Audio
I hosted the Tech Done Right podcast for 72 episodes over almost three years. Below is the curated selection hosted here. I've also been a guest on other podcasts from time to time.
Tech Done Right
I’m very excited to have Dave Thomas and Andy Hunt on the show today. Dave and Andy are the authors of the Pragmatic Programmer, which has a 20th anniversary edition that is out now, and they are the publishers of the Pragmatic Bookshelf, where they have (full disclosure) published my books a time or two. We talk about what’s changed in the new version, what being a Pragmatic Programmer means, whether there’s still a role for tech books, and how to make automated testing pragmatic. Somehow I avoid telling the slightly embarrassing story about the bad impression I made the first time I met Dave. Enjoy.
Episode 68 · 2019
Pragmatic Programmer at 20 with Dave Thomas and Andy Hunt
with Andy Hunt, Dave Thomas
On this episode, we’ve got Sam Phippen and Justin Searls back for their third round on the show. Both of them have been working on new Ruby tools to better standardize your team’s style and code formatting. We talk about why they’ve decided these tools are important, what their philosophy of coding style is, how coding style relates to the Ruby community, and how they evaluate code when given a code sample to look at. We’d like to hear from you. How does your team handle differences of opinion in code style? Let us know at `techdoneright.io/54` or on Twitter at `@tech_done_right`
Episode 54 · 2019
Code Style and Community with Sam Phippen and Justin Searls
with Penelope Phippen, Justin Searls
What has changed in web development in the last 20 years, and what do those changes say about the next 20? I recently realized that Avdi Grimm, the head chef of Ruby Tapas, Sarah Mei, of Ruby Central and Salesforce, and I all began our professional careers within a couple of weeks of each other in August 1998. I wanted to talk to them about what’s changed and what’s stayed the same. I was curious as to whether our different career paths led to similar observations. We talk about open source, agile, dynamic languages, distributed systems and how they’ve all changed or haven’t changed the developer’s experience.
Episode 46 · 2018
20 Years of Web Development with Avdi Grimm and Sarah Mei
with Avdi Grimm, Sarah Mei
How do common Agile practices like pair programming and retrospectives work when you have diverse teams? How can you make sure that underrepresented team members have their voices heard, and how does doing so improve the way that your team delivers software? Besty Haibel, Jennifer Tu, and Marlena Compton discuss ways in which Agile practices can better serve your team in the real world. For more discussion, be sure to check out [PearConf](https://pearconf.splashthat.com/).
Episode 38 · 2018
Diverse Agile Teams with Marlena Compton, Betsy Haibel, and Jennifer Tu
with Marlena Compton, Betsy Haibel
I'm back in the testing weeds with Sam Phippen, lead maintainer for RSpec-Rails, and Justin Searls, co-founder of Test Double and author of testdouble.js. We talk about long-running test suites: are they bad, or just misunderstood? Does parallel CI solve all testing speed problems, or just some of them? Then we move to a wider view, what does it mean to test your library as part of a larger ecosystem. And, how can we leverage coverage or CI information to make for more useful testing tools over the lifetime of a project.
Episode 33 · 2018
Back in the Testing Weeds with Sam Phippen and Justin Searls
with Justin Searls, Penelope Phippen
Have you ever wondered what it's like to work with a software team? Perhaps you are a developer wondering what you seem like from the outside? Or maybe you are starting to work with a software team and you want to know what to expect? Cat de Merode and Matt McNamara join the show to talk about their experiences as product owners interacting with developer teams. We'll talk about what developers can do to build trust, how to work with product owners on estimates and to talk about technical topics. And they'll say what the most important things developers should know about working with their product owners.
Episode 29 · 2018
Developers from the Perspective of Product Owners
with Cat De Merode, Matt McNamara
Any profession that requires you to hit a budget and a deadline while balancing the project vision with practical logistics has a lot to say to software architects and project managers. Betsy Haibel was a professional theatrical set designer before becoming a software developer and architect, and we talk about how set design is like and not like software design. Not only do we talk about favorite shows, we also give you practical advice for designing your project.
Episode 21 · 2017
How Set Design Can Inform Software Architecture With Betsy Haibel
with Betsy Haibel
How do people learn computing? Who learns best from traditional computer science education and who from bootcamps? How can we teach people who are not developers but who need to learn some programming to do their jobs? Jeff Casimir, the founder of Turing academy, and Georgia Tech's Mark Guzdial, one of the founders of the International Computing Education Research conference, join Noel to answer these questions and also explain why Excel is both the best and the worst thing in the world.
Episode 20 · 2017
Developer Bootcamps and Computing Education with Jeff Casimir and Mark Guzdial
with Jeff Casimir, Mark Guzdial
How can you tell whether an agile software team is successful? Many teams use a single measure: velocity. Doc Norton, author of Escape Velocity, and Claire Podulka join the show to discuss why velocity is not a useful measure: it doesn't explain the problems with an unsuccessful team, and successful teams probably don't need it. We discuss the problems with velocity, what to use instead, and get on soapboxes for our least favorite agile anti-patterns.
Episode 15 · 2017
Agile Teams and Escaping Velocity with Doc Norton and Claire Podulka
with Doc Norton, Claire Podulka
How can you get honest feedback from co-workers, even when you are their manager? How can you support your team's career growth and support them as they improve their skills? Claire Lew, the CEO of Know your Company, and Dan Hodos, Table XI's Director of Operations, join Noel to discuss why listening is the most important thing you can do when getting feedback, how specific questions can break the "fine" reflex, how sticky notes can help with career growth, and the one thing you should never do in a one-on-one meeting.
Episode 12 · 2017
Managing For Career Development with Claire Lew and Dan Hodos
with Dan Hodos, Claire Lew
Sam Phippen, Justin Searls, and Noel Rappin spend this episode talking about the value of test-driven development (TDD) as well as its cost. They discuss the kinds of problems that developers are likely to have after they learn TDD and attempt to apply it to a large application. Learn why Rails is both great and terrible for automated testing, and how testing can influence the structure of your code.
Episode 4 · 2017
In The Testing Weeds With Sam Phippen and Justin Searls
with Justin Searls, Penelope Phippen
We talk about the role that trust has in building teams, and how improv games can help build that trust and improve the way you deliver feedback. We are joined by guests Jessie Shternshus, founder of The Improv Effect and Mark Rickmeier, CEO of Table XI.
Episode 1 · 2017
Building Trust and Building Teams with Jessie Shternshus and Mark Rickmeier
with Mark Rickmeier, Jesse Shternshus
This week, we have Ed LaFoy, who is Table XI’s Director of Mobile Development. Table XI’s mobile team does amazing work and uses a lot of external tools for testing, interface design, code quality, and beyond. If you are a web developer and looking to get a sense of how to match parts of your developer experience, listen to this interview. If you are a mobile developer, and you are having some developer pain in those areas, listen to this interview.
Episode 1 · 2017
Preview Episode 1: Mobile Development Toolkit with Ed LaFoy
with Mark Rickmeier, Jesse Shternshus
Guest Appearances
Ode to RailsConf
Noel RappinThe Bikeshed
The Pickaxe Book with Noel RappinMaintainable Software Podcast
Noel Rappin: Reviving the Pickaxe— A Journey through Ruby's Legacy
From The Beginning
Noel Rappin from Tech Done Right
Greater Than Code
Something Something Agile with Noel RappinRuby Testing Podcast
Noel Rappin, Author of Rails 5 Test PrescriptionsMy Ruby Story
Noel RappinCode Newbie
Take My Money with Noel RappinLeanPub Podcast
Noel Rappin, Author of Trust-Driven DevelopmentFull Stack Radio
Fixing Common Payment Handling MistakesFrontside Podcast
Taking Payments on the web with Noel RappinBuilding Programmers
Noel RappinRuby Rogues
Take My Money With Noel RappinCode Newbie
On Testing with Noel RappinRuby Rogues
Rails 4 Test PrescriptionsRuby Rogues
Software CraftsmanshipCoderpath
Noel Rappin