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Evan Phoenix: The Why of the One Line
Episode 204
Evan Phoenix (@evanphx), CEO of Miren, joins Robby to explore the subtle but powerful difference between writing code that works and writing code that explains itself. They discuss the role of clarit…
Published on 7 months, 2 weeks ago
Chris Salvato: Building Developer Paradise by Sitting in the Problem Space
Episode 203
Software isn’t always about rapid iteration. Sometimes, the real challenge lies in carefully assessing the existing environment. Chris Salvato, a Senior Staff Engineer at Shopify, believes that spend…
Published on 7 months, 3 weeks ago
Heimir Thor Sverrisson: Architecture First, Tech Debt Second
Episode 202
Heimir Thor Sverrisson joins Robby to discuss the importance of software architecture in long-term maintainability. With over four decades in the industry, Heimir has witnessed firsthand how poor arc…
Published on 8 months ago
Noémi Ványi: Only Fix Problems That Are Actually Problems
Episode 201
Not every messy piece of code needs a refactor. Noémi Ványi, Senior Software Engineer at Xata, joins Robby to discuss how to develop the intuition to know when refactoring is truly necessary and when…
Published on 8 months, 1 week ago
Julia López: Code Tells a Story—Even the White Spaces
Episode 200
How much can legacy code tell us beyond just functionality? Julia López, Senior Software Engineer at Harvest, believes that even small details—such as white spaces, variable names, and formatting cho…
Published on 8 months, 3 weeks ago
Marty Haught: Rethinking Technical Debt—Is It Really Just Drift?
Episode 199
Episode Overview
Marty Haught joins Robby to discuss the sustainability of open-source projects, the challenges of maintaining RubyGems, and why the metaphor of technical debt may not fully capture ho…
Published on 9 months ago
Mike Bowers - From ISAM to JSON—Navigating 40+ Years of Database Evolution
Episode 198
Mike Bowers, Chief Architect at FairCom, has spent decades navigating the evolution of database technology. In this conversation, he and Robby explore the challenges of maintaining a 40+ year-old cod…
Published on 9 months, 1 week ago
Lorna Mitchell: Writing Documentation Engineers Will Actually Read
Episode 197
Join Robby as he chats with Lorna Mitchell, open source advocate and technical writer, about the art of creating documentation that doesn’t gather dust. Lorna shares her experiences as a maintainer o…
Published on 9 months, 3 weeks ago
Carola Lilienthal: Tackling Technical Debt with Patterns and Domain Knowledge
Episode 196
Episode Summary
In this episode of Maintainable, Robby sits down with Carola Lilienthal, Software Architect and Managing Director at WPS. Together, they explore the intersection of cognitive science a…
Published on 9 months, 4 weeks ago
Joel Hawksley: The Hidden Costs of Frontend Complexity
Episode 195
Topics Discussed
The importance of changeability as a core characteristic of well-maintained software.How GitHub has approached accessibility as a business and legal imperative.The evolution of GitHub…Published on 10 months ago