Shows
Legacy Code RocksMending Code with AI with Ray MyersAI proves to be great at writing new code, but what are its capabilities when it comes to mending the old one? Today we talk with Ray Myers, a legacy code expert and sceptical enthusiast for AI. With 16 years of software engineering experience, he focuses on collective lessons learned to improve our existing systems and organizations. He tells us where is the place of AI in legacy code mending, whether AI can provide help when editing existing code, how to train AI with up-to-date coding skills, how to utilize AI when writing tests, and much more. 2024-06-1758 minLegacy Code RocksManaging Security Services with Scott McCradyCyber security is not a core activity of most software development companies. It is an outsourced activity that simply has to be done so that we can deploy our core services. Today, we talk with Scott McCrady, CEO of SolCyber Managed Security Services and an accomplished international executive with broad experience in sales, business development, and the operations side of a cloud-based and information security-based business. He tells us about the trends in the cybersecurity market and what he expects the future of cybersecurity services to be. When you finish listening to the episode, connect wi...2024-02-1952 minLegacy Code RocksPlaywright with Debbie O’Brien and Max SchmittMicrosoft invited the Legacy Code Rocks team to attend Microsoft Build Conference and gave us access to the studio on the third floor of the Seattle Convention Center. In this episode, we talk with Debbie O’Brien and Max Schmitt, both part of the Microsoft Playwright team.. Playwright is a tool developed by Microsoft that allows developers to automate the testing of web applications.. Playwright's unique feature is its ability to handle multiple browser contexts, making it efficient for testing complex scenarios and improving cross-browser compatibility. The opinions expressed in this episode are Debbie’s, Max’s...2023-07-3136 minLegacy Code RocksWindows Terminal with Kayla CinnamonMicrosoft invited the Legacy Code Rocks team to attend Microsoft Build Conference and gave us access to the studio on the third floor of the Seattle Convention Center. In this episode, we talk with Kayla Cinnamon, the first of the three guests we had an opportunity to chat with at the Conference. Kayla is a Product Manager with Microsoft. She’s currently working on Microsoft Dev Home and helps out the Microsoft PowerToys team. Kayla is also the former product manager of Windows Terminal. She tells us about the maintenance and improvements of the Windows Terminal including the...2023-06-2625 min
rvatech/TalksTech Round UpIn this episode, our Co-Hosts, Julia Barnhart and Ford Prior, sat down with three technologists in the Richmond area to discuss the current trends in technology. This panel includes Andrea Goulet, Scott Ford, and Greg Patrick. 2021-07-2647 minLegacy Code RocksBecoming a Software Engineer with Sharon DeCaroThe first step to mastering any skill is demystifying it. However, this is not easy to achieve on your own, and often masters of the craft around you are not as helpful as you would hope. It is easy to forget how it is to be a novice once we achieve expertise in some field, and this leads many of us to lose the ability to introduce the craft to the incoming forces patiently and in simple terms. Today we talk with Sharon DeCaro. Sharon has been working as a software engineer for five years. However, this w...2021-07-2655 minLegacy Code RocksStaying on Top of Dependency Freshness with FreshliFor most teams, dependency freshness is a pain that is often ignored. “If it works –don’t change it” is the prevailing attitude, but as a lot of applications become web-focused, dependencies inevitably start gaining traction. Why does dependency freshness matter, and how do we proactively stay on top of it? Today we present Freshli - the dependency freshness tool we have been working on. The microphone goes to the team involved: Cassandra Carothers, Technical Sales Manager here at Corgibytes, and Catalina De la Cuesta, Chris Cumming, and Dave Farinelli, our Lead Code Whisperers. The Freshli tool captures...2021-03-2249 minLegacy Code RocksConquering the Fear of Legacy Code With Barry O’SullivanWhen developers talk about what they find exciting, they usually talk about new things. Very little content is about the actual job, about working in the existing system. When they do talk about legacy, they usually focus on how much they hate it. Where does that animosity come from and how do we confront it? Today we get to the bottom of it with Barry O’Sullivan. Barry is a modern web development contractor with 15 years of experience in legacy web applications. He is the founder of DDIE and the co-organizer of PHP Dublin. We discuss the fe...2021-03-0849 minLegacy Code RocksTrans-Inclusive Design with Erin WhiteWe like to think that technology is our objective and neutral assistant, our faithful lieutenant constrained with science and armed with cold, hard data. But this is incorrect. Technology reflects the attitudes of humans who created it. It contains our biases and our preconceived notions. It reflects who we are while distorting our perception of who we think we are, transforming our impulse for binary simplifications into the strict binary framework of ones and zeroes. Inevitably, this leaves some folks out. Today we talk with Erin White, Head of digital engagement at Virginia Commonwealth University Libraries in R...2021-02-2248 minLegacy Code RocksMeasuring Code Quality with Dan SturtevantMany analytical models can help you to measure some aspects of the quality of your codebase. However, only a combination of these models can give you complete information about your code's integrity and the real-world necessity for its improvement. Today we talk with Dan Sturtevant, the CEO of Silverthread Inc and a Technology and Operations Management Researcher at the Harvard Business School. Dan shares with us the solutions for diagnosing software health and aligning it with business performance goals and desired financial outcomes. When you finish listening to the episode, make sure to connect with Dan on L...2021-02-0846 minLegacy Code RocksKeeping Up with Ruby on Rails with Robby RussellRuby on Rails is a fast-moving community and it is not always easy to keep up with it. Given the efficiency of the framework, however, it is well worth trying. Today we talk to Robby Russell, creator of Oh My Z Shell, host of Maintainable software podcast, and CEO of Planet Argon – a software consultancy that helps organizations improve their existing Ruby on Rails applications. We chat with Robby about his own beginnings, the creation of the Oh My Z Shell, the early days of Ruby on Rails, and how to keep up with the fast-moving Rails community. When yo...2021-01-2556 minLegacy Code RocksMicroservices Security with Prabath Siriwardena and Nuwan DiasSecurity is a big topic with many facets, and this is especially true for microservices. Microservices deployment has been around for some time, but security didn’t get much attention from developers – they simply trusted the network. Today we talk with Prabath Siriwardena and Nuwan Dias, authors of Microservices Security in Action* and deputy CTOs of the WSO2, on the state of microservices security today. We dig deep into the issues of infrastructure, available tools, procedures, and challenges in predicting the threats and integrating security patches into microservices. When you finish listening to the episode, make sure to c...2021-01-1135 minLegacy Code RocksLegacy Coders with Clive ThompsonIn the last episode of 2020, we took a stroll through the little known corridors of coding history with Clive Thompson. Clive is a technology and science journalist for the New York Times Magazine, Wired, Smithsonian, and many other outlets. In his new book Coders: The Making of a New Tribe and the Remaking of the World*, he explores how computer programmers - the people who are increasingly running the world - think and what are their plans for changing the way WE work, think and live. In this episode, he tells us incredible stories of coding past and present...2020-12-2838 minLegacy Code RocksCelebrating Our 5th Anniversary with Johanna RothmanEven before the COVID-19 pandemic changed the way we work and communicate, some people expected remote work to become more popular. The thought was, however, that the transition will be done by choice, not by force! Today we talk with Johanna Rothmann, a management consultant, speaker, and author of over a dozen reference books on management, agile, team-building, and software development. Just a year before the first lockdown orders descended on the cities around the world, Johanna published with Mark Kilby a fantastic guide on managing remote teams: From Chaos to Successful Distributed Agile Teams: Collaborate to D...2020-12-1436 minLegacy Code RocksLegacy Code in Times of Crisis with Joao-Pierre RuthHow has COVID-19 affected legacy code based systems, and what do we do to address the issue? Today we talk with Joao-Pierre Ruth, a technology journalist at InformationWeek where he covers DevOps and cloud computing. Joao-Pierre gives us his insights on the topic that inspired his recent article “COBOL, COVID-19 and Coping with Legacy’s Tech-debt”. After listening to the episode, connect with Joao-Pierre on LinkedIn and Twitter, and check out his articles for InformationWeek. Mentioned in this episode: Joao-Pierre on LinkedIn at https://www.linkedin.com/in/joaopierre/ Joao-Pierre on Twitter...2020-11-3028 minLegacy Code RocksQuantified Task Management with Jason C McDonaldKnowing how to prioritize tasks and how to eliminate unnecessary assignments is a crucial skill for successful project management. The more complicated project is, the less obvious its priorities are. If only there were a tool that could help us navigate through this complexity. Today we talk with Jason C. McDonald, CEO, and co-founder of MousePaw Media, about Quantified Task Management, the tool that does exactly that. When you finish listening to the episode, connect with Jason on LinkedIn and Twitter, visit his website at https://codemouse92.com, and pre-order his book Dead Simple Python: Idiomatic Python for Impatient...2020-11-1640 minLegacy Code RocksMending the Makers with Luke Rabin and Brandon LewisWe often talk about the makers and menders dichotomy on this show. But we rarely dived deep into the dynamics of collaboration between these two groups of creatives. Today we talk with Brandon Lewis and Luke Rabin, co-founders of BLDR, a digital agency specialized in creating UI/UX designs, technical docs, and developer teams. Building on the immense contributions of behavioral economics, Brandon and Luke talk about the ways of bringing makers and menders together and ensuring that their collaboration is fruitful and lucrative. When you finish listening to the episode, make sure to connect with them on LinkedIn...2020-11-0244 minLegacy Code RocksCommunication Debt with Andrea GouletAs menders working with legacy code, we are focused on identifying and reducing technical debt. But how much easier this task would be if the creator of the code or the previous maintainer left us some breadcrumbs to follow? A simple note on the rationale for a particular decision they have made or a warning about interconnected lines of code would take us a long way! Today we talk with Andrea Goulet, co-founder and Chief Strategy Officer of Corgibytes. Her empathy-driven approach to software development earned her recognition as one of the Top Ten Professionals in Software Under 35 by...2020-10-1943 minLegacy Code RocksFrom a Monolith to Containers with Ben JohnsonMost, if not all, of the legacy projects feature monolithic application architectures. However, moving to containers can bring many benefits: consistency down the pipeline, no-touch deployment, better support for decomposing the monolith - to name just a few. Today we talk with our own Ben Johnson. Ben is the lead code whisperer at Corgibytes and a developer with over 20 years of experience. We chat about containerization - what benefits does it bring, what challenges could you encounter in the process, which tools are best suited for the job, and what methodology proves to be most reliable. When you finish...2020-10-0532 minLegacy Code RocksCelebrating Our 5th Aniversary with Woody ZuillOur Legacy Code Rocks community is turning five this year. To mark this exciting milestone, we decided to catch up with Woody Zuill, our frequent guest, and a person who always manages to teach us something new and exciting. Woody is best known for introducing mob programming to the world, and so we kick-off the show by discussing mob programming in the age of COVID-19. However, as it is always with Woody, he expands our horizons far beyond any single topic. If you get inspired by this chat as much as we did, make sure to register for the...2020-09-2144 minLegacy Code RocksThe Innovation Delusion with Lee Vinsel and Andy RussellInnovation is the hottest prize in the business. It attracts the most attention. It sells stocks in a blitz. It also distracts from what matters the most - maintaining, caring for, and upkeeping what we have already invented. Today we talk with Lee Vinsel, an assistant professor of Science, Technology, and Society at Virginia Tech College of Liberal Arts and Human Sciences, and Andy Russell, professor of history and Dean of the College of Arts and Sciences at SUNY Polytechnic Institute. Andy and Lee are technology historians and the authors of The Innovation Delusion, a new book that is...2020-09-0740 minLegacy Code RocksProactive Programming with PJ HagertyWhen you build a house, you first build its foundations. This is what ensures its durability. The same stands for writing code - if written upon strong foundations, it will not be blown away by the first wind of change. The best way to achieve this is to think proactively. Today we talk with PJ Hagerty, the founder of devrelate.io, organizer of DevOps Days Buffalo, a developer, writer, speaker, musician, and community advocate. PJ tells us the secrets of proactive programming and how it can prolong the life of your code. When you finish listening to the episode...2020-08-2433 minLegacy Code RocksRefactoring White Supremacy with Bryan LilesAs we are going through a racial injustice reckoning here in the United States, each of us needs to look in the mirror, actively seek information, and find a way to contribute to a more just future. We can't talk about fixing code before we talk about the neglected voices in the process of building and mending that very code. Today we talk with Bryan Liles, a senior staff engineer at VMware, a team leader, and a code writer who tries to pump goodwill into the world. We talk about racial injustice in America, its origins, its stubborn perseverance...2020-08-1036 minLegacy Code RocksChanging Drivers with Andrea Goulet (Bonus Episode)Staying agile is most important in times of crisis. After more than four months of Covid-19 disruption, it is clear that we are going through one of those era-defining moments. As the crisis drags on, we need to adapt and be more agile than ever. Today we talk with our own Andrea Goulet, Corgibytes CEO and Legacy Code Rocks co-host, about big changes we are going through here at Legacy Code Rocks and Corgibytes. So, take a listen and stay tuned!2020-08-0648 minLegacy Code RocksSkunkScore with Ernesto TagwerkerImagine if there were a tool to help you measure your code’s complexity, coverage, and smells, blend it all together and present you with an average score assessing your technical debt. SkunkScore is precisely such a tool. Today we talk with Ernesto Tagwerker, founder of Ombu Labs and fastruby.io—and the developer of the SkunkScore—about software maintenance and how to use SkunkScore to identify the most problematic parts of your code and guide you through your refactoring adventure. Mentioned in this episode: Ernesto on Twitter at https://twitter.com/etagwerker Ernesto...2020-07-2747 minLegacy Code RocksLiving Documentation with Cyrille MartraireThe need for speedy delivery is the reality of contemporary business. The requirements of modern software development are no different. However, when writing software we are making decisions based on knowledge, and finding knowledge often takes time. This is where we turn to software documentation, only to find it frustrating, incomplete, obsolete, or misleading. Today we talk with Cyrille Martraire, a software developer, finance business analyst, and the author of the book Living Documentation: Continuous Knowledge Sharing by Design, about how to make your documentation more comprehensive, useful, and intuitive. When you finish listening to the episode, connect with...2020-07-1343 minLegacy Code RocksSociolinguistics and Technical Debt with Einar W. HøstThere are many causes of technical debt - unknown or ill-defined requirements, business pressures to deliver fast, procedural deficiencies during development, and many more. These are often just manifestations of a larger problem - lack of understanding due to limitations of natural language and inability to predict future social and technical developments. Today we talk with Einar W. Høst, a programmer at the NRK, Norwegian public broadcasting company, about these sociolinguistic causes of technical debt. We can't predict the future, but we can adopt strategies to make our code more flexible and resilient. Einar shares with us a f...2020-06-2933 minLegacy Code RocksLow Code Platforms with James AugeriDo you ever feel like we are entering the age of democratization of software development? Do you fear that the platforms enabling novices with little coding experience to develop software applications are commoditizing your service as a developer? Today we talk with James Augeri, a serial entrepreneur, Techstars alumni, U.S. Airforce veteran, and a founder of Jingle, where he is working on making better search experiences. James shares with us his passion for low-code platforms - software applications designed to provide a software development environment through GUI and model-driven logic, instead of hard coding. What are their advantages...2020-06-1541 minLegacy Code RocksLegacy Pipelines with Laura SantamariaWhen dealing with legacy code, it is easy to forget that the pipeline to deploy that code could be just as much "legacy' as the code itself. So how do you puzzle your way through resurrecting the pipeline, and how do you handle a legacy application from a CI/CD pipeline standpoint? Today we talk with Laura Santamaria, a LogDNA's development advocate, and DevOps practitioner. She shares with us the secrets of reconstructing legacy pipelines from the available logs and data, what to do when no data is available, and how to make legacy application's pipeline more usable for...2020-06-0137 minLegacy Code RocksCode Review with Pranay SureshHow many pairs of eyes are needed to ensure the quality of a newly written code? When do you send your code to an impartial reviewer? Is a review always necessary? Today we talk with Pranay Suresh, a Silicon Valley startup expert, a former software engineer at Tesla, and a mentor and angel investor about code reviews. Pranay gives us a few tips on how to approach code reviews, both from the perspective of a reviewer and of a coder. When you finish listening to the episode, make sure to connect with Pranay on LinkedIn, and visit his website...2020-05-1833 minLegacy Code RocksFrom Monolith to Microservices with Rob ZuberSwitching from a monolithic architecture to microservices has become an accelerating trend these days. Many tech leaders have already successfully transitioned, and many others are planning to follow suit. But is it always wise to abandon the monolith and adopt the services approach? And if the answer is yes, how to make the transition least painful? Today we talk with Rob Zuber, a veteran of software startups, CTO of CircleCI, and a scalability expert. Rob tells us how to choose the right architecture for your business, and how to transition from one architecture to the other without abandoning already...2020-05-0455 minLegacy Code RocksPractical Empathy with Indi YoungCoding with empathy is one of the Corgibytes' core principles, underlying everything we talk about on this show. But not since 2016 have we taken a step back and dived deep into the subject of empathy, what it means, and how to practice it. Today we talk with Indi Young, a speaker, writer, and UX researcher dedicated to empowering makers and menders to know their problem space through empathy and deep understanding of people's purposes. Indi is an author of two books - Mental Models and Practical Empathy. She tells us how to bring empathy to the developer's table and...2020-04-2043 minLegacy Code RocksReducing Technical Debt with Daniel OkwufuluezeWhen repaying debt, it helps to know how big it is. The same holds for technical debt. The problem is: how do you measure it? Today we talk with Daniel Okwufulueze, a technology leader, programming polyglot, writer, and senior engineer at dunnhumby. Daniel helps us define technical debt and tells us how to quantify it without falling into usual pitfalls while doing so. When you finish listening to the episode, make sure to connect with Daniel on LinkedIn and check out his writings at Medium.com. Mentioned in this episode: Daniel on LinkedIn at https...2020-04-0630 minLegacy Code RocksPersonality Tests with Claudius MbembaThe code is predictable. Binary. It either works, or it doesn't. Working with people is much messier. Their actions and reactions are not easy to predict. Or are they? Today we talk with Claudius Mbemba, a tech leader, public speaker, and the CTO of Neu, about personality tests. How useful they are, which one to choose, is it enough to use only one, and how to use them to increase the productivity and happiness of your team. When you finish listening to the episode, visit Claudius' blog and make sure to connect with him on Twitter or LinkedIn. 2020-03-2338 minLegacy Code RocksPair-Programming Tour with Harald ReingruberTo paraphrase Lewellyn Falco, when one person is programming, it is that person's best ideas that are being encoded into the software; when two people are programming together, you get the best ideas from both of them. Today we are talking with Harald Reingruber, a software engineer who specializes in visual and spatial computing, about his upcoming pair-programming tour in the US and Canada. Where is he planning to go; how will he travel; who will he pair with; and what benefits pair-programming can bring to you and your team? Be sure to check out the details about his...2020-03-0923 minLegacy Code RocksSocial Learning Programs with Kwame ThomisonThe easiest way to make your team members feel happy is to give them a sense of personal growth. By expanding their capacities, they exponentially increase the productivity of the team while strengthening their own sense of purpose. On today’s episode, we chat with Kwame Thomison. After a decade building software and software teams for companies like Facebook and Asana, Kwame set out as a leadership coach and founded his company, Magnetic, to help other teams build and sustain social learning cultures. When you finish listening to the episode, make sure to visit Kwame's web-site at https://magnetic-inc.co...2020-02-2433 minLegacy Code RocksOvercoming the Imposter Syndrome with A.J. RendoIt’s never about what you don't know. It’s the difference you can bring to the table that matters. Today we talk with A.J. Rendo, a theatre director, a philosophy major, and an enthusiast historian turned software developer. A.J. gives us a wild ride through his story — how can you switch from directing theatrical shows to maintaining legacy software responsible for managing billion dollars a day? What does such a shift do to your self-confidence? And how do you overcome self-doubt? When you finish listening to the episode, make sure to connect with A.J. via Twitte...2020-02-1041 minLegacy Code RocksPositive Metric-Driven Management with Dalia HavensIn a modern fast-moving business environment, we are obsessed with quantitative measurements. But without qualitative data, we might get the wrong impression and incentivize bad behavior. Today we talk with Dalia Havens, Vice-President of engineering at Netlify, about selecting appropriate metrics to measure outputs of your team, increase its productivity, and, most importantly, keep it happy. Building on her experience from Netlify, GitLab, SailPoint and IBM, she shares with us how to promote team health through positive metric-driven management. When you finish listening to the podcast, connect with Dalia on LinkedIn. Mentioned in this episode: ...2020-01-2739 minLegacy Code RocksWhy Legacy Code Rocks with Abraham Marín PérezMost of the time, we focus on a specific aspect of software development and maintenance and try to see how these small pieces fit in the big picture of working with legacy code. Not today, however. Today we talk with Abraham Marín-Pérez, an extremely active Java developer with more than ten years of experience in various industries, about THE big picture and why legacy code rocks! Abraham is the author of Real World Maintainable Software and a co-author of Continuous Delivery in Java, a Java news editor at InfoQ, an advisor at the Meet-a-Mentor London Group, and a...2020-01-1338 minLegacy Code RocksIdea Flow with Arty StarrImagine if you could automatically follow, measure, and analyze your workflow, identify the sticking points, and remove them based on the coldblooded data. Imagine if there was such a thing as a Moneyball of coding. Today we talk with Arty Starr about the Idea Flow - a data-driven approach to measuring friction in developer's experience. Arty is the author of the Idea Flow, a panelist on the Greater Than Code podcast and a social entrepreneur. We talk about the eight most common friction points in coding and how the Idea Flow helps identify and eliminate them. When you finish...2019-12-2939 minLegacy Code RocksRewriting Code with Sabrina LeandroIf you want your journey to be speedy and painless, it helps to know where you are going. Today we are talking with Sabrina Leandro, the principal software engineer at Intercom and a former VP of tech at Songkick. Sabrina is a technical leader with vast experience in product development processes, systems design, and management. We talk about incremental code rewriting and how to do it most efficiently. When you finish listening to the episode, visit Sabrina's website and take a listen to one of her talks. 2019-12-1633 minLegacy Code RocksCode Katas with Emily BachePractice leads to perfection. Having fun while doing it can only make you wish to practice more! Today we talk with Emily Bache, a software developer and a technical agile coach at ProAgile. Emily is well known as a maintainer of an outstanding code kata Gilded Rose and as an author of several books, including The Coding Dojo Handbook and Technical Agile Coaching. Emily explains the concepts of code katas and dojos and reveals the secrets of their effectiveness. When you finish listening to the episode, make sure to visit Emily's blog Coding Is Like Cooking. 2019-12-0231 minLegacy Code RocksBetter Allies with Karen CatlinCreating an inclusive workplace culture in which all employees are thriving, the results are soaring, and the defections are non-existent is the goal of every company. One secret to creating this kind of workplace is allyship. Today we talk with Karen Catlin about everyday actions that help in building an inclusive and engaging workplace. Karen is the author of Better Allies, a leadership coach, keynote speaker, passionate advocate for inclusive workplaces and the former vice president of engineering at Macromedia and Adobe. When you finish listening to the episode, make sure to visit the Better Allies website and Twitter h...2019-11-1845 minLegacy Code RocksTop Five Best Practices for Legacy Code with Leon Miller-OutStreamlining your process increases the speed of your work while ensuring the consistent quality of your products. Today we speak with Leon Miller-Out, the CEO of a web app development and maintenance firm Singlebrook, about the top five best practices for legacy code maintenance. Listen to Leon and Scott reaching consensus in real-time, on the indispensable steps they take when dealing with legacy code. When you finish listening to the episode, checkout Singlebrook's libyear - a tool for measuring "dependency freshness." It just might change your life!2019-11-0437 minLegacy Code RocksLehman's Laws with Scott FordTo survive, every software needs to change over time. However, if the changes are too steep, the survival might quickly turn into a demise. Today we talk with our own Scott Ford, co-founder of Corgibytes and co-host of the Legacy Code Rocks, about Lehman's laws - a set of principles that explain the forces which push software systems to change and the forces that restrain that change. Hear from Scott how Lehman's laws can help you in your work and get to know Scott a little bit better.2019-10-2144 minLegacy Code RocksMakers and Menders RepriseToday we go back to where we started and we reprise the first ever episode of Legacy Code Rocks. Andrea and Scott discuss the idea of Makers (the developers who like to build things) and Menders (developers who like to fix things). We also define and explain the mission of this podcast. A great reminder for our old listeners and a perfect opportunity to catch-up for the new ones.2019-10-0740 minLegacy Code RocksEvent Storming with Alberto BrandoliniHow can sticky notes help you and your team find and resolve problems which are deeply hidden within your business model? How can this quest through colorful papers accelerate the mending of a legacy code which supports that business model? Today we speak with Alberto Brandolini, an inventor of Event Storming, about how this fun and rapid group modeling technique can accelerate learning and productivity within your development team. From upgrading and improving the existing systems to developing new ones, Alberto’s Event Storming helps teams visualize every little wheel of complex machinery they are tasked to maintain or cr...2019-09-2331 minLegacy Code RocksSymmathesy with Jessica KerrEvery creature, living or artificial, is learning through the interactions with its environment all the time. It is learning not only from other creatures it interacts with, but also from the context in which these interactions take place. When an environment becomes defined by such contextual mutual learning through interaction, it becomes a creature in its own right - an entity famously named by Nora Bateson as Symmathesy. Today we talk with Jessica Kerr, a developer at Atomist and an expert in development automation, about the ways of transforming your development team into a symmathesy. When you finish listening...2019-09-0933 minLegacy Code RocksUnconscious Behavior in Coding with Mike BowlerTo successfully lead a team, we must understand why our team members do what they do. To help us unpack that, we need to dig deep into their subconscious and explore their unconscious behavior which underlines most of human actions. Today we speak with Mike Bowler, a long-time Agile technical coach and a trained hypnotist with the interest in neuroscience and psychology, about techniques that help us understand unconscious behaviors. Mike explains the clean language technique developed by David Grove in the 1980s, offers a fresh look at hypnosis and links all of this to coding and software development...2019-08-2635 min
Technology Leadership Podcast ReviewThe New Definition Of SuccessMartin Thompson on Arrested DevOps, Dr. Carola Lilienthal on Legacy Code Rocks, Jeff Gothelf on Agile Atelier, Safi Bahcall on Coaching For Leaders, and Mike Burrows on A Geek Leader. I’d love for you to email me with any comments about the show or any suggestions for podcasts I might want to feature. Email podcast@thekguy.com. This episode covers the five podcast episodes I found most interesting and wanted to share links to during the two week period starting August 19, 2019. These podcast episodes may have been released much earlier, but this was the fort...2019-08-1915 minLegacy Code RocksFront-End Tooling in Legacy Code with Jan JorgensenWe all strive to be “full stack” developers, but many of us feel more comfortable with either back-end or front-end programming. Today we talk with Jan Jorgensen, a front-end developer who also enjoys mending legacy applications. Jan works in the Copenhagen based UX research company and is an expert in adding front-end tooling to render components in a monolithic rails app and taking advantage of modern tools instead of writing the apps from scratch. Jan breaks down the main characteristics of front-end development, discusses good practices, opens for us his toolbox and explains how all of this fits into the...2019-08-1236 min
Legacy Code RocksDefining Legacy Code with Amitai SchleierWhat does legacy code mean to you? Is it a valuable code that is hard to change or a code you are simply afraid to change; a code that makes you money or a code you are ashamed of? In today’s episode we deep dive into the quest for the most interesting and influential definitions of legacy code with Amitai Schleier. Amitai is true renaissance man - a software development coach, legacy code wrestler, consultant, non-award-winning musician and award-winning bad poet. Amitai regularly contributes code and direction to notable open-source projects such as NetBSD, pkgsrc, ikiwiki, and qmail. Wh...2019-07-2946 min
Legacy Code RocksDevOps Transformation with Christine SillsLasting success is not measured by past achievements but by the ability to change and adapt to new developments and new demands. Nowhere does the change face more suspicion and distrust than in large enterprises with their established policies, practices and procedures, large bureaucracies, compartmentalized silos and, above all, undeniable past successes. Today we talk with Christine Chrys Sills, the Organization, Change, and Program Manager at Liatrio about DevOps transformations and how to bring change to large enterprises confident in their established ways. 2019-07-1532 min
Legacy Code RocksSustainable Software Architecture with Dr. Carola LilienthalThe mere fact that any particular legacy code is still in use is a testament of its sustainability. Today we talk with Dr. Carola Lilienthal, the CEO of the Workplace Solutions and the author of Sustainable Software Architecture about the importance of a good structure for the durability of a software. Building upon her experience dissecting more than 300 software systems of various sizes, Carola shares with us her philosophy, methodology, tools and criteria for assessing the sustainability of a system and explains how to structure any software around its fundamental building blocks in order to achieve its durability. 2019-06-3032 min
Legacy Code RocksKindness in Coding with Coraline Ada EhmkeThe idea of a “lone genius” unleashing software marvels on the world is mostly a myth. Almost all good software is a product of the exchange of ideas, continuous discussions, and collaborations. Today we talk with Coraline Ada Ehmke - the creator of the Contributor Covenant and the laureate of the Ruby Hero Award - about the importance of kindness and empathy in coding. From creating safe spaces for discussions and exchange of ideas, through introducing empathy into understanding user needs and collaborators’ concerns, to creating a kinder programming language and the code itself - Coraline shares her thoughts with u...2019-06-1742 min
Legacy Code RocksTaming Technical Debt with Tim DohertyTechnical debt is just like a financial debt - incurring it responsibly boosts the development and growth, but failing to repay it in time can lead to bankruptcy and complete failure of the program. Today we talk with Tim Doherty, Staff Software Engineer at Procore Technologies and a co-organizer of the Santa Barbara JavaScript Meetup, about the responsible management of technical debt. Tim breaks down for us the Ward Cunningham’s definition of technical debt into sub-categories and shares with us the justifications for the acquisition and strategies for prudent repayment of these diverse kinds of technical debt. When yo...2019-06-0333 min
Legacy Code RocksPeople First, Technology Last with Alok SharmaThe key to understanding real (rather than perceived) goals of any technological project is to understand the people served by that technology. Today, we talk with Alok Sharma, a founding partner of the technology project management consultancy firm Sharma Analytics. Alok gives us a deep insight into his tripartite approach to rationalizing, selecting, planning, and managing technology in small to mid-sized organizations. After discussing the three key elements of his analytical approach -- people, processes, and data -- he explains why understanding people takes precedence over the two other components if a project is to succeed. When you finish...2019-05-2036 min
Legacy Code RocksDesign Heuristics with Rebecca Wirfs-BrockWe take mental shortcuts every day in order to save our energy while achieving satisfactory results. These shortcuts, or heuristics, are in fact so mentally economical, that we are mostly not even aware of them! Yet, we use them all the time. In this episode, we talk with Rebecca Wirfs-Brock about heuristics we use in software design and why is it important to be aware of them. Rebecca is an object oriented design pioneer and an inventor of responsibility driven object design. She currently serves as a director of the Agile Alliance Experience Report Initiative and as a president...2019-05-0640 min
Legacy Code RocksDefensive Coding with Edaqa MortorayEdaqa Mortoray grew up programming. From interface design to scientific simulations, including video games and development products, he has coded a bit of everything. He is the author of the book “What is Programming?” and he runs a successful programming blog and a podcast. We talk with Edaqa about why every member of software development team should know who their user is and what their needs are. He then shares with us some good practices for defensive coding in this age of global users. When you are done with the episode, and if you want to hear more about the...2019-04-2229 min
Legacy Code RocksTechnical Debt with Evgeny DemchenkoAccording to Evgeny Demchenko, technical debt and financial debt have many things in common - if used strategically, they accelerate growth, if not repaid diligently, they hinder it. Evgeny is a CTO of an O2O talent sourcing platform Top Twenty Talent and one of the organizers of the Beijing Python Meetup. He is specialized in building startups, managing complex systems and refactoring code. We talk with Evgeny about his passion for refactoring and he shares with us his technical debt philosophy, his workflow and his favorite tools of the trade. 2019-04-0837 min
Legacy Code RocksTechnical Leadership with Marcus BlankenshipMarcus Blankenship is a technical leadership author, coach and speaker, helping great programmers and coders to become great tech leaders of the future. He is the author of the book “Habits That Ruin Your Technical Team: Pitfalls and Solutions for Technical Managers”. Marcus tells us what technical leadership is and how technical-experts-turn-leaders can fight their impulses to resolve problems themselves and start empowering their teams to resolve them instead. After you finish with the episode, check out Marcus’s web site at https://marcusblankenship.com/ where you will find plethora of resources and workshops.2019-03-2647 min
Legacy Code RocksProject Management with Johanna RothmanJohanna Rothman is a “pragmatic manager” and longtime leader in the software development community. She has written over a dozen books on various aspects of shipping successful software applications. On this episode, Johanna shares with us how she got into working with legacy code, how long does it take for a greenfield project to become a legacy project, do the resource limitations constrain or boost creativity and what is the role of management in a creative process. When you finish listening to the episode, you can check out Johanna’s website at www.jrothman.com where you will find an amaz...2019-03-1146 min
Legacy Code RocksGrowth Mindset with Esther DerbyEsther Derby started her career as a developer who loved machines and struggled with people. Now, she’s one of the world’s top experts in organizational dynamics and a leading thinker on bringing agility to organizations, management and teams. Esther playfully shares with us her intimate story of personal growth from being a satisfied solo coder to a team builder and gives us all some practical tips for learning skills that might be just outside our comfort zone.2019-02-2539 min
Legacy Code RocksLegacy Testing with Lisa CrispinIn today’s episode, we chat with Lisa Crispin, Testing Advocate at Mabl, the co-author of the Agile Testing: A Practical Guide for Testers and Agile Teams and one of the most influential testing professionals in the industry. Join us to hear about the significance of the whole team approach, collaboration and feedback in testing, and how the cues of success through teamwork can come from even the most unexpected sources – including from the miniature donkeys!2019-02-1136 min
Legacy Code RocksCoding Blind with Taylor JonesIn 2016, Taylor Jones was in a car crash that impacted his vision severely. After recovery, he has continued to code and design for the web even though he's blind. In this moving conversation, we talk with him about accessibility and how his development practices have changed. 2019-01-171h 09
Legacy Code RocksUnderstanding Legacy Code by Behavioral Analysis with Adam TornhillIn this episode, we chat with Adam Tornhill. Adam is the author of Your Code as a Crime Scene as well as Software Design X-Rays: Fix Technical Debt with Behavioral Code Analysis. He’s also the founder of Empear, whose flagship product, CodeScene, helps companies prioritize technical debt by identifying “hotspots” within their codebases. During the show we talk about: How Adam's background in psychology informs his work as a software developer. Different ways to measure complexity Using behavioral analysis and Conway's Law to help prioritize areas to work on in your code. We hope you enjoy...2018-10-1744 min
Legacy Code RocksAgile Fluency Model with Diana LarsenThere's no "one right way" to implement Agile. Diana Larsen believes that software is built in the context of a "more diverse and beautiful world" that meets teams where they are and helps them achieve goals that are best for them. Together, with James Shore, she developed the Agile Fluency Model; a framework that helps chart a course for the team, create alignment with management, and secure organizational support for improvement. You can learn more about the model at https://www.agilefluency.org. 2018-09-0650 min
Legacy Code RocksMetaphors with Nat PryceMetaphors may seem like a literary device that has no relevance in software, but nothing could be further from the truth. On today's episode, we dive deep into the world of explaining the abstract with Nat Pryce. We touch on George Lakoff, Conway's Law, Lehman's Laws, the difference between cognitive and figurative metaphors, and much, much more. If you've ever wanted to learn how to explain your work better, especially to people who don't code very much, this is one episode you won't want to miss!2018-08-0245 min
Legacy Code RocksBehavior-Driven Development with Seb RoseOn this episode, Seb Rose, co-owner at Cucumber Limited and author of several books on Cucumber, gives us a look at how Behavior-Driven Development works alongside Test-Driven Development to tame legacy code. We walk through his personal version of Dante's rings of corporate hell and discuss why we should start thinking of the relationship between Acceptance, Integration, and Unit tests as an iceberg rather than a pyramid. 2018-07-0339 min
Legacy Code RocksSoftware and Biology with David KaneIn this episode, we chat with David Kane, a noted Agilist, to explore how legacy code systems mimic biology. By the end, you may just join Andrea by proudly identifying as fungus — the invisible system that holds other systems together. Enjoy! 2018-06-0439 min
Legacy Code RocksOpen Source Legacy with Jerod SantoIn the open source world, there are a ton of legacy projects. In this episode, we chat with Jerod Santo, host of The Changelog, about legacy code in the open source ecosystem. How do you maintain projects? When do you let projects die? And how can you add value quickly when you want to contribute? 2018-03-0131 min
Legacy Code RocksReading Code with Zach ShawDevelopers spend an average of 50-80% of their day reading code. So why don't we ever work on actively honing this skill? That's the question that Zach Shaw, the Director of Engineering at Brightgrove decided to ask. On today's episode, we geek out about reading code and discover new strategies and tactics to help us do it even better. 2018-02-0845 min
Legacy Code RocksSelling Your Technical Ideas with Poornima VijayashankerEver heard of a little app called Mint.com? Poornima Vijayashanker was the founding engineer and convinced her boss that the name he picked wouldn't get the market share he was looking for. After she successfully grew Mint, she exited after it was acquired by Intuit. Poornima is the Founder of Femgineer and now mentors other developers and founders on how to build better software. In this episode, we chat with her about the importance of selling your ideas so that they can grow. You can find her on Twitter at @poornima and on Femgineer.com. 2018-01-1747 min
Legacy Code RocksReplace or Remodel with Scott HanselmanWhen should you replace your software and when does it make sense to transform it? Scott Hanselman joins us to share his thoughts from several projects throughout his career, including Das Blog (the engine that runs Hanselminutes), Windows Live Writer, Tiny OS and .NET Core. 2018-01-0445 min
Legacy Code RocksDocumentation with Lauri AppleTo document or not to document? That is the question that we chat about today with Lauri Apple, who works as an Agile Coach and Open Source Evangelist with Zalando. Lauri is also an Ambassador for OpenSource.com and the creator of FeedMeReadMes. We chat about what finding documentation balance, where to find the best README templates, and the difference between corporate and open-source documentation. 2017-11-2843 min
Engineering Culture by InfoQAndrea Goulet & M. Scott Ford on the Marriage of Communication & CodeIn this podcast Shane Hastie, Lead Editor for Culture & Methods, talks to Andrea Goulet & M. Scott Ford about their journey working together as a married couple and business partners, learning to collaborate and communicate despite having vastly different communication styles and viewpoints.
Why listen to this podcast:
- Effective communication is a competitive advantage
- The system that you produce will only be as good as the communication structure you have in place while you build it
- The importance of learning to speak each other’s language – the terminology of development and business is different and it is necessary to t...2017-10-2336 min
Legacy Code RocksTechnology Activism with Emily GorcenskiEmily Gorcenski is an expert on aerospace software based in Charlottesville, Virginia. When we first reached out to her, we wanted to discuss estimating and budgeting for government projects. Then, tragedy struck. In this episode, we dive into a deep discussion about the intersection of technology, activism and identity politics in the context of Emily's on-the-ground account of the tragic violence that happened in her hometown. 2017-10-1458 min
Legacy Code RocksBeyond Legacy Code with David BernsteinDavid Bernstein, author of Beyond Legacy Code, chats with Scott and Andrea about nine development practices that can help us make it easier to work with (and even prevent) legacy code. 2017-09-2948 min
The Changelog: Software Development, Open SourceConversations about sustaining open source (Interview)This episode features conversations from Sustain 2017 at GitHub HQ with Richard Littauer, Karthik Ram, Andrea Goulet, and Scott Ford. Sustain was a one day conversation for open source software sustainers to share stories, resources, and ways forward to sustain open source.
Join the discussionChangelog++ members support our work, get closer to the metal, and make the ads disappear. Join today!Sponsors:Hired – Get hired. It’s free — in fact, they pay you to get hired. Our listeners get a double hiring bonus of $600.
Bugsnag – Mission control for software quality! Monitor website...2017-09-2255 minChangelog InterviewsConversations about sustaining open sourceThis episode features conversations from Sustain 2017 at GitHub HQ with Richard Littauer, Karthik Ram, Andrea Goulet, and Scott Ford. Sustain was a one day conversation for open source software sustainers to share stories, resources, and ways forward to sustain open source.
Join the discussionChangelog++ members support our work, get closer to the metal, and make the ads disappear. Join today!Sponsors:Hired – Get hired. It’s free — in fact, they pay you to get hired. Our listeners get a double hiring bonus of $600.
Bugsnag – Mission control for software quality! Monitor website...2017-09-2255 min
Legacy Code RocksBrexit with Krishna ThakurWhat does Britain leaving the European Union mean for the software industry? On a recent trip to London, Andrea found out through an insightful conversation with Krishna Thakur (http://www.capriconsulting.co.uk/). In this episode, we'll explore how Brexit is likely to impact developers on both sides of the pond. 2017-09-1340 min
Legacy Code RocksHuman Refactoring with Bryan BeechamBryan Beecham (https://www.industriallogic.com/people/bryan) is an Agile consultant with over 20 years of comprehensive IT experience as well as a Human Refactoring Guide. In this episode, we discuss becoming a minimalist developer, intentionally taking time off to increase your productivity and how passion doesn’t have to lead to burnout.2017-08-0941 min
Legacy Code RocksOpen Data with Edafe OnerhimeEdafe Onerhime (https://ekoner.com/) is a consultant on Data Science and Data Analysis who has over 20 years of experience answering difficult questions about open data. She has helped governments, charities and businesses make better decisions and build stronger relationships by understanding, using and sharing their data. In this episode, we discuss the history of open data, its importance in building communities and its similarities to open source and open science.2017-07-2043 min
Legacy Code RocksAgile for Autism with Martin LundIn this special episode recorded at the AATC 2017, Andrea Goulet speaks with Martin D. Lund, a scrum-certified software engineer who helps run an engineering team and a parent to three children on the autism spectrum. Founder of Agile for Autism (http://www.agile4autism.com/), a nonprofit initiative to help parents build educational and therapeutic programs for children with Autism Spectrum Disorders, Marty shares tips for working with someone on the autism spectrum and how he successfully implemented agile practices in his parenting.2017-05-2529 min
Private Equity FuncastMakers vs. Menders -- The Corgibytes InterviewJim talks with Andrea Goulet and M. Scott Ford from Corgibytes -- specialists in software remodeling. This is a continuing conversation on technical debt, the albatross around the neck of many companies. Our conversation focuses on Makers vs. Menders, so come have a listen.2017-05-191h 04
Legacy Code RocksAATC 2017 Recap with Llewellyn FalcoIn this special episode, returning guest, speaker and Agile technical coach Llewellyn Falco co-hosts with Corgibytes’ Chief Code Whisperer M. Scott Ford. They recap the talks they attended and cover topics such as pitching talks, the value of meetups and practice, adapting talks on-the-fly, pair programming, how technical “debt” is like credit card debt and weight gain, and more.2017-05-041h 02
Legacy Code RocksEstimates with Woody ZuillReturning guest Woody Zuill is a veteran programmer, sought-after consultant and international speaker, as well as credited with both the “no estimates” and the “mob programming” movements. In this episode, we discuss estimates, working on a problem versus working on a symptom, paradigm shifts, and much more!2017-04-061h 09
Legacy Code RocksHail the Maintainers with Andrew RussellDean of Arts & Sciences at SUNY Polytechnic Institute, Andrew Russell is a trained historian and researcher covering topics such as the history of technology and the history and societal aspects of computing. He is also the co-author, with Lee Vinsel, of Hail the Maintainers, and, together, they are behind The Maintainers, a global, interdisciplinary research network, which holds an annual conference in April. In this episode, we discuss the love of maintaining vs creating, why maintenance is overlooked compared to innovation, creative destruction, lifecycles, and so much more.2017-03-2359 min
Legacy Code RocksBeing a Software Craftsman with Scott NimrodScott Nimrod is a thriving entrepreneur, software consultant, and blogger who founded Bizmonger, a business that focuses on native application development for mobile and desktop environments, test automation, and the art of engineering reliable software. In this episode, we discuss being a software craftsman, taming code with empathy, functional programming, and taking charge of your professional life.2017-03-0953 min
Legacy Code RocksCode Quality with Robert Sösemann and Lorenzo FrattiniRobert Sösemann is an Agile and lean-code enthusiast, Lead Product Developer at Up2Go International, and inventor of ApexMetrics, a Code Climate engine. Lorenzo Frattini is a Salesforce-certified Technical Architect and creator of Clayton.io, a code-review robot. In this episode, we discuss code quality, how to measure it, when code is “done,” its business value, and more!2017-02-2254 min
Legacy Code RocksWorking Effectively with Legacy Code with Michael FeathersMichael Feathers (R7K Research & Conveyance) is a luminary, expert in software and organization design, and author of Working Effectively with Legacy Code. Over the past 20 years, he has spoken at conferences around the world, and some even call him the “godfather of legacy code.” In this episode, we discuss software best practices, Conway’s Law – or as Michael sometimes calls it, The Fundamental Theorem of Software Engineering –, the impact of code that could be deleted, and feature selection.2017-02-0844 min
Legacy Code RocksDynamic Reteaming with Heidi HelfandFrom early employee at AppFolio and Citrix to international consultant and speaker on team dynamics, Heidi Helfand is also the author of Dynamic Reteaming: The Art and Wisdom of Changing Teams. In this episode, we cover team stagnation, its causes, elements and best practices of dynamic reteaming and when reteaming should be an option.2017-01-2543 min
Legacy Code RocksComputer Sciences and Education with Rebecca DoviRebecca Dovi, who has over 20 years of experience teaching computer sciences, is the Director of Education at CodeVA, an organization that wrote legislation and worked with policymakers to make Virginia the first state where every child will receive access to essential Computer Science literacy – including coding – from kindergarten through graduation. In this episode, we discuss what that law entails, gender-bias triggers, how to attract more women to the field, and much more!2017-01-1145 min
Legacy Code RocksCoding with Empathy with Pavneet Singh SaundPavneet Singh Saund is a web developer, a team lead at Komplett Group (a leading Scandinavian player in e-commerce) and founder of a blog called Coding with Empathy (http://codingwithempathy.com/). In this episode, we explore the various aspects of empathy, how sympathy and empathy are different, and the application of empathy for developers.2016-12-1343 min
Legacy Code RocksPromise-Based Management with Brian BranaganBrian Branagan is a leadership and management coach (Quality Conversations) as well as an Agile leader who has cross-functional expertise in Application Lifecycle Management for project definition, planning, execution and customer delivery in both start-ups and Fortune 500 corporations. In this episode, we discuss what is generative leadership, promise-based management, and capacity-based planning.2016-11-3040 min
Legacy Code RocksA Mender's Story with Catalina De la cuestaCatalina De la cuesta is a Lead Code Whisperer at Corgibytes. She brought with her 18 years of deep embedded systems experience, a college-level teaching and entrepreneurship background, as well as a lifelong learner mindset. In this episode, we discuss what it’s like to be a mender full-time, what led Catalina to Corgibytes, and why diving into binary files can be fun.2016-11-1636 min
Legacy Code RocksBackend Content Strategy with Carrie HaneCarrie Hane is a Backend Content Strategist (Tanzen Consulting) who works on content modeling, database structures, automated content assembly, content reuse and a lot more. In this episode, we discuss what is backend content, what it's like to work with a strategist like Carrie and how to create future-friendly content.2016-11-0241 min
Legacy Code RocksAPIs with Chris BusseWith over 20 years of experience in the IT industry, Chris Busse, CTO of APIvista, recently helped launch the first public API platform for a North American bank. In this episode, we discuss what is an API, what is critical to its success, and how to find strategic success with digital initiatives.2016-10-1946 min
Hanselminutes with Scott HanselmanLearning to love Legacy Code with Andrea Goulet from CorgiBytesAndrea Goulet and her business partner Scott Ford love legacy code. No one is supposed to LIKE legacy code, right? Andrea and the team at CorgiBytes believes people are more than just makers - they are also menders. So how does one approach an old code base?
2016-08-0533 min
Legacy Code RocksMakers and MendersAndrea Goulet and Scott Ford from Corgibytes kick off the first episode of the Legacy Code Rocks podcast. In this episode, they discuss the idea of Makers (the developers who like to build things) and Menders (devs who like to fix things). 2016-05-1748 min