Best Vertical Slice Podcasts (2024)

1
436: Creating Conditions For Your Best Work with Steph Viccari 43:09

4h ago43:09

43:09

How can we optimize our time and environment to do our best work as developers? In today’s episode, we are joined by Stephanie Viccari, former co-host of The Bike Shed and Senior Developer at thoughtbot, to unpack the steps for creating work conditions that enhance productivity. In this conversation, we delve into her unique communication style and…

1
Enormocast 290 – Hayden Jamieson: Through the Valley of Darkness 1:26:56

21h ago1:26:56

1:26:56

On Episode 290 of the Enormocast, I sit down in a cool, dark hotel room on a bright and HOT day in Lander, WY with bigwall climber, Hayden Jamieson. Hayden and I both slumped into our chairs after escaping the 100 degree day outside and tried to gather ourselves for the interview, and that’s when … Continue reading "Enormocast 290 – Hayden Jamieson…

1
Enormocast 290 – Hayden Jamieson: Through the Valley of Darkness 1:26:56

20h ago1:26:56

1:26:56

On Episode 290 of the Enormocast, I sit down in a cool, dark hotel room on a bright and HOT day in Lander, WY with bigwall climber, Hayden Jamieson. Hayden and I both slumped into our chairs after escaping the 100 degree day outside and tried to gather ourselves for the interview, and that’s when … Continue reading "Enormocast 290 – Hayden Jamieson…

1
435: Cohesive Code with Jared Norman 28:45

14d ago28:45

28:45

How easy is it for a layperson to understand your systems? Jared Norman is a software consultant, speaker, and host of the Dead Code Podcast who specializes in building e-commerce applications in Ruby on Rails. This episode follows two recent talks at RailsConf and covers a theme that emerged from both of them: coupling and cohesion. Tuning in, you…

1
Enormocast 289: Smith Curry – A Climber Boy Can Survive

20d ago

—

On Episode 289 of the Enormocast, I connect to Nashville, TN to talk to climber and musician Smith Curry. Smith is one of the busiest session players in Music City on dobro and pedal steel. He also happens to be a veteran climber with big walls, first ascents, and alpine gnar under his harness-belt. Smith … Continue reading "Enormocast 289: Smith C…

1
Enormocast 289: Smith Curry – A Climber Boy Can Survive

20d ago

—

On Episode 289 of the Enormocast, I connect to Nashville, TN to talk to climber and musician Smith Curry. Smith is one of the busiest session players in Music City on dobro and pedal steel. He also happens to be a veteran climber with big walls, first ascents, and alpine gnar under his harness-belt. Smith … Continue reading "Enormocast 289: Smith C…

1
434: Git and GitHub Workflows 47:42

21d ago47:42

47:42

It's Calls for Proposals (CFP) season, and in the process of helping our friends and colleagues flesh out their CFPs, we came up with a few questions to help them frame their proposals for success. After learning about the importance of finding your audience and angle of approach for your CFP, we dive into today's main topic – our Git and GitHub wo…

1
433: Riffing with Kasper Timm Hansen 37:20

1M ago37:20

37:20

Have you ever wondered how improvisation can revolutionize coding? In today’s episode, Stephanie sits down with Kasper Timm Hansen to discuss his innovative “riffing” approach to code development. Kasper is a long-time Ruby developer and former member of the Rails core team. He focuses on Ruby and domain modeling, developing various Ruby gems, and …

1
Enormocast 288: Don McGrath – The Vertical Mind Returns 1:05:58

1M ago1:05:58

1:05:58

On Episode 288 of the Enormocast, I reunite with Don McGrath, the author of the book Vertical Mind. Don appeared nearly a decade ago on the podcast, and his book on the mindset of climbing has never left the conversion. Don has spent the last 10 years learning even more about overcoming the hurdles our … Continue reading "Enormocast 288: Don McGrat…

1
Enormocast 288: Don McGrath – The Vertical Mind Returns 1:05:58

1M ago1:05:58

1:05:58

On Episode 288 of the Enormocast, I reunite with Don McGrath, the author of the book Vertical Mind. Don appeared nearly a decade ago on the podcast, and his book on the mindset of climbing has never left the conversion. Don has spent the last 10 years learning even more about overcoming the hurdles our … Continue reading "Enormocast 288: Don McGrat…

1
432: The Semantics and Meaning of Nil 38:13

1M ago38:13

38:13

The term ‘nil’ refers to the absence of value, but we often imbue it with much more meaning than just that. Today, hosts Joël and Stephanie discuss the various ways we tend to project extra semantics onto nil and the implications of this before unpacking potential alternatives and trade-offs. Joël and Stephanie highlight some of the key ways progra…

1
431: Developers Are Professional Question Askers 38:54

1M ago38:54

38:54

Stephanie shares her newfound interest in naming conventions, highlighting a resource called "Classnames" that provides valuable names for programming and design. Joël, in turn, talks about using AI to generate names for D&D characters, emphasizing how AI can help provide inspiration and reasoning behind name suggestions. Then, they shift to Joël's…

1
Limiting Your WIP 25:57

2M ago25:57

25:57

In our previous episode, we talked about the importance of visualizing your current work-in-progress to uncover bottlenecks, enhance decision-making, and provide clarity on your team's workload. Now, let's tackle what often comes next: realizing you have too much work in progress. Why does this happen so often to development teams, and what can we …

1
430: Test Suite Pain & Anti-Patterns 40:57

2M ago40:57

40:57

Stephanie and Joël discuss the recent announcement of the call for proposals for RubyConf in November. Joël is working on his proposals and encouraging his colleagues at thoughtbot to participate, while Stephanie is excited about the conference being held in her hometown of Chicago! The conversation shifts to Stephanie's recent work, including comp…

1
Visualizing Your WIP 23:32

2M ago23:32

23:32

When the kind of work we do is invisible (like software development), it can be a challenge to keep track of what work is going on at any given time. That's where visualization can be a great tool for understanding your team's work in progress. Building on last episode's discussion on creating workflow visualizations, in this episode, host Phil Led…

1
Enormocast 287: Mo Beck – A Certain Version of Fine 1:29:41

2M ago1:29:41

1:29:41

On Episode 287 of the Enormocast, I connect with Paraclimbing champion, Mo Beck. Mo was born with one hand, and her parents were determined to make sure she was ready for challenges of life like any other kid. When Mo ran into a camp counselor that told her that she didn’t HAVE TO climb if … Continue reading "Enormocast 287: Mo Beck – A Certain Ver…

1
Enormocast 287: Mo Beck – A Certain Version of Fine 1:29:41

2M ago1:29:41

1:29:41

On Episode 287 of the Enormocast, I connect with Paraclimbing champion, Mo Beck. Mo was born with one hand, and her parents were determined to make sure she was ready for challenges of life like any other kid. When Mo ran into a camp counselor that told her that she didn’t HAVE TO climb if … Continue reading "Enormocast 287: Mo Beck – A Certain Ver…

1
429: Transforming Experience Into Growth 43:38

2M ago43:38

43:38

Stephanie has a newfound interest in urban foraging for serviceberries in Chicago. Joël discusses how he uses AI tools like ChatGPT to generate creative Dungeons & Dragons character concepts and backstories, which sparks a broader conversation with Stephanie about AI's role in enhancing the creative process. Together, the hosts delve into professio…

1
Agile Team Management and Visualization (It's Not What You Think) 17:42

2M ago17:42

17:42

A lot of what we do in software development is invisible. If someone is typing furiously on their keyboard, you don't know if they're about to finish that new feature or if they're complaining to their state representative. One of the things that tends to be invisible is the actual process of getting something from “request” to “deliverable.” Every…

1
428: Ruminating on Ruby Enumerators 35:44

2M ago35:44

35:44

Joël explains his note-taking system, which he uses to capture his beliefs and thoughts about software development. Stephanie recalls feedback from her recent RailsConf talk, where her confidence stemmed from deeply believing in her material despite limited rehearsal. This leads to a conversation about the value of mental models in building a compr…

1
Day One of Managing Agile Teams 25:36

2M ago25:36

25:36

When managing a new team, it's tempting to come in guns blazing with new ideas and changes. Not only can this cause resistance, however, but you might be heading the wrong direction to begin with. Start with Fact-Finding and Reason-Finding before Recommendation-Making. In other words, one of your first moves should be to ask a lot of questions—"why…

1
Enormocast 286: Didier Berthod – Facing the World (Part 1) 1:27:48

2M ago1:27:48

1:27:48

On Episode 287 of the Enormocast, I connect through to America’s hat with Swiss crack-master, Didier Berthod. You might have heard about Didier from his recent send of Cobra Crack. The media mentions Didier disappearing from climbing for 10 years, returning to slay the Cobra, yada, yada, but that Didier’s completion of the Cobra has … Continue read…

1
Enormocast 286: Didier Berthod – Facing the World (Part 1) 1:27:48

2M ago1:27:48

1:27:48

On Episode 287 of the Enormocast, I connect through to America’s hat with Swiss crack-master, Didier Berthod. You might have heard about Didier from his recent send of Cobra Crack. The media mentions Didier disappearing from climbing for 10 years, returning to slay the Cobra, yada, yada, but that Didier’s completion of the Cobra has … Continue read…

1
Enormocast Tweener: Didier Berthod – Facing the World (Part 2) 55:38

2M ago55:38

55:38

In the early 2000s, Didier Berthod was the best crack climber in the world, then he dropped out of climbing and essentially disappeared from the world. When we left Didier Berthod in Facing the World Part 1, he had emerged from monastic life, contacted the daughter he had never seen, and returned to climbing. In … Continue reading "Enormocast Tween…

51
Enormocast Tweener: Didier Berthod – Facing the World (Part 2) 55:38

2M ago55:38

55:38

In the early 2000s, Didier Berthod was the best crack climber in the world, then he dropped out of climbing and essentially disappeared from the world. When we left Didier Berthod in Facing the World Part 1, he had emerged from monastic life, contacted the daughter he had never seen, and returned to climbing. In … Continue reading "Enormocast Tween…

1
How To Manage Software Teams - Fundamentals 20:34

2M ago20:34

20:34

Many of us who were thrown into management positions over development teams had to learn on the job. And when that happens, it can be easy to fall into the role of what you THINK a manager should do—be the rule enforcer and hold the team accountable. But as a dev team manager, your primary role should be to enable your team to deliver value effecti…

1
427: RailsConf Recap and Conversing About Coupling 37:03

3M ago37:03

37:03

Joël and Stephanie talk RailsConf!. Joël shares how he performed as a D&D character, Glittersense the gnome, to make his Turbo features talk entertaining and interactive. Stephanie's talk focused on addressing test pain by connecting it to code coupling, offering practical insights and solutions. They agree on the importance of continuous improveme…

1
Secret Management Hacks to Faster Delivery 25:04

3M ago25:04

25:04

If you're a CTO, manager, or team lead looking to develop software faster, this episode is for you! If someone has told you that you shouldn't -want- to shorten time to delivery, this episode is also for you. Because they're wrong. Wanting speed isn't a bad thing—assuming you are building the right thing (which is the main problem Agile addresses).…

1
Why Are You Doing This? 20:40

3M ago20:40

20:40

Have you stopped and asked yourself and your organization, “Why are we doing this?” You may or may not be surprised to find out that a lot of organizations make decisions, choose frameworks, and prioritize projects simply because of inertia and not because there's a real reason behind it. Why would you put time and resources into maintaining struct…

1
Enormocast 285: Nico Favresse – Mad to Live 1:38:27

3M ago1:38:27

1:38:27

On Episode 285 of the Enormocast, after long last, I connect with Belgian rock-climber and alpinist, Nico Favresse. Nico is certainly a contender for the most experienced expedition rock-climber of all time. Perhaps only rivalled by his ubiquitous partner, Sean Villanueva-O’Driscoll? Nevertheless, Nico is an all-arounder who has tackled the biggest…

51
Enormocast 285: Nico Favresse – Mad to Live 1:38:27

3M ago1:38:27

1:38:27

On Episode 285 of the Enormocast, after long last, I connect with Belgian rock-climber and alpinist, Nico Favresse. Nico is certainly a contender for the most experienced expedition rock-climber of all time. Perhaps only rivalled by his ubiquitous partner, Sean Villanueva-O’Driscoll? Nevertheless, Nico is an all-arounder who has tackled the biggest…

1
426: Bringing "Our Selves" to Work 33:04

3M ago33:04

33:04

Joël shares his preparations for his RailsConf talk, which is D&D-themed and centered around a gnome character named Glittersense. Stephanie expresses her delight in creating pod-related puns within thoughtbot's internal team structure, like "cross-podination" for inter-pod meetings and the adorable observation that her pod resembles "three peas in…

1
Hey Managers - Is Agile a Scam? 22:26

3M ago22:26

22:26

Hey managers, let's talk straight: Is Agile a scam? In your context, it just might be. Agile has become the default for teams, but do you truly understand WHY you're using it or if you even need it? In this episode, we're stripping away the Agile buzzwords, getting back to basics, and exploring the essence of Agile from a manager's perspective. For…

1
425: Modeling Associations in Rails 29:39

3M ago29:39

29:39

Stephanie shares an intriguing discovery about the origins of design patterns in software, tracing them back to architect Christopher Alexander's ideas in architecture. Joël is an official member of the Boston bike share system, and he loves it. He even got a notification on the app this week: "Congratulations. You have now visited 10% of all docki…

1
Slicing Stories Vertically vs. Horizontally 18:23

3M ago18:23

18:23

Should we be slicing stories vertically or horizontally? Does it even matter? Should we organize the requirements in our user stories by architectural layers or by small units of functionality? Both approaches divide the work up into smaller batches, but what good are pieces of software if they're not actually usable? That's what happens when we sl…

1
424: The Spectrum of Automated Processes for Your Dev Team 36:47

4M ago36:47

36:47

Joël shares his experience with the dry-rb suite of gems, focusing on how he's been using contracts to validate input data. Stephanie relates to Joël's insights with her preparation for RailsConf, discussing her methods for presenting code in slides and weighing the aesthetics and functionality of different tools like VS Code and Carbon.sh. She als…

1
Scaling Agile - Is Less More? 20:20

4M ago20:20

20:20

Wondering what scaled Agile framework is right for your organization? If this is your question, this episode is not going to answer it for you because we don't think that's going to bring you the most value. Instead, we're going to challenge you to take a step back and ask why you need to scale and why you're Agile in the first place. Just because …

1
Business Analysts in an Agile World 25:35

4M ago25:35

25:35

Traditionally confined to creating hefty upfront requirements documents, BAs find themselves at a crossroads in the Agile world. However, we believe BAs hold the key to promoting agility and delivering maximum value to organizations. In this episode, we challenge the notion that BAs are mere translators of requirements into user stories. Instead, w…

1
423: Cognitive Strategies for Coders 39:52

4M ago39:52

39:52

Stephanie is back with a book recommendation: "Thinking in Systems" by Donella Meadows. This book has helped to bolster her understanding of complex systems in environmental, organizational, and software contexts, particularly through user interactions and system changes. Joël describes his transformative experience watching last week's total solar…

1
What's Next For Agile Bites? 18:34

4M ago18:34

18:34

In the year and a half that the Agile Bites podcast has been around, we've covered a lot of topics—from story points to stand-ups to MVPs and a whole lot more. And we hope it's been a helpful resource in our listeners' Agile journeys. Now, we're taking a look at the future and asking ourselves, "What's next?" Listen to this episode to hear from Hos…

1
Enormocast 284: Emma Twyford – Getting on With It 1:25:41

4M ago1:25:41

1:25:41

On Episode 284 of the Enormocast, we connect across the pond to North Wales in the U.K. and into the living room of Emma Twyford. Emma is a pioneering woman in that rarified air of hard, desperate trad that only the old country can serve up. She is the first British woman to climb 9a … Continue reading "Enormocast 284: Emma Twyford – Getting on Wit…

1
Enormocast 284: Emma Twyford – Getting on With It 1:25:41

4M ago1:25:41

1:25:41

On Episode 284 of the Enormocast, we connect across the pond to North Wales in the U.K. and into the living room of Emma Twyford. Emma is a pioneering woman in that rarified air of hard, desperate trad that only the old country can serve up. She is the first British woman to climb 9a … Continue reading "Enormocast 284: Emma Twyford – Getting on Wit…

1
422: Listener Topics Grab Bag 35:23

4M ago35:23

35:23

Joël conducted a thoughtbot mini-workshop on query plans, which Stephanie found highly effective due to its interactive format. They then discuss the broader value of interactive workshops over traditional talks for deeper learning. Addressing listener questions, Stephanie and Joël explore the strategic use of if and else in programming for clearer…

1
What Was Rally Thinking? 22:20

4M ago22:20

22:20

If we had a dollar for every piece of “authoritative Agile advice” out there, let's just say that we'd have a lot of money. Sharing the successes, failures, and lessons learned is so valuable to all of us on an Agile journey. But it's important to keep your filter up for not only false information, but also true information that doesn't fit your si…

1
Enormocast 283: Clint Helander – To Live in Hearts We Leave Behind 1:16:17

4M ago1:16:17

1:16:17

On Episode 283 of the Enormocast, I sit down in a hotel in Munising, Michigan at the Michigan Icefest with Alaska-based alpinist, Clint Helander. What with the Chris Kalous Dance Party and the last call nightcap(s) at a bar literally called Whisky Dick’s, it had been a long night and an early morning for both … Continue reading "Enormocast 283: Cli…

1
Enormocast 283: Clint Helander – To Live in Hearts We Leave Behind 1:16:17

4M ago1:16:17

1:16:17

On Episode 283 of the Enormocast, I sit down in a hotel in Munising, Michigan at the Michigan Icefest with Alaska-based alpinist, Clint Helander. What with the Chris Kalous Dance Party and the last call nightcap(s) at a bar literally called Whisky Dick’s, it had been a long night and an early morning for both … Continue reading "Enormocast 283: Cli…

1
421: The Idealistic vs. Pragmatic Programmer 41:01

5M ago41:01

41:01

Stephanie revisits the concept of "spiking"—a phase of exploration to determine the feasibility of a technical implementation or to address unknowns in feature requests—sharing her recent experiences with a legacy Rails application. Joël brings a different perspective by discussing his involvement with a client project that heavily utilizes the dry…

1
QA in an Agile World 22:58

5M ago22:58

22:58

Traditionally, QA has been synonymous with manual testing and has been established as its own post-development phase. But in an agile landscape, that setup can lead to bottlenecks and silos. That's why we advocate for making QA a strategic player throughout the entire development journey—not just at the end of development. Tune in to gain insights …

1
420: Test Database Woes 28:16

5M ago28:16

28:16

Joël shares his recent project challenge with Tailwind CSS, where classes weren't generating as expected due to the dynamic nature of Tailwind's CSS generation and pruning. Stephanie introduces a personal productivity tool, a "thinking cap," to signal her thought process during meetings, which also serves as a physical boundary to separate work fro…

1
Can User Stories Be Too Small? 20:06

5M ago20:06

20:06

We all know we should get user stories as small as they can be, but can we go too far? Yes, user stories should be as small as we can get them, but they also need to be a valuable delivery (e.g. a user story should not just be a technical task). Tune into this episode for actionable tips on what to do (and what not to do) to keep your user stories …

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