The Bike Shed

Our hosts come together to wrap up season 2 and share some of their highlights along the way. Our trio expand and recap on some key topics covered over the last few months, Sally and Joël provide updates on their work with typescripts and LLMs, and Aji accidentally stumbles into an idea for a new keynote topic. — Your hosts for this episode have been thoughtbot’s own Joël Quenneville, Sally Hall and Aji Slater. If you would like to support the show, head over to our GitHub page, or check out our website. Got a question or comment about the show? Why not write to our hosts: [email protected] This has been a thoughtbot podcast. Stay up to date by following us on social media - YouTube - LinkedIn - Mastodon - BlueSky © 2026 thoughtbot, inc.

Aji and Joël get into a flow as they discuss the different diagrams that help guide their thought processes when working. Together they compare their go to diagrams and why they find them so useful, the different analysis tools a diagram can offer and the alternative perspective on your work it provides, as well as how using diagrams can help communicate your mental models more effectively with your colleagues. — Be sure to check out these resources on diagrams and conditionals for some wider reading on today’s episode - BeautifulMermaid Repo - Visualising RSepc - Structuring Conditionals You can also find our hosts speaking at various conferences over the next few months - Haggis Ruby - Blue Ridge Ruby Your hosts for this episode have been thoughtbot’s own Joël Quenneville and Aji Slater. If you would like to support the show, head over to our GitHub page, or check out our website. Got a question or comment about the show? Why not write to our hosts: [email protected] This has been a thoughtbot podcast. Stay up to date by following us on social media - YouTube - LinkedIn - Mastodon - BlueSky © 2026 thoughtbot, inc.

Joël and Sally cover all the bases as they look at improving their test suite performances times. Our hosts lay out some spicy takes on various different test suites, comparing the key differences across the different forms of testing, where you might encounter pitfalls in each method, and how to make the most of each test. — Interested in exploring different test suites to see if they could improve your projects? Check out these articles on everything our hosts discussed today, as well as Joël’s talk on slow tests. Avoiding Factory Bot - Why Factories? - Parallelisation in Testing - Joël’s Talk Your hosts for this episode have been thoughtbot’s own Joël Quenneville and Sally Hall. If you would like to support the show, head over to our GitHub page, or check out our website. Got a question or comment about the show? Why not write to our hosts: [email protected] This has been a thoughtbot podcast. Stay up to date by following us on social media - YouTube - LinkedIn - Mastodon - BlueSky © 2026 thoughtbot, inc.

Sally and Aji flick through thoughtbot’s guide to best practices in a bid to brush up on their coding habits. Our hosts discuss key ideas from the guides that stand out to them the most, why they’re considered to be good practice, as well as reviewing the cons of complex writing and the benefits of simple coding. — Be sure to check out Sally’s new repo Michel if you’re looking to create an appointment database, and check out the thoughtbot guides for more general coding advice. If you’ve got some spare time and want to hear Aji’s talk on breaking the enigma code you can watch that here. Your hosts for this episode have been thoughtbot’s own Sally Hall and Aji Slater. If you would like to support the show, head over to our GitHub page, or check out our website. Got a question or comment about the show? Why not write to our hosts: [email protected] This has been a thoughtbot podcast. Stay up to date by following us on social media - YouTube - LinkedIn - Mastodon - BlueSky © 2026 thoughtbot, inc.

Joël and Sally examine the simpler components of programming and why using basic data structures may not always be the best approach to solving a problem. Our hosts cover all the telltale signs and symptoms of primitive obsession, what it is, it’s drawbacks and limitations, and how to avoid it creeping into your own work. — Want to learn more about primitive obsession and readability in programming? Check out these links for some wider reading, including a talk from Joël! - Design Patterns and Null - thoughtbot blog on primitive obsession - Define User Your hosts for this episode have been thoughtbot’s own Joël Quenneville and Sally Hall. If you would like to support the show, head over to our GitHub page, or check out our website. Got a question or comment about the show? Why not write to our hosts: [email protected] This has been a thoughtbot podcast. Stay up to date by following us on social media - YouTube - LinkedIn - Mastodon - BlueSky © 2026 thoughtbot, inc.

Joël talks with guest thoughtbotter Steve Polito about his recent work rewriting Suspenders, an old thoughtbot gem from the 2000s. Steve discusses his role on the rewrite and the steps he took in optimising it for modern rails, Joël dives into some of the new features found in the gem, before discussing with Steve the use cases for Suspenders and why you might choose it over other rails starter apps. — Want to learn more about our gem Suspenders? Check out some of these links to get yourself up to speed and try it for yourself. Suspenders Gem - Suspenders Feature List - thoughtbot’s guide for programming Your hosts for this episode have been thoughtbot’s own Joël Quenneville and Steve Polito. If you would like to support the show, head over to our GitHub page, or check out our website. Got a question or comment about the show? Why not write to our hosts: [email protected] This has been a thoughtbot podcast. Stay up to date by following us on social media - YouTube - LinkedIn - Mastodon - BlueSky © 2026 thoughtbot, inc.

Sally and Aji assess some common metrics for success when working a project and how they may not always provide the clearest picture of how things are going. Together they discuss how to communicate effectively with stakeholders who are less technical to fully appreciate certain decisions and choices being made on a project, as well as the different metrics you can use to better reflect success and setbacks on a project. — Your hosts for this episode have been thoughtbot’s own Sally Hall and Aji Slater. If you would like to support the show, head over to our GitHub page, or check out our website. Got a question or comment about the show? Why not write to our hosts: [email protected] This has been a thoughtbot podcast. Stay up to date by following us on social media - YouTube - LinkedIn - Mastodon - BlueSky © 2026 thoughtbot, inc.

Joël and Aji reference their personal bibliographies as they compare the different influences that have shaped their programmer world view. Our hosts discuss their most influential programming material, from books, talks and video, and how it’s impacted the way they write code, Joël hones in on the importance of confidence and dealing with uncertainty of objects in a project, while Aji dips into his knowledge of RailConf talks to find his biggest inspiration. — Take a leaf out of our hosts book and discover some of the material that influenced them and their work for yourself - POODR - Confident Ruby - RailsConf 2014 Talk - Take Smart Notes - Working Effectively with Legacy Code Your hosts for this episode have been thoughtbot’s own Joël Quenneville and Aji Slater. If you would like to support the show, head over to our GitHub page, or check out our website. Got a question or comment about the show? Why not write to our hosts: [email protected] This has been a thoughtbot podcast. Stay up to date by following us on social media - YouTube - LinkedIn - Mastodon - BlueSky © 2026 thoughtbot, inc.

Our hosts discuss the pros of AI and where they find the tool genuinely useful, it’s limitations, downsides and where it’s causing harm, the differences between bad AI code and human code, before asking the question of where this AI boom could be leading us. — To get more of an insight into today’s episode consider watching Sandi Metz's RubyConf talk to learn more about red-lighting, or read the article Aji mentioned about running out of ideas. Thanks to our sponsor for this episode Scout Monitoring. Your hosts for this episode have been thoughtbot’s own Sally Hall and Aji Slater. If you would like to support the show, head over to our GitHub page, or check out our website. Got a question or comment about the show? Why not write to our hosts: [email protected] This has been a thoughtbot podcast. Stay up to date by following us on social media - YouTube - LinkedIn - Mastodon - BlueSky © 2026 thoughtbot, inc.

Joël and Sally tidy up the place as they discuss the different ways a new codebase and team can feel welcoming to them. Together they break down the things that help them ingrate into a new project more easily, explain why the lore of a project can be sacred to some, what you can do in the present to make things easier for a developer down the road, and why communication is crucial for keeping everyone on the same page even long after you’ve moved on. — Check out these resources for a deeper dive into some of the topics mentioned in this week’s episode - Fixtures - Hierarchy of Documentation - Domain Modelling 1 - Domain Modelling 2 Thanks to our sponsor for this episode Scout Monitoring. Your hosts for this episode have been thoughtbot’s own Joël Quenneville and Sally Hall. If you would like to support the show, head over to our GitHub page, or check out our website. Got a question or comment about the show? Why not write to our hosts: [email protected] This has been a thoughtbot podcast. Stay up to date by following us on social media - YouTube - LinkedIn - Mastodon - BlueSky © 2026 thoughtbot, inc.

Aji and Joël talk all things hackerthons and why taking the time to have a little having fun with your work every now and then is important for developers. Our hosts reflect on their shared experience at a previous RailsConf where they entered a mini hackerthon, why playing around in a creative sandbox is crucial to honing your skills as a dev, and how programming on the fly can teach you a lot about your own strengths and weaknesses. — Read more about Joël’s entry in Rails Rumble, as well as their participation in the RailsConf 2022 mini Hackerthon. Thanks to our sponsors for this episode Judoscale - Autoscale the Right Way (check the link for your free gift!), and Scout Monitoring. Your hosts for this episode have been thoughtbot’s own Joël Quenneville and Aji Slater. If you would like to support the show, head over to our GitHub page, or check out our website. Got a question or comment about the show? Why not write to our hosts: [email protected] This has been a thoughtbot podcast. Stay up to date by following us on social media - YouTube - LinkedIn - Mastodon - BlueSky © 2025 thoughtbot, inc.

Joël contributes some thoughts on working with custom attributes as he follows up on last week’s discussion about ActiveModels with Sally. Joël breaks down how he transforms various strings and objects when working with ActiveModels to simplify more advance workloads, as Sally queries their different use cases and how best to utilise them for her own workflow. — Catch up on Sally and Aji’s episode from last week on ActiveModels before diving into this discussion! If you’d like to give some of the gems mentioned in this episode a try for yourself they can be found here - phonelib - money-rails - astronoby Thanks to our sponsors for this episode Judoscale - Autoscale the Right Way (check the link for your free gift!), and Scout Monitoring. Your hosts for this episode have been thoughtbot’s own Joël Quenneville and Sally Hall. If you would like to support the show, head over to our GitHub page, or check out our website. Got a question or comment about the show? Why not write to our hosts: [email protected] This has been a thoughtbot podcast. Stay up to date by following us on social media - YouTube - LinkedIn - Mastodon - BlueSky © 2025 thoughtbot, inc.

Aji and Sally join forces to discuss the different ways they utilise active models in their workflows. Aji describes a new system for working with active models they’ve been using recently, Sally recalls a project where active models could have saved her a lot of time, before putting their heads together to think of new creative ways to utilise rails’ tools toolset to build other active models. — Discover more of The Magic of Rails through Eileen Uchitelle’s Keynote, or check out the GitHub repo mentioned in this episode. Thanks to our sponsors for this episode Judoscale - Autoscale the Right Way (check the link for your free gift!), and Scout Monitoring. Your hosts for this episode have been thoughtbot’s own Sally Hall and Aji Slater. If you would like to support the show, head over to our GitHub page, or check out our website. Got a question or comment about the show? Why not write to our hosts: [email protected] This has been a thoughtbot podcast. Stay up to date by following us on social media - YouTube - LinkedIn - Mastodon - BlueSky © 2025 thoughtbot, inc.

Joël and Aji kick off a new season by discussing the best use cases for HTTP basic auth and talking all things security. The pair ask when and why you would use basic auth over standard HTTPS, it’s pros, cons and vulnerabilities over other forms of security, and provide some advice to help decide on what form of security you could implement on your site. — Thanks to our sponsors for this episode Judoscale - Autoscale the Right Way (check the link for your free gift!), and Scout Monitoring. Check out these links for more information on some of the topics covered in today’s episode - Cross-Origin Resource Sharing - Cross-site request forgery (CSRF) - The Universe is Hostile to Computers Your hosts for this episode have been thoughtbot’s own Joël Quenneville and Aji Slater. If you would like to support the show, head over to our GitHub page, or check out our website. Got a question or comment about the show? Why not write to our hosts: [email protected] This has been a thoughtbot podcast. Stay up to date by following us on social media - YouTube - LinkedIn - Mastodon - BlueSky © 2025 thoughtbot, inc.

Our Bike Shed trio check back in with one another to follow up on some topics that caught their attention over the course of season 1. Sally covers her time working with React over the last few months and the challenges it still presents to her workflow, Joël goes back over typescripts and the benefits he’s found when debugging, and the cast reflect on the first season as a whole, what they liked, what went well and what they’d like to improve on for season 2. — Thanks to our sponsors for this episode Judoscale - Autoscale the Right Way (check the link for your free gift!), and Scout Monitoring. You can read up on some of the topics mentioned in this episode here - Constructive vs Predictive Data - Aji’s Keynote - Aji’s Recommended Keynote from 2022 Your hosts for this episode have been thoughtbot’s own Joël Quenneville, Sally Hall and Aji Slater If you would like to support the show, head over to our GitHub page, or check out our website. Got a question or comment about the show? Why not write to our hosts: [email protected] This has been a thoughtbot podcast. Stay up to date by following us on social media - YouTube - LinkedIn - Mastodon - BlueSky © 2025 thoughtbot, inc.

Joël and Sally compare various note taking styles as they set out to find which ones work best for them. The pair break down the different ways of formatting their notes and what they’re used for, Sally explains her struggles with note taking in general and the work arounds she’s found to achieve similar results instead, and Joël provides a small update on his book as he examines the different use cases for all his notes. — Thanks to our sponsors for this episode Judoscale - Autoscale the Right Way (check the link for your free gift!), and Scout Monitoring. Read about Joël’s note taking in depth through his thoughtbot blog posts - Blog 1 - Blog 2 Your hosts for this episode have been thoughtbot’s own Joël Quenneville and Sally Hall. If you would like to support the show, head over to our GitHub page, or check out our website. Got a question or comment about the show? Why not write to our hosts: [email protected] This has been a thoughtbot podcast. Stay up to date by following us on social media - YouTube - LinkedIn - Mastodon - BlueSky © 2025 thoughtbot, inc.

Joël and Sally analyse their job titles as they try to figure out exactly which borrowed labels best define their work at thoughtbot. Together they break down the components of commonly used titles such as engineer, architect and consultant to see which element reflects their work best, how they would describe their roles at thoughtbot, which industries they’d draw from if they came up with their own titles, and what does Lil Wayne have to do with all this? — For a deeper dive into today’s episode consider checking out Hillel Wayne’s post “Are we really engineers?” and Henrik Kniberg’s article on Minimal Viable Products. Thanks to our sponsors for this episode Judoscale - Autoscale the Right Way (check the link for your free gift!), and Scout Monitoring. Your hosts for this episode have been thoughtbot’s own Joël Quenneville and Sally Hall. If you would like to support the show, head over to our GitHub page, or check out our website. Got a question or comment about the show? Why not write to our hosts: [email protected] This has been a thoughtbot podcast. Stay up to date by following us on social media - YouTube - LinkedIn - Mastodon - BlueSky © 2025 thoughtbot, inc.

Joël and Sally grab a flashlight to share some scary dev stories with each other to celebrate spooky season. Sally tales the tale of the missing production database, Joël flees from some corrupted data, and each recall instances of haunted code and heart stopping moments from projects gone wrong. — Thanks to our sponsors for this episode Judoscale - Autoscale the Right Way (check the link for your free gift!), and Scout Monitoring. If you’re ever in Amsterdam consider checking out Joël’s museum recommendation. Your hosts for this episode have been thoughtbot’s own Joël Quenneville and Sally Hall. If you would like to support the show, head over to our GitHub page, or check out our website. Got a question or comment about the show? Why not write to our hosts: [email protected] This has been a thoughtbot podcast. Stay up to date by following us on social media - YouTube - LinkedIn - Mastodon - BlueSky © 2025 thoughtbot, inc.

Aji gets their priorities straight as they talks with fellow thoughtboter Jared Turner about his recent article titled The President’s Doctor. Jared breaks down the thought process behind the president’s doctor and the wasted time we accrue when working on a project, where we can minimise pauses and delays in our workflows, and why watching cat videos while you wait may actually be the most productive thing you can do! — Thanks to our sponsors for this episode Judoscale - Autoscale the Right Way (check the link for your free gift!), and Scout Monitoring. Read Jared’s article to get a full breakdown of The President’s Doctor theory. Your host for this episode has been Aji Slater and was joined by fellow thoughtboter Jared Turner. If you would like to support the show, head over to our GitHub page, or check out our website. Got a question or comment about the show? Why not write to our hosts: [email protected] This has been a thoughtbot podcast. Stay up to date by following us on social media - YouTube - LinkedIn - Mastodon - BlueSky © 2025 thoughtbot, inc.

Aji and Sally set out to crack the problems surrounding remote working as they share their thoughts on the various aspect of working from home. Together they discuss their time at the recent thoughtbot summit in Amsterdam, how they felt about working in-person again, what they took away from the experience, the best remote solutions they’ve found to recreate that in-person feeling, and what friction points about remote working still linger for them both. — Thanks to our sponsors for this episode Judoscale - Autoscale the Right Way (check the link for your free gift!), and Scout Monitoring. Sign up for thoughtbot’s open summit at the end of the month. Your hosts for this episode have been thoughtbot’s own Sally Hall and Aji Slater If you would like to support the show, head over to our GitHub page, or check out our website. Got a question or comment about the show? Why not write to our hosts: [email protected] This has been a thoughtbot podcast. Stay up to date by following us on social media - YouTube - LinkedIn - Mastodon - BlueSky © 2025 thoughtbot, inc.

Aji and Sally sit down to discuss their struggles with ADHD and the systems they have in place to stay focused at work. They each share the note taking systems and tools they use to navigate a normal working day, how they came to fully understand and manage their ADHD, and Sally reminds us all why it’s very important to use a slash in your Slack reminders. — This episode of the Bike Shed has been sponsored by Judoscale - Autoscale the Right Way, check the link for your free gift! Try out the reminder app Aji mentioned in this episode to help keep yourself on track. Your hosts for this episode have been thoughtbot’s own Sally Hall and Aji Slater If you would like to support the show, head over to our GitHub page, or check out our website. Got a question or comment about the show? Why not write to our hosts: [email protected] This has been a thoughtbot podcast. Stay up to date by following us on social media - YouTube - LinkedIn - Mastodon - BlueSky © 2025 thoughtbot, inc.

Time to plan an upgrade as Joël and Aji talk about the hurdles involved with various change management in their projects. The pair lay out some different approaches to protecting your data when planning a migration, the risks of code and data changes, the elements that will and won’t be affect in the process, and Joël gives his experience on a tough migration project and what he learnt from it. — If you’ve not used Merge before you can learn more about it here. Thanks to our sponsors for this episode Judoscale - Autoscale the Right Way (check the link for your free gift!), and Scout Monitoring. Your hosts for this episode have been thoughtbot’s own Joël Quenneville and Aji Slater If you would like to support the show, head over to our GitHub page, or check out our website. Got a question or comment about the show? Why not write to our hosts: [email protected] This has been a thoughtbot podcast. Stay up to date by following us on social media - YouTube - LinkedIn - Mastodon - BlueSky © 2025 thoughtbot, inc.

Joël and Sally sit down to discuss their green and red flags when it comes to PR review. Joël breaks down the different ways humans review code vs AI, how they both break down large projects into smaller digestible PRs and clarifying your reasoning for certain decisions, as well as discussing the most common red flags they’ve encountered when looking over code. — Take a break from coding to brush up on your Roman History. Thanks to our sponsors for this episode Judoscale - Autoscale the Right Way (check the link for your free gift!), and Scout Monitoring. Your hosts for this episode have been thoughtbot’s own Joël Quenneville and Sally Hall. If you would like to support the show, head over to our GitHub page, or check out our website. Got a question or comment about the show? Why not write to our hosts: [email protected] This has been a thoughtbot podcast. Stay up to date by following us on social media - YouTube - LinkedIn - Mastodon - BlueSky © 2025 thoughtbot, inc.

Sally and Aji discuss their experiences with invisible mentorship when it comes to code review. Together they question when is the right time to have conversations with your team in a bid to chase improvement, the importance of understanding your co-workers perspectives, as well as the best ways to initiate a mentoring moment. — Check out some of the things mentioned in this episode - The Coding Train - Sarah Mel’s Livable Code Thanks to our sponsors for this episode Judoscale - Autoscale the Right Way (check the link for your free gift!), and Scout Monitoring. Your hosts for this episode have been thoughtbot’s own Sally Hall and Aji Slater If you would like to support the show, head over to our GitHub page, or check out our website. Got a question or comment about the show? Why not write to our hosts: [email protected] This has been a thoughtbot podcast. Stay up to date by following us on social media - YouTube - LinkedIn - Mastodon - BlueSky © 2025 thoughtbot, inc.

It’s board game night at the Bike Shed as Joël and Aji crack out the game pieces to assess how their work as programmers influences strategy when playing some of their favourite games. As they make their way round the board they discuss the cycle of setbacks and iteration, finding the optimal solution to a puzzle, as well as the key skills that best links their programming work to board games. — Thanks to our sponsors for this episode Judoscale - Autoscale the Right Way (check the link for your free gift!), and Scout Monitoring. Check out the upcoming conferences mentioned in this episode - XO Ruby and Rocky Mountain Your hosts for this episode have been thoughtbot’s own Joël Quenneville and Aji Slater. If you would like to support the show, head over to our GitHub page, or check out our website. Got a question or comment about the show? Why not write to our hosts: [email protected] This has been a thoughtbot podcast. Stay up to date by following us on social media - YouTube - LinkedIn - Mastodon - BlueSky © 2025 thoughtbot, inc.

Joël prepares to write his new book by asking Sally some fundamental questions about Web browsers. Together they look to answer the deceptively simple question of what is a browser, examining what they are at their core, what they’re capable of beyond basic functions, the nuances of programming for the web across different systems and devices on the front and back end, as well as unpacking the surprising benefits of different forms of browsers like the terminal text based platform Lynx. — Thanks to our sponsors for this episode Judoscale - Autoscale the Right Way (check the link for your free gift!), and Scout Monitoring. Your hosts for this episode have been thoughtbot’s own Joël Quenneville and Sally Hall. If you would like to support the show, head over to our GitHub page, or check out our website. Got a question or comment about the show? Why not write to our hosts: [email protected] This has been a thoughtbot podcast. Stay up to date by following us on social media - YouTube - LinkedIn - Mastodon - BlueSky © 2025 thoughtbot, inc.

Sally and Joël kick off a new season of the Bike Shed by asking the question, what exactly is it that we as developers even do around here? Together they discuss their roles as developers, how their workflows and skills have changed over time, the value of context and experience when evaluating different solutions to a problem, why so much of their work revolves around googling error codes, and giving some advice to aspiring junior developers. — Thanks to our sponsors for this episode Judoscale - Autoscale the Right Way (check the link for your free gift!), and Scout Monitoring. Your hosts for this episode have been thoughtbot’s own Joël Quenneville and Sally Hall. If you would like to support the show, head over to our GitHub page, or check out our website. Got a question or comment about the show? Why not write to our hosts: [email protected] This has been a thoughtbot podcast. Stay up to date by following us on social media - YouTube - LinkedIn - Mastodon - BlueSky © 2025 thoughtbot, inc.

Joël is joined by some familiar faces in today’s episode of the Bike Shed to help reveal some exciting changes to the show as he asks his new co-hosts, what’s new in your world? — Thanks to our sponsors for this episode Judoscale - Autoscale the Right Way (check the link for your free gift!), and Scout Monitoring. Joining Joël Quenneville as your new co-hosts are Aji Slater and Sally Hall. Get to know your hosts a little better by checking out Sally’s recent episode on timezones or Aji’s RailsConf Keynote and handy list of previous keynotes. If you would like to support the show, head over to our GitHub page, or check out our website. Got a question or comment about the show? Why not write to our hosts: [email protected] This has been a thoughtbot podcast. Stay up to date by following us on social media - YouTube - LinkedIn - Mastodon - BlueSky © 2025 thoughtbot, inc.

Joël talks with Adam McCrea, founder of Judoscale, about the best ways to manage your queues and autoscaling. Adam discusses some tough lessons he learnt recently during a technical outage at Judoscale, what exactly autoscaling is and how it works, the best signals to assess when working with an autoscaler, and provides some simple tips to better organise your own queues. — You can connect with Adam via LinkedIn or check out the work he does with Judoscale, who have also sponsored this episode of The Bike Shed. Be sure to claim your free gift if you haven’t already! Thanks to the second sponsor of this episode Scout Monitoring. Your host for this episode has been thoughtbot’s own Joël Quenneville. If you would like to support the show, head over to our GitHub page, or check out our website. Got a question or comment about the show? Why not write to our hosts: [email protected] This has been a thoughtbot podcast. Stay up to date by following us on social media - YouTube - LinkedIn - Mastodon - BlueSky © 2025 thoughtbot, inc.

Joël and fellow thoughtbotter Jimmy Thigpen assess their AI workflows and question whether LLM partners really are as helpful as they claim to be. Joël points out the blindspots AI can have when processing certain requests, they each share the ways they utilise AI into their workflow and pros and cons of doing so, as well as looking at some of the areas of improvement they would each like to see made to various AI agents in the future. — Thanks to our sponsors for this episode Judoscale - Autoscale the Right Way (check the link for your free gift!), and Scout Monitoring. Your host for this episode has been thoughtbot’s own Joël Quenneville, and you can connect with this week’s guest Jimmy Thigpen over on LinkedIn. If you would like to support the show, head over to our GitHub page, or check out our website. Got a question or comment about the show? Why not write to our hosts: [email protected] This has been a thoughtbot podcast. Stay up to date by following us on social media - YouTube - LinkedIn - Mastodon - BlueSky © 2025 thoughtbot, inc.

Joël sits down with Tess Griffin as they take a moment to recap the very last RailsConf together. The pair discuss their favourite moments from final conference, how their love of D&D has crossed over to shape their experiences attending RailsConf, and the future of the show as a whole. — Thanks to our sponsors for this episode Judoscale - Autoscale the Right Way (check the link for your free gift!), and Scout Monitoring. Your guest this week was Tess Griffin and your host for this episode has been thoughtbot’s Joël Quenneville. If you would like to support the show, head over to our GitHub page, or check out our website. Got a question or comment about the show? Why not write to our hosts: [email protected] This has been a thoughtbot podcast. Stay up to date by following us on social media - YouTube - LinkedIn - Mastodon - BlueSky © 2025 thoughtbot, inc.

Joël continues his preparations for the last RailsConf as he talks with Matheus about how to make the most of your time at the conference. Hear their tips to connect and communicate with other attendees, the different ways to take notes at the various talks you can attend, what to do when your discussions have a lull, as well as how to draw inspiration from others talks and using it to your advantage. — Don’t miss out on the final RailsConf which takes place July 8th - July 10th in Philadelphia, PA! Thanks to our sponsors for this episode Judoscale - Autoscale the Right Way (check the link for your free gift!), and Scout Monitoring. You can connect with Matheus via LinkedIn, or check out some of the topics he’s written about over on his thoughtbot blog. Your host for this episode has been Joël Quenneville. If you would like to support the show, head over to our GitHub page, or check out our website. Got a question or comment about the show? Why not write to our hosts: [email protected] This has been a thoughtbot podcast. Stay up to date by following us on social media - YouTube - LinkedIn - Mastodon - BlueSky © 2025 thoughtbot, inc.

As the final RailsConf draws near Joël and Aji Slater sit down to discuss its varied and interesting history of keynote presentations. The pair reminisce on their previous trips and talks at RailsConf, share some tips on creating the perfect keynote, as well as discussing the strong community that’s rallied behind RailsConf for so many years and how to best connect with others at similar cons as an audience member. — Don’t miss out on the final RailsConf which takes place July 8th - July 10th in Philadelphia, PA! Get ready for by checking out Aji’s recommenced keynotes from previous years 2022 - 2017 Thanks to our sponsors for this episode Judoscale - Autoscale the Right Way (check the link for your free gift!), and Scout Monitoring. You can connect with Aji via LinkedIn and GitHub, or check out some of the topics they've written about over on their thoughtbot blog. Your host for this episode has been Joël Quenneville. If you would like to support the show, head over to our GitHub page, or check out our website. Got a question or comment about the show? Why not write to our hosts: [email protected] This has been a thoughtbot podcast. Stay up to date by following us on social media - YouTube - LinkedIn - Mastodon - BlueSky © 2025 thoughtbot, inc.

Elaina Natario returns to talk with Joël about what makes good quality product design and the priorities that shape development. The pair discuss the importance of certain elements such as security and accessibility, maintaining certain standards throughout development, as well as judging the practical applications of prototypes within a project and the broad role they play. — The Sponsor for this episode has been Judoscale - Autoscale the Right Way. Check out the link for your free gift! You can read more about about inaccessable prototypes here, or listen to the episode Joël mentioned with Aji about different typescripts here! Your guest for this week has been Elaina Natario and you host has been Joël Quenneville. If you would like to support the show, head over to our GitHub page, or check out our website. Got a question or comment about the show? Why not write to our hosts: [email protected] This has been a thoughtbot podcast. Stay up to date by following us on social media - YouTube - LinkedIn - Mastodon - BlueSky © 2025 thoughtbot, inc. — Credit: Ad-read music by joystock.org

Joël and Rémy draw inspiration from the stars as they discuss Rémy’s new open source Ruby gem, Astonoby. Rémy reveals the challenges he faced in taking on this project, the scientific translation work that went into making it accessible for everyone, as well as the key lessons he learnt from modelling the cosmos. — The Sponsor for this episode has been Judoscale - Autoscale the Right Way. Check out the link for your free gift! If you’re enthusiastic about space and want to try out Rémy’s new gem tool, you can find it here. Alternatively you can read more about astronomical computing here. Your host for this episode has been thoughtbot’s own Joël Quenneville and was accompanied by Rémy, who can be found over on LinkedIn, or through social media under the handle @rhannequin If you would like to support the show, head over to our GitHub page, or check out our website. Got a question or comment about the show? Why not write to our hosts: [email protected] This has been a thoughtbot podcast. Stay up to date by following us on social media - YouTube - LinkedIn - Mastodon - BlueSky © 2025 thoughtbot, inc. — Credit: Ad-read music by joystock.org

Joël strikes up a dialogue with fellow thoughtboter Elaina Natario about the various use cases of modals. Together they discuss their pros and cons, the dos and don’ts, their functionality and accessibility to the end user as well as the subtle differences you'll notice when compared to dialogs. — The Sponsor for this episode has been Judoscale - Autoscale the Right Way. Check out the link for your free gift! Your guest for this week has been Elaina Natario and you host has been Joël Quenneville. If you would like to support the show, head over to our GitHub page, or check out our website. Got a question or comment about the show? Why not write to our hosts: [email protected] This has been a thoughtbot podcast. Stay up to date by following us on social media - YouTube - LinkedIn - Mastodon - BlueSky © 2025 thoughtbot, inc. — Credit: Ad-read music by joystock.org

Joël and Steve sit down to discuss the ins and outs of decomposition within their respective workflows and how they use it to their advantage when working on certain projects. Together they look at working with vertical slices over other decomposition methods, when and how to break down code as efficiently as possible, and Joël lays out his three key principles that help him write code dubbed “The Triangle of Separation”. — The Sponsor for this episode has been Judoscale - Autoscale the Right Way. Check out the link for your free gift! Learn more about Joël’s triangle of separation and working with vertical slices! Your guest this week has been Steve Polito, and your host for this episode has been thoughtbot’s own Joël Quenneville. You can find Steve’s work over on GitHub, or dive into more of his thought processes over on his thoughtbot’s blogs. If you would like to support the show, head over to our GitHub page, or check out our website. Got a question or comment about the show? Why not write to our hosts: [email protected] This has been a thoughtbot podcast. Stay up to date by following us on social media - YouTube - LinkedIn - Mastodon - BlueSky © 2025 thoughtbot, inc. — Credit: Ad-read music by joystock.org

Joël talks with fellow thoughtboter Sara about the different ways developers can help one another across the various stages of an app’s lifecycle. They highlight the importance of utilising notes early on to clarify your work for others who may need it later down the line, how tooling can aid with this at all stages of development, and what lessons can be learnt from coding decisions made by someone else. — The Sponsor for this episode has been Judoscale - Autoscale the Right Way. Check out the link for your free gift! Check out Steve Polito’s Hotwire essentials project, featured in Episode 452. Your host for this episode has been Joël Quenneville and was accompanied by Sara Jackson. If you would like to support the show, head over to our GitHub page, or check out our website. Got a question or comment about the show? Why not write to our hosts: [email protected] This has been a thoughtbot podcast. Stay up to date by following us on social media - YouTube - LinkedIn - Mastodon - BlueSky © 2025 thoughtbot, inc. — Credit: Ad-read music by joystock.org

Start taking notes in this episode as Joël and Valerie discuss the different ways in which they structure their note taking systems to improve their workflows. Together they cover the best ways to get started with serious note taking, how to best map out your thoughts so they make the most sense when you come back round to them, as well as examining the different use cases they have for them both over the course of a working day. — The Sponsor for this episode has been Judoscale - Autoscale the Right Way. Check out the link for your free gift! Take notes like a pro with Obsidian and then read what Joël has to say on his own note taking. Your guest this week has been Valerie Burzynski, and your host for this episode has been thoughtbot’s own Joël Quenneville. If you would like to support the show, head over to our GitHub page, or check out our website. Got a question or comment about the show? Why not write to our hosts: [email protected] This has been a thoughtbot podcast. Stay up to date by following us on social media - YouTube - LinkedIn - Mastodon - BlueSky © 2025 thoughtbot, inc. — Credit: Ad-read music by joystock.org

Joël and thoughtbot colleague Sally Hall set out to find an answer to the question, what exactly are the differences between paper data structures and digitals ones? They compare the different ways humans store and access data, from rolodexs to the dewey decimal system, browsing a system vs searching it, and how the digital age has changed the way we assess and look at data stored in those systems. — Change your organisational workflow and get yourself a Rolodex! Find out more about the Dewey Decimal System. Your guest this week has been [Sally Hall](linkedin.com/in/sallyannahall), and your host for this episode has been thoughtbot’s own Joël Quenneville. If you would like to support the show, head over to our GitHub page, or check out our website. Got a question or comment about the show? Why not write to our hosts: [email protected] This has been a thoughtbot podcast. Stay up to date by following us on social media - YouTube - LinkedIn - Mastodon - BlueSky © 2025 thoughtbot, inc.

Joël and fellow thoughtboter Aji Slater examine the unfamiliar world of Typescript and various ways of working within it’s system. They lay out the pros and cons of Typescript over other environments such as Ruby and Elm and discuss their experience of adopting LLM partners to assist in their workflows. Using ChatGPT and Claude to verify code and trim down syntax, all while trying to appease the type checker. Discover the little tips, tricks and bad habits they picked up along the way while working with their LLM buddies in an effort to improve efficiency. — Check out Ruby2D for all your 2D app needs! You can connect with Aji via LinkedIn and GitHub, or check out some of the topics they've written about over on their thoughtbot blog. Your host for this episode has been Joël Quenneville. If you would like to support the show, head over to our GitHub page, or check out our website. Got a question or comment about the show? Why not write to our hosts: [email protected] This has been a thoughtbot podcast. Stay up to date by following us on social media - YouTube - LinkedIn - Mastodon - Bluesky © 2025 thoughtbot, inc.

Joël enlists the help of thoughtbot colleague Sally Hall as they dive into the complex world of time zones, daylight savings, measurements and coding. Together they discuss their struggles with daylight savings throwing off their recent project reporting, the constant struggles of writing for different time zones and why writing your own code is never worth the hassle, and the similar battle of writing for different units of measurement. — Check out the idea behind "If Hemingway Wrote Javascript" and how it could help you with your coding. Watch Tom Scott’s own slow decent into madness over timezones and coding. Your guest this week has been Sally Hall, and your host for this episode has been thoughtbot’s own Joël Quenneville. If you would like to support the show, head over to our GitHub page, or check out our website. Got a question or comment about the show? Why not write to our hosts: [email protected] This has been a thoughtbot podcast. Stay up to date by following us on social media - YouTube - LinkedIn - Mastodon - Bluesky © 2025 thoughtbot, inc.

Joël turns to fellow thoughtboter Jimmy Thigpen as he looks to expand his knowledge about the wide world of Typescripts. Together they discuss the differences between Typescript and other common systems such as Elm and Javascript, how to best handle their edge cases and error flags, as well as the benefits of using Zod as your typescript library. — Just starting out in Typescript? Try enabling Strict Mode! Try out Zod for yourself in their browser playground, or check out Zod's homepage for more info. If you’d like to contact Jimmy about all things Typescript he can be found over on LinkedIn Your host for this episode has been thoughtbot’s own Joël Quenneville. If you would like to support the show, head over to our GitHub page, or check out our website. Got a question or comment about the show? Why not write to our hosts: [email protected] This has been a thoughtbot podcast. Stay up to date by following us on social media - YouTube - LinkedIn - Mastodon - Instagram © 2025 thoughtbot, inc.

Joël talks with fellow thoughtboter Fritz Meissner about the thinking process behind his latest kata project and the vast world of coding problems. Fritz explains why he developed the noisy animals kata and how it helped to better understand and streamline his code, the best ways to break down conditionals and how to clean them up efficiently within your workflow, as well as knowing where the limits of improvement are in each project you work on. — Refine your conditional logic technique with a copy of 99 Bottles of OOP and then test your skills with Fritz’s Noisy Animals Kata. Compare notes with Joël and Fritz to see how you stack up once you’re done! Listen to Joël’s RailsConf talk The Math Every Programmer Needs or check out some previous episodes for a refresher on some of the logic and math topics discussed in this show - Ep 398 - Ep 353 - Ep 418 - Ep 428 If you’d like to contact Fritz about his Kata or anything else programming related he can be found via LinkedIn Your host for this episode has been thoughtbot’s own Joël Quenneville. If you would like to support the show, head over to our GitHub page, or check out our website. Got a question or comment about the show? Why not write to our hosts: [email protected] This has been a thoughtbot podcast. Stay up to date by following us on social media - YouTube - LinkedIn - Mastodon - Instagram © 2025 thoughtbot, inc.

Joël is joined by fellow thoughtboter Aji Slater as they discuss their previous experiences in designing content for workshops. Learn how to best structure your workshop for an audience, the benefits of a workshop over a talk and vice versa, as well as how to tackle the different hurdles your audience might face when working through your presentation. — Try your hand at Joël’s recommendation of visualising your Git Branching. You can watch Ali’s Enigma Machine workshop here, Or connect with them via LinkedIn Your host for this episode has been Joël Quenneville. If you would like to support the show, head over to our GitHub page, or check out our website. Got a question or comment about the show? Why not write to our hosts: [email protected] This has been a thoughtbot podcast. Stay up to date by following us on social media - YouTube - LinkedIn - Mastodon - Instagram © 2025 thoughtbot, inc.

Happy New Year from The Bike Shed! Tune in to the one wrapped edition that really matters this holiday season, The Bike Shed Wrapped! Recap the year with Joël and Stephanie as they reminisce over their favourite moments of 2024. The pair discuss ways they’ve stepped outside their comfort zone to gain a different perspective on their work, the growth they’ve each achieved as a result, and their ambitions for 2025 and beyond. Discover Joël and Stephanie’s favourite episodes from the year as well as Joël’s favourite blog post of 2024. — Re-listen to Joël and Stephanie’s top four episodes of 2024 432: The Semantics and Meaning of Nil 435: Cohesive Code with Jared Norman 421: The Idealistic Vs. Pragmatic Programmer 441: The Pickaxe Book with Noel Rappin Want to hear Joël’s gnome voice? Watch his RailsConf Talk! Prefer to hear Stephanie give a talk like a regular human? Watch her RailsConf Talk! Your hosts for this episode have been thoughtbot’s own Stephanie Minn and Joël Quenneville. If you would like to support the show, head over to our GitHub page, or check out our website. Got a question or comment about the show? Why not write to our hosts: [email protected] This has been a thoughtbot podcast. Stay up to date by following us on social media - YouTube - LinkedIn - Mastodon - Instagram © 2024 thoughtbot, inc.

Stephanie is joined by follow thoughtbot-er Steve Polito as they discuss his latest GitHub resource, Botcasts. Find out why Steve was so keen to make the app, what he learnt about Hotwire in the process and why he thinks you should stop listening to the show in your current pod-catcher and pick it up in Botcasts instead! -- Try building Botcasts for yourself over on Github! Your host for this episode has been thoughtbot’s own Stephanie Minn, and was accompanied by Steve Polito. You can find more of Steve’s work over on GitHub, or read what he has to say about his work on thoughtbot’s blogs. If you want to connect with Steve you can do so through LinkedIn. Interested in birds instead? Why not check out Stephanie’s book recommendation! If you would like to support the show, head over to our GitHub page, or check out our website. Got a question or comment about the show? Why not write to our hosts: [email protected] This has been a thoughtbot podcast. Stay up to date by following us on social media - LinkedIn - Mastodon - Instagram © 2024 thoughtbot, inc.

It’s officially the holidays at the Bike Shed! Defrag your hard drives and take a break with Joël and Stephanie as they breakdown different ways to manage your focus during the day. The pair discuss separating coding time from thinking time when working, the pros and cons of blocking out time for different tasks and clever ways to move seamlessly from one project to the next without losing momentum. Joël has some more timezone facts to share, while Stephanie reveals her worst enemy when it comes to productivity. — Try out the Pomodoro system in your workflow and let us know if it works for you! Your hosts for this episode have been thoughtbot’s own Stephanie Minn and Joël Quenneville. If you would like to support the show, head over to our GitHub page, or check out our website. Got a question or comment about the show? Why not write to our hosts: [email protected] This has been a thoughtbot podcast. Stay up to date by following us on social media - LinkedIn - Mastodon - Instagram © 2024 thoughtbot, inc.

Joël and Stephanie go back to fundamentals as they pick apart some recent conversations they’ve been having around the office. Together they discuss the advantages of GraphQL over a REST API, how they utilise JSONB over a regular column or table, and the use-cases for and against a frontend framework like React. But what’s the theme that ties all these conversations together? — The article mentioned in this episode was Why I’m over GraphQL Your hosts for this episode have been thoughtbot’s own Stephanie Minn and Joël Quenneville. If you would like to support the show, head over to our GitHub page, or check out our website. Got a question or comment about the show? Why not write to our hosts: [email protected] This has been a thoughtbot podcast. Stay up to date by following us on social media - LinkedIn - Mastodon - Instagram © 2024 thoughtbot, inc.