenneville and was accompanied by Sara Jackson. If you would like to support the show, head over to our GitHub page, or check out our website. Got a question or comment about the show? Why not write to our hosts: hosts@bikeshed.fm This has been a thoughtbot podcast. Stay up to date by following us on social media - YouTube - LinkedIn - Mastodon - BlueSky © 2025 thoughtbot, inc. — Credit: Ad-read music by joystock.orgSupport The Bike Shed

Start taking notes in this episode as Joël and Valerie discuss the different ways in which they structure their note taking systems to improve their workflows. Together they cover the best ways to get started with serious note taking, how to best map out your thoughts so they make the most sense when you come back round to them, as well as examining the different use cases they have for them both over the course of a working day. — The Sponsor for this episode has been Judoscale - Autoscale the Right Way. Check out the link for your free gift! Take notes like a pro with Obsidian and then read what Joël has to say on his own note taking. Your guest this week has been Valerie Burzynski, and your host for this episode has been thoughtbot’s own Joël Quenneville. If you would like to support the show, head over to our GitHub page, or check out our website. Got a question or comment about the show? Why not write to our hosts: hosts@bikeshed.fm This has been a thoughtbot podcast. Stay up to date by following us on social media - YouTube - LinkedIn - Mastodon - BlueSky © 2025 thoughtbot, inc. — Credit: Ad-read music by joystock.orgSupport The Bike Shed

Sally Hall, a Thoughtbot expert with a master's in information science, joins Joël to dive into the fascinating world of paper vs. digital data structures. They explore how historical systems like the Dewey Decimal System shaped our understanding of data organization. The conversation reveals the serendipitous joys of analog systems compared to the efficiency of digital searches. There's also a deep dive into biases inherent in classification, and an appreciation for classic tools like the Rolodex in data management. It's a fun and enlightening discussion on information access!

Joël and fellow thoughtboter Aji Slater examine the unfamiliar world of Typescript and various ways of working within it’s system. They lay out the pros and cons of Typescript over other environments such as Ruby and Elm and discuss their experience of adopting LLM partners to assist in their workflows. Using ChatGPT and Claude to verify code and trim down syntax, all while trying to appease the type checker. Discover the little tips, tricks and bad habits they picked up along the way while working with their LLM buddies in an effort to improve efficiency. — Check out Ruby2D for all your 2D app needs! You can connect with Aji via LinkedIn, or check out some of the topics they have written about over on thoughtbot's blog. Your host for this episode has been Joël Quenneville. If you would like to support the show, head over to our GitHub page, or check out our website. Got a question or comment about the show? Why not write to our hosts: hosts@bikeshed.fm This has been a thoughtbot podcast. Stay up to date by following us on social media - YouTube - LinkedIn - Mastodon - Bluesky © 2025 thoughtbot, inc.Support The Bike Shed

Joël enlists the help of thoughtbot colleague Sally Hall as they dive into the complex world of time zones, daylight savings, measurements and coding. Together they discuss their struggles with daylight savings throwing off their recent project reporting, the constant struggles of writing for different time zones and why writing your own code is never worth the hassle, and the similar battle of writing for different units of measurement. — Check out the idea behind "If Hemingway Wrote Javascript" and how it could help you with your coding. Watch Tom Scott’s own slow decent into madness over timezones and coding. Your guest this week has been Sally Hall, and your host for this episode has been thoughtbot’s own Joël Quenneville. If you would like to support the show, head over to our GitHub page, or check out our website. Got a question or comment about the show? Why not write to our hosts: hosts@bikeshed.fm This has been a thoughtbot podcast. Stay up to date by following us on social media - YouTube - LinkedIn - Mastodon - Bluesky © 2025 thoughtbot, inc.Support The Bike Shed

Joël turns to fellow thoughtboter Jimmy Thigpen as he looks to expand his knowledge about the wide world of Typescripts. Together they discuss the differences between Typescript and other common systems such as Elm and Javascript, how to best handle their edge cases and error flags, as well as the benefits of using Zod as your typescript library. — Just starting out in Typescript? Try enabling Strict Mode! Try out Zod for yourself in their browser playground, or check out Zod's homepage for more info. If you’d like to contact Jimmy about all things Typescript he can be found over on LinkedIn Your host for this episode has been thoughtbot’s own Joël Quenneville. If you would like to support the show, head over to our GitHub page, or check out our website. Got a question or comment about the show? Why not write to our hosts: hosts@bikeshed.fm This has been a thoughtbot podcast. Stay up to date by following us on social media - YouTube - LinkedIn - Mastodon - Instagram © 2025 thoughtbot, inc.Support The Bike Shed

Joël talks with fellow thoughtboter Fritz Meissner about the thinking process behind his latest kata project and the vast world of coding problems. Fritz explains why he developed the noisy animals kata and how it helped to better understand and streamline his code, the best ways to break down conditionals and how to clean them up efficiently within your workflow, as well as knowing where the limits of improvement are in each project you work on. — Refine your conditional logic technique with a copy of 99 Bottles of OOP and then test your skills with Fritz’s Noisy Animals Kata. Compare notes with Joël and Fritz to see how you stack up once you’re done! Listen to Joël’s RailsConf talk The Math Every Programmer Needs or check out some previous episodes for a refresher on some of the logic and math topics discussed in this show - Ep 398 - Ep 353 - Ep 418 - Ep 428 If you’d like to contact Fritz about his Kata or anything else programming related he can be found via LinkedIn Your host for this episode has been thoughtbot’s own Joël Quenneville. If you would like to support the show, head over to our GitHub page, or check out our website. Got a question or comment about the show? Why not write to our hosts: hosts@bikeshed.fm This has been a thoughtbot podcast. Stay up to date by following us on social media - YouTube - LinkedIn - Mastodon - Instagram © 2025 thoughtbot, inc.Support The Bike Shed

Joël is joined by fellow thoughtboter Aji Slater as they discuss their previous experiences in designing content for workshops. Learn how to best structure your workshop for an audience, the benefits of a workshop over a talk and vice versa, as well as how to tackle the different hurdles your audience might face when working through your presentation. — Try your hand at Joël’s recommendation of visualising your Git Branching. You can watch Ali’s Enigma Machine workshop here, Or connect with him via LinkedIn Your host for this episode has been Joël Quenneville. If you would like to support the show, head over to our GitHub page, or check out our website. Got a question or comment about the show? Why not write to our hosts: hosts@bikeshed.fm This has been a thoughtbot podcast. Stay up to date by following us on social media - YouTube - LinkedIn - Mastodon - Instagram © 2025 thoughtbot, inc.Support The Bike Shed