Maintainable

In this episode, Robby welcomes Robin Heinze, Director of Engineering at Infinite Red, to discuss the intricacies of building and maintaining robust software systems. Key topics covered include: Characteristics of Maintainable Software: Robin shares insights from her team on what makes software maintainable, emphasizing the need for clear documentation, robust setup scripts, and ongoing code refin...

In this episode of Maintainable, Robby welcomes Scott Hanselman, VP of Developer Community at Microsoft and host of the Hanselminutes Podcast, to discuss the emotional side of maintainable software. Scott shares his thoughts on fear as a common thread in poorly maintained software, the importance of building a team culture of trust, and how finding a good work-life balance helps create better soft...

In this episode of Maintainable, Robby chats with Stig Brautaset, Staff Software Engineer at CircleCI. Stig shares his insights on maintaining well-documented but complex legacy code, the impact of team dynamics on software maintenance, and his experiences with the SBJSON library. Stig discusses the characteristics of well-maintained software, emphasizing the importance of team experience, domain...

Join Robby as he welcomes Brit Myers to the podcast. Brit, currently thriving as the VP of Engineering at System Initiative, discusses the intricacies of maintaining software. She emphasizes the importance of navigable software, where the ease of tracing the code and understanding its structure is paramount. Brit highlights the significance of clear naming conventions and inline documentation, as...

In this episode, Robby interviews Andrea Guarino, a Software Engineer at Sonar, about the importance of leveraging static analysis tools for maintaining clean and adaptable code. Andrea emphasizes that well-maintained software should be easy to change, consistent, intentional, and responsible. He explains that static analysis tools play a crucial role in identifying potential issues, ensuring code...

In this insightful episode, we dive deep into the essence of software maintainability with Agile Coach and author Staffan Nöteberg. Unpacking the layers of what it takes for software to be considered well-maintained, Staffan sheds light on the crucial roles of abstraction and modularity. These foundational elements not only make software easier to understand for newcomers but also ensure that it c...

In this episode of Maintainable, our host Robby Russell sits down with Martin Emde , a sage in the Ruby community and the current Director of Open Source at Ruby Central . Together, they weave through the intricacies of maintainable software, legacy code, and the unwavering power of the Ruby ecosystem. Martin, with his wealth of experience, shares tales from the trenches of open-source software de...

In this captivating episode of the Maintainable Software Podcast, host Robby Russell delves deep with Esther Olatunde, Senior Product Engineer at Intercom, into the realms of software maintenance, technical debt, and the impact of AI on software development. The discussion kicks off with Esther's insights on what constitutes well-maintained software, emphasizing the importance of quality from both...

Starting off , Robbie Russell and Robbie Wagner bonding over the complexities of their names in the coffee queue. They dive into the essence of maintainable software, debating the importance of recent commits and the dangers of a single-contributor project. Tech debt , the ever-looming shadow over software development, gets a moment in the spotlight. They share a laugh over buying GitHub stars as...

In the latest episode of Maintainable, Robby Russell has a fascinating conversation with Irina Nazarova, the CEO of Evil Martians, a name that resonates with innovation and bold strides in the software development world. They dive deep into what it takes to maintain not just code, but also the delicate balance between rapid development and long-term sustainability in the ever-evolving startup land...

Robby has a chat with Kyle Daigle, the Chief Operating Officer at GitHub. They dive into the evolution of software development from the perspective of maintaining and scaling software within large organizations like GitHub. Kyle talks about the importance of simplicity and readability in code over complexity, advocating for well-named variables and straightforward codebases to enhance maintainabil...

Robby speaks to the Senior Software Engineer at Perchwell, Jon Moniaci. They discuss the delicate balance between innovation and stability in software development. Jon emphasizes the importance of fostering an environment where engineers can experiment without fear, advocating for a culture of defensive programming to mitigate the fear of breaking things in production. He shares insights from his...

Robby has a candid chat with Chad Fowler, the General Partner & CTO at BlueYard Capital. They delve into the nuances of software maintenance, the evolution and challenges of managing software projects, and insights from Chad's tenure as CTO of Wunderlist. They discuss the importance of building software in small, manageable pieces to facilitate easy updates or replacements, the counterintuitive pe...

Robby has a conversation with John Nunemaker, the Owner at "Box Out Sports" and "Fewer & Faster". They dive into the basics of maintaining software projects, highlighting the crucial importance of keeping dependencies and versions up to date. John shares his wealth of experience from his time at GitHub, shedding light on the delicate balance between exploring new architecture patterns and adhering...

Robby has a conversation with Jemma Issroff, a Senior Software Engineer, speaker and the author of the book, “Ruby Garbage Collection in Under Two Hours” They delve into the intricacies of well-maintained software, and Jemma brings her wealth of experience, particularly from her involvement in Prism, a notable rewrite of the Ruby parser. The duo explores the contrasting dynamics of maintaining sof...

Robby has a chat with the Software Development Team Lead at Thoughtbot, Jeanine Soterwood. Unraveling the intricacies of Ruby on Rails, they explore the often overlooked importance of keeping apps up-to-date and maintaining a robust test suite. The conversation weaves through the delicate balance between enticing features and the long-term needs of software maintenance, shedding light on the aspec...

Robby engages with independent consultant and author, Andrew Atkinson, delving into the intricate world of software development and database maintenance. The duo kicks off with a profound exploration of the importance of swift and intuitive change management in software, unraveling the key traits that transform a database into a well-maintained powerhouse. From securing data to cleaning up legacy...

Robby engages in a captivating conversation with the CEO at Mirdin and UpToSpeed, Jimmy Koppel. They delve into the transformative power of evolvable code, shedding light on its myriad benefits and how it contributes to an enriching coding experience. Drawing inspiration from Jimmy's insightful blog post, " The 11 Aspects of Good Code ," the discussion unfolds to explore the external qualities of...

Robby has a chat with Senior DevOps Engineer, Hila Fish. They start off by discussing the key characteristics of maintainable infrastructure code. Hila shared insights on providing software engineering teams with the necessary space for exploration while maintaining essential guardrails to ensure the stability of production environments. The conversation also touched upon the significance of offer...

Robby has a chat with Staff Software Engineer at Lightstep from ServiceNow, Jacob Aronoff. Their conversation delves into the vital signs of a thriving open source software project. They unpack the characteristics of well-maintained open source endeavors, emphasizing the importance of a passionate community behind the project, rather than misleading indicators like GitHub stars. They discuss the n...

Robby has a chat with Oliver Drotbohm, a Staff 2 Engineer at VMware. They explore the essence of maintainable software, pinpointing understandability and modifiability as its foundational pillars. Drawing from Dr. Carola Lilienthal's "Sustainable Software Architecture: Analyze and Reduce Technical Debt," Robby and Oliver dissect the metaphor of technical debt, discussing its historical context and...

Robby has a chat with Colin Campbell, the Director of Engineering at Tucows. Colin delves into the professional ethos of software development, emphasizing that the caliber of an engineer’s work is a reflection of their daily habits. He stressed the importance of humility for software engineers, arguing that it is crucial for continuous improvement and effective teamwork. He also talked about the s...

Robby has a chat with the Author of Sustainable Web Development with Ruby on Rails, Dave Bryant Copeland (he/him/his). Dave is a Senior Software Engineer and speaker. Reflecting on his experience, Dave believes that well-maintained software is software that people understand what it does, how it works, and that it can be changed. He starts off by highlighting the challenges that developers face wh...

Robby has a chat with Cameron Jacoby (she/her/hers), a Senior Full-Stack Engineer at BetterUp, a platform that uses world-class coaching and science-backed solutions that help people grow personally and professionally. The one thing that Cameron says should stand out about code being maintainable is that it should be easy to read and understand. She explains why procedural code can often be easier...

Robby has a chat with Adriana Villela, a Senior Developer Advocate at Lightstep. Adriana highlights that well-maintained software should be software that one can understand when they go into the code even if they’re not super familiar with it. She shares why she values being a serial refactorer and describes what beautiful code should look like. Adriana views debuggers as her best friends because...