Tech Done Right Table XI

Teaching Testing and Design

Guests


Betsy Haibel: CTO at Cohere. Blogs at betsyhaibel.com.
Avdi Grimm: Head Chef at RubyTapas. Blogs at avdi.codes.
Penelope Phippen: Works at Google, makes Rubyfmt, helps make RSpec, and is on the board of Ruby Central. Blog.


Summary

After the discussions on testing and design in episodes 68 and 69, I had so much I still wanted to talk about in testing, design, and teaching testing and design. So I convened a panel with previous Tech Done Right Guests Avdi Grimm, Betsy Haibel, and Penelope Phippen to help me think through all these topics. I was very happy to have all of them on the show, and I think it's a great conversation. Stay tuned until the very end for an update about the show.


Related Episodes with These Guests


Avdi: 20 Years of Web Development, Ruby Tapas and Avoiding Code
Betsy: Diverse Agile Teams, How Set Design Can Inform Software Architecture
Penelope: Code Style and Community, Back in the Testing Weeds, In The Testing Weeds


Notes

00:50 - Previously On: Re: Testing



Pragmatic Programmer at 20 with Dave Thomas and Andy Hunt
Teaching and Learning with Sandi Metz


02:53 - Testing and Design



99 Bottles of OOP
05:43 - TDD

Test Driven Development

Do We Need Constants



09:36 - Testing, But Not Developer Testing + Sliming The Test



WikiWikiWeb


13:41 - Why + How Did You Learn TDD?


20:24 - TDD: Not a Robust Process


24:19 - Rails + Unit Testing


27:41 - Is TDD really dead?


35:06 - Keeping Code In Your Head


37:32 - Approaching the Testing and Design of Code


38:59 - What would convince you to stop doing TDD?
Special Guests: Avdi Grimm, Betsy Haibel, and Penelope Phippen.

Supporting Innovation With Mike Todasco

Guest

Mike Todasco: Senior Director of Innovation at PayPal


Summary

Today on the show we have Mike Todasco, the Senior Director of Innovation at PayPal. We talk about what innovation means at a company, and how to encourage innovation both if you are a PayPal sized company and if you aren’t. Mike also shares some information about PayPal’s internal innovation tournament and how they offer incentives for innovation.


Notes

01:38 - What does the Senior Director of Innovation at PayPal do?


02:32 - Why should companies innovate?


04:29 - Who should be innovating?


08:26 - Assisting and Guiding in Innovation


11:15 - Introducing Innovation to Companies and Teams: Vulnerability


16:06 - Encouraging Innovation


18:44 - The Concept of Global Innovation Tournaments


24:34 - Giving People Opportunity and Exposure


28:40 - Innovation Tokens


30:59 - Innovation For Small Companies


32:39 - Interesting Innovations
Special Guest: Mike Todasco.

How To Buy Software With Ashley Quinto Powell

Guest

Ashley Quinto Powell: Director of Business Development at Table XI.


Summary

Today on the show, we have Ashley Quinto Powell. Ashley and I have run a workshop together called How to Buy Software aimed at people who want to buy custom software but aren't sure what the process will be like. In this episode, we try to compress a four-hour workshop into a 45-minute podcast. Ashley will talk about what to expect from the sales process and then Ashley will interview me about what it's like to work with a development team. I hope you like it.


Notes

01:40 - How do you buy software?


02:47 - Common Misconceptions When Starting the Process


04:20 - Preparing for a Conversation About Buying Software


06:42 - Terminology To Know


Offshore / Nearshore



Agile / Waterfall
Time and Materials Contract / Fixed Contract


16:08 - Interacting with a Development Team


18:28 - Estimation


28:16 - Signs Things Are Going Well / Red Flags
Special Guest: Ashley Quinto Powell.

Teaching and Learning with Sandi Metz

Guest

Sandi Metz:: Author of Practical Object-Oriented Development in Ruby and 99 Bottles of OOP. sandimetz.com


Summary

Today on the show we have Sandi Metz, author of Practical Object Oriented Design in Ruby and co-author of 99 bottles of OOP. I’ve literally been trying to get Sandi as a guest since we started recording the show and I’m thrilled that we’ve finally been able to connect. We talk about OOP and TDD, maybe going down a test-driven rabbit hole for a while, and also talk about what it’s like to teach and coach about OOP and TDD. I enjoyed this talk very much and I think you will, too.


Notes

02:46 - Keeping Up With Tech


04:58 - Object-Oriented Design


09:53 - Why do we write tests?


17:53 - Teaching Yourself TDD


22:11 - Procedures and Patterns


34:07 - CI



Jim Weirich


39:23 - Approaching TDD


44:49 - What should we be doing as a community to share knowledge?



The Magic Tricks of Testing
Special Guest: Sandi Metz.

Pragmatic Programmer at 20 with Dave Thomas and Andy Hunt

Guests

Dave Thomas and Andy Hunt: Authors of The Pragmatic Programmer and publishers of The Pragmatic Bookshelf.


Summary

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.


Notes

02:52 - Revisiting the Book 20 Years Later and What Has Changed/Hasn’t Changed


06:41 - What it Means to be a Pragmatic Programmer


08:39 - Software Development as a Team Sport


12:56 - Extreme Programming Explained and The Pragmatic Programmer; Similarities and Differences



Extreme Programming Explained
Agile Manifesto


22:09 - Finding The Pragmatic Programmer Voice/Tone


24:55 - Roles for Dead-Tree Technical Books


30:36 - How To Make Automatic Testing Pragmatic
Special Guests: Andy Hunt and Dave Thomas.

Civic Software with Alex Pedersen and Abhi Nemani

Guests


Alex Pedersen: Co-founder of Polco.

Abhi Nemani Founder of EthosLabs.



Summary

This week, we have Alex Pedersen of Polco and Abhi Nemani of EthosLabs. They're both involved in various uses of technology to increase civic engagement. We'll talk about how technology can improve the public sector and why technologists should be interested in public sector work.


Notes

02:09 - Technology and Civic + Political Engagement


06:14 - Risks of Making the Government More Technological


10:01 - Balancing Conversations Amongst Citizens


12:18 - Building and Designing Software for Government vs Commercial Use


14:39 - Getting Involved in Government, Civic Engagement, and the Public Sector



Code For America
Chi Hack Night
Abhi's Course Notes in Civic Tech
Special Guests: Abhi Nemani and Alex Pederson.