Blue Blazes

In this episode, host Jonathan "J." Tower sat down with John Waters, fellow partner and founder at Trailhead, to talk about how AI changes every phase of the software development lifecycle (SDLC). Rather than rehashing vibe coding, J. and John walk the full SDLC, including requirements and discovery, design and architecture, implementation, code review, testing and QA, DevOps and deploym...

In this episode, host Jonathan “J.” Tower sat down with Spencer Schneidenbach to talk about the practical realities of integrating AI into modern software applications. Rather than focusing on AI hype or novelty chatbots, J. and Spencer dig into what actually makes AI features valuable in production systems and why good AI engineering is still mostly good software engineering.   They cover how to...

In this episode, host Jonathan "J." Tower sat down with Mike Kistler, Principal Program Manager at Microsoft and one of the maintainers of the official MCP C# SDK, following the SDK's v1.0 release. J. and Mike cover what MCP actually is and how it compares to OpenAPI, why implementing the protocol yourself is harder than it looks, and when to reach for the C# SDK versus the MCP imple...

In this episode, host Jonathan “J.” Tower sits down with Cory House, author, consultant, founder of ReactJSConsulting, and a 12-time Microsoft MVP, to explore what it actually looks like to code effectively with AI today. Cory has trained more than 10,000 developers worldwide and has authored over a dozen courses on JavaScript, React, C#, testing, and web development. Cory and J. talk through the...

In this episode, host Jonathan "J." Tower sits down with Matthew Soucoup, Principal Cloud Advocate and .NET Cloud Advocacy Lead, to explore how GitHub Copilot's new App Modernization agent is transforming the way teams upgrade and migrate .NET applications to modern platforms. Matt breaks down the three core capabilities of this AI-powered modernization tool: assessment and scope pla...

In this episode, host Jonathan “J.” Tower sits down with Sam Basu, technologist, author, Microsoft MVP, and Lead Developer Advocate at Uno Platform, to unpack the realities of modern cross-platform app development with .NET. Sam shares how Uno Platform enables developers to build native applications for iOS, Android, WebAssembly, Windows, macOS, and Linux, all from a single codebase, and how it co...

In this special 10th-anniversary episode, guest host Mark Adams turns the microphone toward the founders of Trailhead Technology Partners — Jonathan “J.” Tower, John Waters, and Josh Eastburn — for a candid conversation about a decade of building great software and a great company. The four partners look back at how Trailhead began — with a shared vision for a consultancy built on purpose, craftsm...

In this episode, host J. Tower sits down with Javier Lozano, co-founder of .NET Conf and CEO of Lozanotek, a .NET-focused software consultancy based in Des Moines, Iowa. Javier is a longtime Microsoft MVP, recognized for nearly 20 years for his contributions to ASP.NET, Azure, and the global developer community. In this episode, Javier shares the origin story of .NET Conf, which began as a small v...

In this episode, host J. Tower sits down with John Waters, his fellow Partner at Trailhead Technology Partners, to explore how AI is reshaping life as a .NET developer. They talk about the fast-evolving development ecosystem, including GitHub Copilot’s new agent mode, Microsoft. Extensions. AI and its sister packages for vector data, and the growing role of Semantic Kernel.  John also breaks down...

In this episode, host Jonathan “J.” Tower talks with Maddy Montaquila from Microsoft’s .NET team about .NET Aspire—a tool aimed at simplifying modern cloud app development. They discuss how Aspire helps orchestrate services across languages and platforms, improves the local development experience, and introduces powerful diagnostics through OpenTelemetry and AI-powered log analysis. Maddy also sha...

In this episode, host Jonathan “J.” Tower chats with Varun Vachhar from Chromatic about using Storybook to build, test, and document UI components in isolation. The conversation explores best practices for component-driven development, how visual and accessibility testing integrate into the workflow, and what’s new in Storybook 9. Guest Bio: Varun Vachhar is a DX engineer and generative artist foc...

In this episode, host Jonathan “J.” Tower chats with Steve Smith about the modular monolith, an architecture that delivers microservices‑style modularity within a single in‑process deployment. The conversation covers designing modules, leveraging in‑memory messaging for event‑driven workflows, and choosing between vertical‑slice and clean architecture patterns. Guest Bio: Steve Smith, or "ard...

In this episode, host Jonathan "J." Tower and his guest, Mary Grygleski, delve into the intricacies of event streaming within distributed systems. They explore the definition of event streaming, its comparison with traditional messaging techniques, and the unique features of platforms like Apache Pulsar and Kafka. The discussion highlights the synergy between AI and event streaming, the...

In this episode, host Jonathan "J." Tower sits down with Guy Royse to explore the power of Redis, an in-memory data store designed around classic data structures. They discuss how Redis enhances application performance and simplifies architectural complexity. The conversation extends to more advanced Redis topics, including its support for data structures like lists and sets, as well as...

In this episode, host Jonathan "J." Tower speaks with Sarah Dutkiewicz about Event Storming and how it helps teams unravel complex systems. They discuss the origins of Event Storming in Domain-Driven Design (DDD) and its effectiveness in bridging communication gaps between technical and non-technical stakeholders. Sarah explains the different types of Event Storming—big picture, process...

In this episode, host Jonathan "J." Tower speaks with Carey Payette about Terraform and Infrastructure as Code (IAC). They discuss the benefits of using Terraform for managing cloud infrastructure, including its declarative approach, multi-cloud capabilities, and integration with CI/CD pipelines. Carey emphasizes the importance of managing environment drift, utilizing modules for reusability, and...

In this episode, host Jonathan "J." Tower speaks with fellow Trailhead partner John Waters about the latest features in .NET 9. They dive into the platform’s new capabilities, exploring how updates like performance enhancements, expanded platform support, and cutting-edge tooling empower developers to build scalable, high-performance, modern applications. John shares his insights on which features...

In this podcast episode, host Jonathan “J.” Tower speaks with Carson Gross, creator of htmx, about simplifying web development with hypermedia-based design. Carson shares the story behind htmx, a JavaScript library that enhances HTML for interactivity without the need for complex JavaScript frameworks. Tune in to learn how htmx can help you simplify your web development through its easy-to-use ext...

In this episode, host Jonathan “J.” Tower speaks with Steve Sanderson and Javier Calvarro Nelson about Blazor, a web UI framework for .NET. They explore the various capabilities of Blazor, including its support for WebAssembly, server-side rendering, and mobile applications via .NET MAUI. Steve and Javier discuss the different modes Blazor can operate in, such as server, WebAssembly, and auto mode...

In this episode, host Jonathan “J.” Tower speaks with Luis Quintanilla about ML.NET, an open-source, cross-platform machine learning framework within the .NET ecosystem. They delve into the capabilities of ML.NET, including building data transformation pipelines and training custom models. Luis explains how ML.NET simplifies the machine learning process for .NET developers, making it accessible wi...

In this episode, host Jonathan "J." Tower speaks with Neal about architectural fitness functions and how they can serve as unit tests for your software architecture. They explore how incorporating fitness functions into your development process ensures that your system's architectural characteristics remain consistent and reliable over time. They also look at why automating these che...

In this episode of Blue Blazes, host Jonathan "J." Tower speaks with Jimmy Bogard about vertical slice architecture (VSA) and how using it in your software projects can help make them more predictably successful. We delve into how VSA organizes your code by feature, allowing you to more easily and reliably make the most common type of changes to your application. Guest Bio: Jimmy Bogard...

In this episode of Blue Blazes, host Jonathan "J." Tower speaks with Mark Richards about how architecture decision records can improve your software development process. You might know Mark from his books.  This episode includes lots of ground, including: The best place to store your ADRs where they are accessible and versionable. How you can use ADRs to document key decisions and their...

In this episode of Blue Blazes, host Jonathan "J." Tower speaks with Mike Hartington from Ionic about the ins and outs of hybrid mobile app development. Mike, an expert in mobile development, gives listeners a great overview of why you would want to explore building your applications as hybrid apps instead of native apps. A few of the topics covered include: How using a familiar set of w...

In this podcast episode, host Jonathan "J." Tower speaks with Olivia Liddell from AWS about the intricacies of serverless computing. Olivia, a seasoned solutions architect, demystifies serverless technology, emphasizing its practicality and the mindset shift required for effective use. Key insights shared in the conversation include: Serverless doesn’t mean the absence of servers but rep...