CTO Think Podcast

Don's company ran into problems when their email provider, Mandrill, suffered a significant outage. Randy and Don discuss how they handle outages, prepare for switching to other providers (before or after failures), and how to go about communicating those issues to clients. Don debates whether using a scooter rental requires a helmet and Randy tells him to ignore his mother's advice. References are made to Matthew McConaughey, and we apologize, in advance.

Don follows-up with previous guest Megan Schemmel, who is learning how to be a full-stack web developer. They talk about how she went from being a non-developer to knowing HTML and CSS, launching websites with Wordpress, picking up skills in accessibility, and what she's learned about JavaScript so far.

The podcast discusses the side effects of working too many hours and burning out. It explores the fallacy of expecting employees to work as much as the founder. It highlights the importance of work-life balance in the tech industry and college football. It also examines effective communication strategies for maintaining a healthy work-life balance.

We begin talking about the career aspirations of sports officiants (tennis gigs) and upcoming technology projects Don wants to tackle, but it slowly morphs into a discussion about outsourcing, build/buy, and trying to maintain perfection simply because you have Subject Matter Expertise in a particular area (yes, the code stuff). The result was a great episode about self-reflection as you try to figure out what your role should be as you climb the management ladder, while still loving to build apps.

Discussion on setting up big projects and campaigns for small firms, including getting executive buy-in and maintaining momentum. Importance of setting meaningful deadlines and balancing goals with prioritization. Focus on communicating and reinforcing goals within the company and the challenges of distractions.

Randy has a possible conference presentation coming up in the next few weeks, so he gets Don to listen to the outline and poke some holes in the outline. Along the way, they discuss what Firebase Authentication is, why it's a worthwhile consideration for app builders, and what Randy needs to research to fill in the blanks.

As we move into 2019, Randy and Don discuss a new meetup concept they aim to create called Tech, Managed. With goals to build upon the growth of the CTO Think and This Old App audience, the Tech, Managed meetup will create a learning space for managers and founders to learn about technology at a management level.

Mark Thompson, a solo developer who built TotallyStrong.me using Flutter, discusses missed deadlines, family focus, Flutter achievements, and the upcoming launch of TotallyStrong.me app. They also talk about the importance of good design, balancing personal and professional commitments, the trade-offs of Firebase and Flutter, and future plans for the app.

Don and Randy discuss a recent exploit that came to light in the Kubernetes container framework that seemed to fade off as a widespread concern. This leads to a discussion about how much diligence is required by technology managers regarding the risks posed by distributed services, such as AWS, Heroku, and even small players, like Honeybadger. At some point, Randy compares Bernie Madoff to AWS and completely takes things off the rails.

Don has an idea for a building a watch app to service American football referees and discusses with Randy whether the concept is viable for a build. Randy provides the customary ref jokes and insults in addition to playing Devil's Advocate with the idea. In the end, the question arises: Are watches and watch apps really a thing?