Legacy Code Rocks

Many analytical models can help you to measure some aspects of the quality of your codebase. However, only a combination of these models can give you complete information about your code's integrity and the real-world necessity for its improvement. Today we talk with Dan Sturtevant, the CEO of Silverthread Inc and a Technology and Operations Management Researcher at the Harvard Business School. Dan shares with us the solutions for diagnosing software health and aligning it with business performance goals and desired financial outcomes.  When you finish listening to the episode, make sure to connect with Dan on LinkedIn, visit Silverthread's website at https://www.silverthreadinc.com, and check out their CodeMRI diagnostics tool.  Mentioned in this episode: Dan on LinkedIn at: https://www.linkedin.com/in/dansturtevant/  Silverthread, Inc at: https://www.silverthreadinc.com  CodeMRI at: https://www.silverthreadinc.com/codemri-diagnostics  Carliss Y. Baldwin, Design Rules, Vol. 1: The Power of Modularity at: https://amzn.to/39XSGA3

Ruby on Rails is a fast-moving community and it is not always easy to keep up with it. Given the efficiency of the framework, however, it is well worth trying. Today we talk to Robby Russell, creator of Oh My Z Shell, host of Maintainable software podcast, and CEO of Planet Argon – a software consultancy that helps organizations improve their existing Ruby on Rails applications. We chat with Robby about his own beginnings, the creation of the Oh My Z Shell, the early days of Ruby on Rails, and how to keep up with the fast-moving Rails community. When you finish listening to the episode, connect with Robby on Twitter and LinkedIn, and make sure to start following his podcast Maintainable.  Mentioned in this episode: Robby Russell on Twitter at https://twitter.com/robbyrussell  Robby Russell on LinkedIn at linkedin.com/in/robbyrussell/ Robby Russell on GitHub github.com/robbyrussell Planet Argon at planetargon.com Oh My Z Shell at ohmyz.sh Oh My Z Shell on Twitter at twitter.com/ohmyzsh Maintainable podcast at https://maintainable.fm 

Security is a big topic with many facets, and this is especially true for microservices. Microservices deployment has been around for some time, but security didn’t get much attention from developers – they simply trusted the network. Today we talk with Prabath Siriwardena and Nuwan Dias, authors of Microservices Security in Action* and deputy CTOs of the WSO2, on the state of microservices security today. We dig deep into the issues of infrastructure, available tools, procedures, and challenges in predicting the threats and integrating security patches into microservices. When you finish listening to the episode, make sure to connect with Prabath and Nuwan on LinkedIn and Twitter, and book their services at https://wso2.com with a steep 35% discount with the code podlegacy20.  And don’t miss the opportunity to read their book Microservices Security in Action for free with the codes provided below (codes expire in March 2021).  Mentioned in this episode: Prabath Siriwardena on LinkedIn at https://www.linkedin.com/in/prabathsiriwardena/ Prabath Siriwardena on Twitter at https://twitter.com/prabath  Nuwan Dias on LinkedIn at https://www.linkedin.com/in/nuwandias/?originalSubdomain=lk  Nuwan Dias on Twitter at https://twitter.com/nuwandias  Read Prabath Siriwardena and Nuwan Dias, Microservices Security in Action at https://www.manning.com/books/microservices-security-in-action?query=nuwan for free with codes: legmic-1CF1 legmic-3460 legmic-13D3 legmic-511B legmic-EEE7 Use WSO2 services at https://wso2.com with 35% discount with the code podlegacy20 * Heads up! If you purchase the book through the link above, we will get a small commission which helps us continue to bring quality content to our Legacy Code Rocks! community. You won’t pay a penny more, we receive a small kickback, and you’re supporting our friends who wrote the book. Everybody wins!  

In the last episode of 2020, we took a stroll through the little known corridors of coding history with Clive Thompson. Clive is a technology and science journalist for the New York Times Magazine, Wired, Smithsonian, and many other outlets. In his new book Coders: The Making of a New Tribe and the Remaking of the World*, he explores how computer programmers - the people who are increasingly running the world - think and what are their plans for changing the way WE work, think and live. In this episode, he tells us incredible stories of coding past and present, giving us a glimpse into how the future is made. When you finish listening to this episode, connect with Clive on Twitter, visit his website, and enjoy reading his books*. Mentioned in this episode: Clive on Twitter: https://twitter.com/pomeranian99 Clive’s website: https://www.clivethompson.net/  Clive Thompson, Coders: The Making of the New Tribe and the Remaking of the World at https://amzn.to/34Kf3pR* About Betty Holberton at https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Betty_Holberton  About Margaret Hamilton at https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Margaret_Hamilton_(software_engineer)  Michael Abrash, Graphics Programming Black Book at https://amzn.to/3mSxoXV*  BBC micro:bit at https://microbit.org/  Jordan Mechner, The Making of Prince of Persia at https://amzn.to/2KK7hoZ* * Heads up! If you purchase the book through the link above, we will get a small commission which helps us continue to bring quality content to our Legacy Code Rocks! community. You won’t pay a penny more, we receive a small kickback, and you’re supporting our friends who wrote the book. Everybody wins!

Even before the COVID-19 pandemic changed the way we work and communicate, some people expected remote work to become more popular. The thought was, however, that the transition will be done by choice, not by force!  Today we talk with Johanna Rothmann, a management consultant, speaker, and author of over a dozen reference books on management, agile, team-building, and software development. Just a year before the first lockdown orders descended on the cities around the world, Johanna published with Mark Kilby a fantastic guide on managing remote teams: From Chaos to Successful Distributed Agile Teams: Collaborate to Deliver*. Johanna is our dear guest and a great friend of the show. We invited her today to celebrate together the fifth anniversary of our community. But we couldn't miss the opportunity to pick her brain and seek some advice on remote working and how to manage it.  When you finish listening to the episode, connect with Johanna on Twitter and LinkedIn, check out her website, and read From Chaos to Successful Distributed Agile Teams* and other Johanna's books*.  Mentioned in this episode: Johanna on Twitter at https://twitter.com/johannarothman  Johanna on LinkedIn at https://www.linkedin.com/in/johannarothman/  Johanna’s website at https://www.jrothman.com  From Chaos to Successful Distributed Agile Teams: Collaborate to Deliver at https://amzn.to/2K11SJO*  Johanna’s books at https://amzn.to/3nlcfGR* Legacy Code Rocks: Project Management with Johanna Rothman at https://www.legacycode.rocks/podcast-1/episode/faf2a514/project-management-with-johanna-rothman * Heads up! If you purchase the book through the link above, we will get a small commission which helps us continue to bring quality content to our Legacy Code Rocks! community. You won’t pay a penny more, we receive a small kickback, and you’re supporting our friends who wrote the book. Everybody wins!

How has COVID-19 affected legacy code based systems, and what do we do to address the issue? Today we talk with Joao-Pierre Ruth, a technology journalist at InformationWeek where he covers DevOps and cloud computing. Joao-Pierre gives us his insights on the topic that inspired his recent article “COBOL, COVID-19 and Coping with Legacy’s Tech-debt”. After listening to the episode, connect with Joao-Pierre on LinkedIn and Twitter, and check out his articles for InformationWeek.   Mentioned in this episode: Joao-Pierre on LinkedIn at https://www.linkedin.com/in/joaopierre/ Joao-Pierre on Twitter at https://twitter.com/jpruth  Joao-Pierre’s author profile on InformationWeek: https://www.informationweek.com/author-bio.asp?author_id=5108&  InformationWeek at https://www.informationweek.com Joao-Pierre Ruth, COBOL, COVID-19, and Coping with Legacy Tech Debt at https://www.informationweek.com/strategic-cio/security-and-risk-strategy/cobol-covid-19-and-coping-with-legacy-tech-debt/a/d-id/1337516

Knowing how to prioritize tasks and how to eliminate unnecessary assignments is a crucial skill for successful project management. The more complicated project is, the less obvious its priorities are. If only there were a tool that could help us navigate through this complexity. Today we talk with Jason C. McDonald, CEO, and co-founder of MousePaw Media, about Quantified Task Management, the tool that does exactly that. When you finish listening to the episode, connect with Jason on LinkedIn and Twitter, visit his website at https://codemouse92.com, and pre-order his book Dead Simple Python: Idiomatic Python for Impatient Programmers.    Mentioned in this episode: Jason on Twitter at https://twitter.com/codemouse92?lang=en Jason at LinkedIn at https://www.linkedin.com/in/codemouse92 MousePaw Media at https://mousepawmedia.com  Quantified Task Management at https://standards.mousepawmedia.com/qtm.html Jason C McDonald, Dead Simple Python: Idiomatic Python for Impatient Programmers at https://amzn.to/3b2XenX Scott Rosenberg, Dreaming in Code at https://amzn.to/32RvG1L Heads up! If you purchase the books through the link above, we will get a small commission which helps us continue to bring quality content to our Legacy Code Rocks! community. You won’t pay a penny more, we receive a small kickback, and you’re supporting our friends who wrote the book. Everybody wins!

We often talk about the makers and menders dichotomy on this show. But we rarely dived deep into the dynamics of collaboration between these two groups of creatives. Today we talk with Brandon Lewis and Luke Rabin, co-founders of BLDR, a digital agency specialized in creating UI/UX designs, technical docs, and developer teams. Building on the immense contributions of behavioral economics, Brandon and Luke talk about the ways of bringing makers and menders together and ensuring that their collaboration is fruitful and lucrative. When you finish listening to the episode, make sure to connect with them on LinkedIn, and visit their website at https://www.startwithbldr.com.    Mentioned in this episode: Brandon on LinkedIn at: https://www.linkedin.com/in/brandon-lewis-design/  Luke on LinkedIn at: https://www.linkedin.com/in/lukerabin/  BLDR at: https://www.startwithbldr.com  

As menders working with legacy code, we are focused on identifying and reducing technical debt. But how much easier this task would be if the creator of the code or the previous maintainer left us some breadcrumbs to follow? A simple note on the rationale for a particular decision they have made or a warning about interconnected lines of code would take us a long way! Today we talk with Andrea Goulet, co-founder and Chief Strategy Officer of Corgibytes. Her empathy-driven approach to software development earned her recognition as one of the Top Ten Professionals in Software Under 35 by LinkedIn. She tells us about this lack of communication in software development, the phenomenon she calls the communication debt, and how its reduction can make the software more robust and its maintenance more efficient. When you finish listening to the episode, connect with Andrea via LinkedIn, contact her via Corgibytes' website, and check out her LinkedIn courses: Agile Software Development: Remote Teams and Creating an Agile Culture.  Mentioned in this episode: Andrea on LinkedIn at https://www.linkedin.com/in/andreamgoulet/  Andrea on Twitter at https://twitter.com/andreagoulet  Corgibytes website at https://corgibytes.com  Andrea Goulet, Agile Software Development: Remote Teams at https://www.linkedin.com/learning/agile-software-development-remote-teams  Andrea Goulet, Creating an Agile Culture at https://www.linkedin.com/learning/agile-software-development-creating-an-agile-culture    Changelog podcast with Katrina Owen at https://changelog.com/podcast/108  Katrina Owen, Exorcism.io at https://exercism.io  Indi Young, Practical Empathy at https://amzn.to/3jkDlLH* Legacy Code Rocks with Indi Young at https://www.legacycode.rocks/podcast-1/episode/270edc0e/practical-empathy-with-indi-young Ward Cunningham on technical debt at https://youtu.be/pqeJFYwnkjE Legacy Code Rocks with Arlo Belshee at https://www.legacycode.rocks/podcast-1/episode/c240c45d/naming-with-arlo-belshee Daniel Kahneman, Thinking Fast and Slow at https://amzn.to/3kceRW3* Legacy Code Rocks with Cyrille Martraire at https://www.legacycode.rocks/podcast-1/episode/2fd0fdeb/living-documentation-with-cyrille-martraire  Cyrille Martraire, Living Documentation at https://amzn.to/3kd2J7e* * Heads up! If you purchase a book through the links above, we will get a small commission which helps us continue to bring quality content to our Legacy Code Rocks! community. You won’t pay a penny more, we receive a small kickback, and you’re supporting our friends who wrote them. Everybody wins!

Most, if not all, of the legacy projects feature monolithic application architectures. However, moving to containers can bring many benefits: consistency down the pipeline, no-touch deployment, better support for decomposing the monolith - to name just a few. Today we talk with our own Ben Johnson. Ben is the lead code whisperer at Corgibytes and a developer with over 20 years of experience. We chat about containerization - what benefits does it bring, what challenges could you encounter in the process, which tools are best suited for the job, and what methodology proves to be most reliable. When you finish listening to the episode, make sure to connect with Ben on LinkedIn or contact him via the Corgibytes website, and read his fantastic blog about containerization. Mentioned in this episode: Ben on LinkedIn at https://www.linkedin.com/in/benrj Corgibytes at https://corgibytes.com Ben Johnson, Moving a Monolith to Kubernetes at https://corgibytes.com/blog/2020/02/27/monolith-to-kubernetes/?utm_content=buffer43f15&utm_medium=social&utm_source=twitter.com&utm_campaign=buffer  Dockers at https://www.docker.com Heroku at https://www.heroku.com/home