Distributed.

Jack Hannah, Tuple

Remote work is here to stay. Whether you’re firmly in the return to office camp or die hard distributed, the cat’s out of the bag for the industry. The Distributed podcast, from Tuple, deconstructs how world-class engineers and their teams navigate the challenges (and opportunities) remote work creates. Host Jack Hannah uncovers stories of teams and individuals overcoming technical challenges, working through interpersonal dynamics, and battling their own distractions. Through these conversations, we’ll unpack the practical side of how folks work together in this new normal, and dig into the social emotional piece so often overlooked in programming.

  1. 3D AGO

    Lessons from 300+ videos on mob programming with Chris Lucian and Austin Chadwick

    In this episode of Distributed, host Jack Hannah talks to Chris Lucian and Austin Chadwick, the creators of the Mob Mentality Show and longtime engineering leaders at Hunter Industries. Chris, Director of Global Software Development, and Austin, Distinguished Engineer, reflect on mob programming and how practices spread. They open up about what it takes to protect team culture while growing, discuss lessons from their 300+ videos on mob programming and agile, and how AI is just another member of the mob. Highlights: How mob programming went from one team’s experiment to org-wide practiceWhat Chris and Austin learned from publishing 300+ episodes on agile and XPHow AI fits into social coding and the future of pairing and mobbing In this episode, we cover: (00:00) – Kicking things off with Chris Lucian and Austin Chadwick (01:52) – Rearranging cubicles to make pairing possible (03:09) – The first mob and why it worked (05:01) – Repairing a wonky relationship with the product owner (06:14) – Austin’s first mob and learning a new language on the fly (07:41) – The Mob Mentality Show origin story (09:22) – How Chris and Austin keep their episodes lean and sustainable (12:17) – Diffusion of innovation and spreading practices (15:18) – AI-generated code with domain languages (18:41) – Growing the mob through cellular division while keeping culture (24:49) – What to do when there are no internal XP mentors (28:12) – Using AI like another member of the mob (32:26) – Will AI replace pair and mob programming?  References The Mob Mentality Show Human & AI Collaboration in Mob Programming with Aaron Griffith and Parker Barrett Where to connect further: Connect with Chris Lucian on LinkedIn Connect with Austin Chadwick on LinkedIn  Follow Tuple Want to hear more? Check out distributed.fm Connect with Jack Hannah

    35 min

  2. JUL 10

    Cofounder & CTO of Geordie AI on the paradox of giving control with Benji Weber

    In this episode of the Distributed podcast, host Jack Hannah is joined by Benji Weber, Cofounder & CTO at Geordie AI, to discuss leadership and autonomy in engineering teams. Benji shares his unique perspective on how managers can empower teams to take control of their work. They explore how the paradox of giving control plays out in practice and what it means for team ownership and performance. Highlights: - How managers can create environments that foster ownership - The challenges of balancing control with autonomy in fast-growing teams - How Benji empowers teams through curiosity and gentle nudging In this episode, we cover: (00:00) – Introduction to Benji Weber (01:23) – Benji’s take on professional pride and leadership (03:54) – Mindgard’s small team setup and remote-first approach (04:55) – Balancing in-person work with a remote-first culture (06:12) – The paradox of giving control to teams (07:07) – Coercion vs. nudging in leadership practices (08:39) – What it looks like to empower teams through curiosity (10:56) – Creating an environment for teams to own their work (14:17) – Tackling organizational reliability challenges with team autonomy (16:22) – Fostering agency in teams through self-discovery and retrospectives (18:15) – Why pair programming can be a powerful tool in small teams (23:46) – Approaching continuous integration and the value of real CI (26:43) – The trade-offs between consistency and flexibility in team practices (29:38) – Finding the right balance between synchronous and asynchronous work. Where to connect further: Connect with Benji Weber on LinkedIn (https://www.linkedin.com/in/benjiweber/) and on his website (https://benjiweber.co.uk/) Follow Tuple: https://x.com/tuple Want to hear more? Check out http://distributed.fm Connect with Jack Hannah: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jack-hannah/

    33 min

  3. JUL 3

    Inside the 3rd largest Rails monolith in the world with Cisco Tech Lead Ed Gibbs

    How do you drive change in large engineering teams? In this episode of the Distributed podcast, host Jack Hannah talks with Ed Gibbs, Software Engineering Tech Lead at Cisco Meraki, about his journey from physics to software engineering and how he’s championed better development practices over the years. Ed shares insights on navigating remote work, driving incremental adoption of engineering improvements, and fostering collaboration in large-scale teams. Ed also discusses the role of experimentation in engineering culture, the benefits of meandering syncs over traditional standups, and the challenges of balancing refactoring with delivery in a complex codebase. Highlights: Why Ed Gibbs wears a fez every Friday and how it helps him succeedLessons from scaling change across 1,000+ dev organizationsThe engineering rituals that help his teams excel, like meandering syncs and mobbing Mondays In this episode, we cover: (00:00) – Kicking things off with Ed Gibbs (01:03) – The origin story of Fez Friday and making remote work memorable (07:04) – Inside Ed’s fully remote team setup at Cisco Meraki (09:26) – The early days of TDD and what made it stick (12:04) – Introducing CI and getting buy-in for testing (17:16) – How to drive consensus across a 1000-engineer company (23:46) – Team habits Ed is proud of, from Kanban to mobbing Mondays (30:06) – What meandering syncs are and how they work References: Blog post on meandering syncs: Stand-Up Meetings Are Dead (and What to Do Instead) Where to connect further: Connect with Ed Gibbs on LinkedIn and his website Follow Tuple Want to hear more? Check out distributed.fm Connect with Jack Hannah

    41 min

  4. JUN 26

    Principal Engineer at Salesforce on collaborative programming with James Simone

    On this episode of the Distributed podcast, host Jack Hannah talks with James Simone, Principal Engineer at Salesforce, about how he went from no development experience to principal engineer in 7 years at a Fortune 500 and the effects of collaborative programming.  James shares what things are like inside the agile org at Salesforce and how they approach remote work, including how they prioritize reflection and team agreements to foster productive and happy work environments. Highlights: James's journey to principal engineer The role of reflection in boosting productivity and happinessSalesforce's approach to ensemble and pair programming  In this episode, we cover: (00:00) – Kicking things off with James Simone (01:09) – The empowerment of distributed teams: fostering community and learning (03:08) – Inside Salesforce's agile organization: a structural overview (04:17) – Legacy projects and measuring developer happiness (06:07) – Applying metrics: individual and executive perspectives (08:52) – Collaborative programming: a measured approach (11:03) – Starting the week: Monday morning routines (12:56) – Code review: transitioning from author to reviewer (14:26) – The role of working agreements in team dynamics (17:05) – Reflection and improvement: the impact of test-driven development (22:36) – Documentation and decision-making in collaborative teams (27:48) – Balancing career growth with personal life passions References Test Driven Development: By Example by Kent Beck Domain Modeling Made Function by Scott Wlaschin Where to connect further: Connect with James Simone on LinkedIn and on his website Follow Tuple Want to hear more? Check out distributed.fm Connect with Jack Hannah

    31 min

  5. JUN 19

    6x founder and Shopify Principal Engineer on AI, Rails, and pairing with Obie Fernandez

    In this episode of the Distributed podcast, host Jack Hannah sits down with Obie Fernandez, Principal Engineer at Shopify, 6x founder (including Andela and Hashrocket), and prolific author and musician. Obie reflects on his early role in the Ruby and Rails communities, what led him to shift away from Java, and how he uses and thinks about AI. Obie goes deep on how he and his team at Shopify uses AI, while touching on what this means for pair programming, mentorship, and the future of software development. Highlights: How Obie made Rails mainstream at ThoughtWorks and beyondHow Obie and Shopify use AIReflections on pair programming and the future of software development In this episode, we cover: (00:00) – Opening the conversation with Obie Fernandez (01:59) – What made Ruby stand out after years of Java (07:45) – Driving Rails’ adoption at ThoughtWorks and shaking up the status quo (15:54) – How Shopify thinks about the developer experience (20:19) – Why every developer should experience pair programming (25:03) – How Obie uses AI (27:15) – The future of software development and collaboration (33:13) – When to stop vibe coding and prioritize quality (34:04) – Big P vs little p pair programming References: Patterns of Application Development Using AI Shopify CEO Tobi Lutke's now infamous AI memo Where to connect further: Connect with Obie Fernandez on Instagram and obiefernandez.com Follow Tuple Want to hear more? Check out distributed.fm Connect with Jack Hannah

    39 min

  6. JUN 12

    Raycast founder Thomas Paul Mann on iOS, community, and quality

    In this episode of the Distributed podcast, host Jack Hannah chats with Thomas Paul Mann, cofounder and CEO of Raycast, the native productivity tool and extendable launcher. They cover how Raycast leverages community, ships such high quality product consistently, and approaches hiring. Jack actually spoke with Thomas the day after Raycast released their iOS app, so the episode starts with a pretty raw reflection on this major milestone before diving into the rest. Highlights: Thomas’s reaction to releasing iOSHow Raycast leverages community over dataWhat it takes to sustain Raycast’s biweekly shipping cadence and How dogfooding drives product polish and reliability In this episode, we cover: (00:00) – Opening the conversation with Thomas Paul Mann (01:18) – Launching iOS with zero pre-hype (07:19) – Why iOS came before Windows (09:53) – Going remote during COVID (14:27) – Building an effective remote team (16:09) – Why 80% of Raycast is product (17:45) – Hiring in waves to avoid overgrowth (19:54) – The power of referral-based hiring (21:50) – How feedback beats metrics at Raycast (27:24) – Inside their biweekly shipping rhythm (32:55) – Using nightly builds to polish UX Where to connect further: Connect with Thomas Paul Mann on X Follow Raycast on X or join the Slack community Follow Tuple Want to hear more? Check out distributed.fm Connect with Jack Hannah

    40 min

  7. JUN 5

    Agile Otter on why most devs work in the worst ways possible

    How does the future hold for software development with remote collaboration? In this episode of the Distributed podcast, host Jack Hannah chats with Tim Ottinger, aka the Agile Otter, about how to manage and organize the work. Among other things, Tim is a Senior Consultant at Industrial Logic, contributor to the book Clean Code, and active presence online. Jack and Tim explore various ways to work in teams instead of solo and the various benefits they offer. Highlights: Rethinking solo work to boost first-time through rates and productivity Tim’s experiences with Extreme Programming and Agile Introducing swarm boards  for better remote teamwork  In this episode, we cover: (00:00) – Introduction to Tim Ottinger, Agile Otter (01:11) – Tim’s background and contributions to clean code and agile (01:46) – Early remote work and why covid changed remote training (04:03) – Benefits of spreading training over weeks vs. intense sessions (06:18) – What’s wrong with how most software teams manage work today (10:42) – The problems with solo work, parallelism, and utilization myths (14:14) – How AI can help coding but still has limitations (18:07) – Why increasing first time through rate is the key metric (24:18) – How to structure teams to avoid queues and handoffs with swarm boards (30:50) – Starting with small experiments to work together and improve flow (33:12) – Don’t lower the standards of the pipeline, raise the abilities of the team (40:07) – When it comes to remote work, longitude kills and latitude hurts (41:38) – Tim’s advice for making the most out of remote work (44:05) – The law of the 2nd floor (44:51) – Things can be better, don’t lose hope References Swarm Programming with the Swarm Board Clean Code by Robert C. Martin Where to connect further: Connect with Tim Ottinger on LinkedIn and on his website Connect with Industrial Logic Follow Tuple Want to hear more? Check out distributed.fm Connect with Jack Hannah

    47 min

  8. MAY 29

    Emily Bache on software quality, technical excellence, and driving change

    In this episode of Distributed, host Jack Hannah speaks with Emily Bache, a technical coach and the creator of Samman Coaching, about her work helping teams improve their development practices.  Emily shares her experiences with test-driven development and refactoring, and explains how these practices can transform both code quality and team dynamics. Highlights: The impact of test-driven development on software qualityHow to introduce new practices in a resistant environmentWhy collaborative coding, like ensemble programming, accelerates team growthThe role of leadership in creating a culture of continuous learning and quality In this episode, we cover: (00:00) – Kicking things off with Emily Bache (01:25) – First experience with extreme programming in 2000 (02:28) – Struggling to get a new team on board with XP (04:03) – Why TDD transformed Emily’s coding approach (05:22) – Becoming a full-time technical coach and YouTuber (06:48) – Defining what a technical coach actually does (07:21) – Inside a high-performing architecture team’s microservices shift (09:04) – Can siloed experts still outperform collaborative teams? (14:42) – Simple tactics to nudge your team toward better practices (20:57) – Ensemble programming explained: many minds, one keyboard (24:45) – Why refactoring skills matter in the age of AI assistants References Approval Tests and the weekly Approval Tests Ensemble ChatGPT & Copilot are NOT Refactoring Tools Where to connect further: Connect with Emily Bache on LinkedIn and Samman Technical Coaching Society Follow Tuple Want to hear more? Check out distributed.fm Connect with Jack Hannah

    31 min
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Ratings & Reviews

5
out of 5
6 Ratings

About

Remote work is here to stay. Whether you’re firmly in the return to office camp or die hard distributed, the cat’s out of the bag for the industry. The Distributed podcast, from Tuple, deconstructs how world-class engineers and their teams navigate the challenges (and opportunities) remote work creates. Host Jack Hannah uncovers stories of teams and individuals overcoming technical challenges, working through interpersonal dynamics, and battling their own distractions. Through these conversations, we’ll unpack the practical side of how folks work together in this new normal, and dig into the social emotional piece so often overlooked in programming.

Information

  • Creator
    Jack Hannah, Tuple
  • Years Active
    2K
  • Episodes
    28
  • Rating
    Clean
  • Copyright
    © Copyright 2025
  • Show Website
    Distributed.

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