

Maintainable
Robby Russell
Do you feel like you're hitting a wall with your existing software projects? Are you curious to hear how other people are navigating this? You're not alone.
On the Maintainable Software Podcast, Robby speaks with seasoned practitioners who have overcome the technical and cultural problems often associated with software development.
Our guests will share stories in each episode and outline tangible, real-world approaches to software challenges. In turn, you'll uncover new ways of thinking about how to improve your software project's maintainability.
On the Maintainable Software Podcast, Robby speaks with seasoned practitioners who have overcome the technical and cultural problems often associated with software development.
Our guests will share stories in each episode and outline tangible, real-world approaches to software challenges. In turn, you'll uncover new ways of thinking about how to improve your software project's maintainability.
Episodes
Mentioned books

May 18, 2020 • 52min
Jeff Haynie: How Can We Make Software Development Better for Dev Teams?
Robby speaks with Jeff Haynie, Co-Founder and CEO at Pinpoint. They discuss boundaries around APIs and contracts, useful and less-useful metrics for development teams to focus on, and more. Jeff also gives an introduction to Pinpoint's tooling for software development teams and stakeholders, and shares a story about how he had to reverse-engineer a proprietary application in under 24hours to keep the trains running on time.Helpful LinksFollow Jeff on TwitterFollow Jeff on MediumPinpointConnect with Jeff on LinkedInPinpoint Insights[Book] Hard Thing About Things BuildingSubscribe to Maintainable on:Apple PodcastsOvercastSpotifyOr search "Maintainable" wherever you stream your podcasts.Join the discussion in the Maintainable Discord Community
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May 11, 2020 • 1h 1min
Vladimir Khorikov: 100% Test Coverage is an Artificial Metric
Robby speaks with Vladimir Khoriko, Tech Lead, Architect & Author. They discuss all things unit tests – what they are, the four pillars of good ones, examples of low-value unit tests, and more. They also discuss the age-old debate of rewrites vs. refactoring, and how to effectively prioritize maintenance work.Helpful LinksVladimir's books: Use promo code: podmaintainable20 for 20% off!Enterprise CraftsmanshipPainless Unit TestingVladimir's Pluralsight courses[Book] Atomic HabitThings You Should Never Do, Part 1Subscribe to Maintainable on:Apple PodcastsOvercastSpotifyOr search "Maintainable" wherever you stream your podcasts.Join the discussion in the Maintainable Discord Community
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May 4, 2020 • 36min
Bryan Helmkamp: Don't Let Perfect Be The Enemy of Good
Robby speaks with Bryan Helmkamp, Founder and CEO at Code Climate. Bryan discusses the use of the term "technical debt" now vs. 15 years ago, what he's learned from having thousands of engineering teams use their tools, and the long-term benefits of choosing to build their main application in Ruby on Rails. You'll also get an overview of Code Climate's main products.Helpful LinksCode ClimateThe Code Climate blogBryan on TwitterCode Climate on TwitterSubscribe to Maintainable on:Apple PodcastsOvercastSpotifyOr search "Maintainable" wherever you stream your podcasts.Join the discussion in the Maintainable Discord Community
Subscribe to Maintainable on:Apple PodcastsSpotifyOr search "Maintainable" wherever you stream your podcasts.Keep up to date with the Maintainable Podcast by joining the newsletter.

Apr 27, 2020 • 46min
Dr. Aino Vonge Corry: Why Do We Have Retrospectives, Again?
Robby speaks with Dr. Aino Vonge Corry, founder of Metadeveloper, technical conference editor, and agile retrospective facilitator. They discuss effective vs. ineffective communication with stakeholders, how to prepare for retrospectives, and why it's important to focus on "What should we do better?" when reflecting on work.Helpful LinksDr. Aino Vonge Corry on TwitterMetadeveloper[Book] Why We Sleep: Unlocking the Power of Sleep and Dreams by Matthew WalkerHow to Facilitate Distributed RetrospectivesSubscribe to Maintainable on:Apple PodcastsOvercastSpotifyOr search "Maintainable" wherever you stream your podcasts.Join the discussion in the Maintainable Discord Community
Subscribe to Maintainable on:Apple PodcastsSpotifyOr search "Maintainable" wherever you stream your podcasts.Keep up to date with the Maintainable Podcast by joining the newsletter.

Apr 20, 2020 • 42min
Trisha Gee: Developers Should Invest More Time Into Learning Their Tools
Robby speaks with Trisha Gee, Developer Advocate at JetBrains. They discuss Trisha's role as a Developer Advocate, how open source library maintainers are underappreciated, and how developers can overcome their fear of writing, speaking, and contributing back to the community.Helpful LinksFollow Trisha on TwitterTrisha's blogIntelliJ IDEARubyMind[Book] 97 Things Every Programmer Should Know[Book] Programmed Inequality: How Britain Discarded Women Technologists and Lost Its Edge in Computing by Mar HicksSubscribe to Maintainable on:Apple PodcastsOvercastSpotifyOr search "Maintainable" wherever you stream your podcasts.Join the discussion in the Maintainable Discord Community
Subscribe to Maintainable on:Apple PodcastsSpotifyOr search "Maintainable" wherever you stream your podcasts.Keep up to date with the Maintainable Podcast by joining the newsletter.

Apr 13, 2020 • 47min
Sandi Metz: Making is Easy, Mending is a Challenge
Guest Sandi Metz, a 40-year programming veteran, discusses why teaching maintenance skills is difficult, the challenges of messy situations, her 'Rules for Developers', thoughts on Ruby and Rails, and using the phrase 'Lambs to the Slaughter'.

Apr 6, 2020 • 51min
Clare Sudbery: Refactoring Should Be Part of Your Daily Work
Robby speaks with Clare Sudbery, Lead Engineer with Made Tech. They discuss how to document and prioritize technical debt with a visual tool, trunk-based development patterns, and the importance of getting fast feedback.Helpful LinksFollow Clare on TwitterIn Simple TermsClare's upcoming workshops and speaking engagementsMadeTechClare on MediumRefactoring: Improving the Design of Existing Code (2nd Edition) by Martin FowlerDelusions of Gender: How Our Minds, Society, and Neurosexism Create Difference by Cordelia FineSubscribe to Maintainable on:Apple PodcastsOvercastSpotifyOr search "Maintainable" wherever you stream your podcasts.Join the discussion in the Maintainable Discord Community
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Mar 30, 2020 • 38min
Kelly Sutton: Custodians of the Monolith
Robby speaks with Kelly Sutton, Software Engineer at Gusto. They discuss how to deal with technical debt from the pre-product/market fit era, the benefits of monoliths and knowing when to begin abstracting to micro-services, and the challenges of keeping Ruby on Rails applications up-to-date. Kelly also gives advice for developers who want to convince stakeholders to invest in refactoring projects – a common challenge.Helpful LinksFollow Kelly on TwitterKelly's website[Book] Seeing like a State: How Certain Schemes to Improve the Human Condition Have Failed by James C. ScottTalk on Desirable TestsSubscribe to Maintainable on:Apple PodcastsOvercastSpotifyOr search "Maintainable" wherever you stream your podcasts.Join the discussion in the Maintainable Discord Community
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Mar 23, 2020 • 44min
Jonathan Abourbih: Creating a Culture Where It's Okay To Take Risks
Robby speaks to Jonathan Abourbih, Engineering Team Lead at the BBC in Voice & AI. They discuss how to conduct blameless post-mortems, what's technical debt vs. bad code, and the challenges of measuring your success as a manager after years of being a developer. Jonathan also shares stories about large Java apps in a pre-Garbage Collection world.Helpful LinksJonathan on TwitterThe Prime DirectiveBBC CareersGoogle's Project AristotleGrowing Object-Oriented Software Guided by Tests by Steve Freeman and Nat PryceThe Power In Agile Talk by Sarah Mei[Book] The Phoenix Project by Gene KimSubscribe to Maintainable on:Apple PodcastsOvercastSpotifyOr search "Maintainable" wherever you stream your podcasts.Join the discussion in the Maintainable Discord Community
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Mar 9, 2020 • 41min
Jessica Kerr: Software Is Not A Craft (or an Art)
Robby speaks with Jessica Kerr, Symmathecist at Jessitron LLC. They discuss why working on existing projects is more interesting than greenfield ones, the overuse and harm of the term "technical debt", and how software is not a craft. Jessica also gives an introduction to being a Symmathecist.Helpful LinksFollow Jessica on TwitterJessica's websiteJessica's blogSymmathecist, Noun by Jessica Kerr[Book] Team Topologies bookArty's suggestion about "escalating risk":[Book] Ecology, the Ascendent Perspective by Robert UlanowiczThe Myth of the Sufficiently Smart Engineer by Aaron Blohowiak[Book] The Secrets of Consulting by Gerald M. Weinberg7 Rules for Positive Productive Change by Esther DerbySystems thinking: Mel Conway on TwitterSubscribe to Maintainable on:Apple PodcastsOvercastSpotifyOr search "Maintainable" wherever you stream your podcasts.Join the discussion in the Maintainable Discord Community
Subscribe to Maintainable on:Apple PodcastsSpotifyOr search "Maintainable" wherever you stream your podcasts.Keep up to date with the Maintainable Podcast by joining the newsletter.