Maintainable

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Maintainable

Robby Russell

219 episodes

2 days ago

Do you feel like you're hitting a wall with your existing software projects? Are you curious to hear how other people are navigating this? You're not alone. On the Maintainable Software Podcast, Robby speaks with seasoned practitioners who have overcome the technical and cultural problems often associated with software development. Our guests will share stories in each episode and outline tangible, real-world approaches to software challenges. In turn, you'll uncover new ways of thinking about how to improve your software project's maintainability.

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Do you feel like you're hitting a wall with your existing software projects? Are you curious to hear how other people are navigating this? You're not alone. On the Maintainable Software Podcast, Robby speaks with seasoned practitioners who have overcome the technical and cultural problems often associated with software development. Our guests will share stories in each episode and outline tangible, real-world approaches to software challenges. In turn, you'll uncover new ways of thinking about how to improve your software project's maintainability.

Show more...

Episodes (20/219)

Maintainable

Chris Zetter: Building a Database to Better Understand Maintainability

Software engineer and author Chris Zetter joins Robby to explore how pairing, documentation, and boring technology help teams build software that lasts. They unpack the real meaning of technical debt, how to guide junior engineers with confidence, and what building a database from scratch can teach us about architecture.

2 days ago

49 minutes 41 seconds

Maintainable

Denis Rechkunov: When Consistency Becomes a Culture

At Elastic, Denis Rechkunov believes code consistency is more than a style guide — it’s a cultural practice. Robby and Denis explore how automation, empathy, and small rituals help teams write code that stays cohesive long after its authors move on.

3 weeks ago

1 hour 6 minutes 58 seconds

Maintainable

Nathan Ladd: Relentless Improvement and the Cost of Neglect

In this conversation, Robby and Nathan Ladd, Principal at Brightworks Digital, explore what makes software sustainable in practice. Nathan argues that perfectly maintained software may be a myth, but that doesn’t stop teams from pursuing habits that reduce the burden of maintenance. He shares why keeping dependencies fresh, aligning around living standards, and fixing defects as they appear are all crucial to staying ahead.

1 month ago

54 minutes 31 seconds

Maintainable

Taylor Otwell: What 14 Years of Laravel Taught Me About Maintainability

Taylor Otwell looks back on 14 years of building and maintaining Laravel. From four stars on GitHub to a full-fledged ecosystem, he shares what it takes to design software that lasts—and why simple often wins.

2 months ago

55 minutes 56 seconds

Maintainable

Sara Jackson: Why Resilience Is a Team Sport

What happens when you treat resilience as a shared responsibility across your team, not just an infrastructure concern? Sara Jackson unpacks the value of documentation, application-layer chaos experiments, and test suites you can actually trust.

4 months ago

53 minutes 6 seconds

Maintainable

Joel Chippindale: Why High-Quality Software Isn’t About Developer Skill Alone

Is high-quality code really just about developer skill? According to CTO coach Joel Chippindale, the key to maintainable software often lies in the conversations you have before writing a single line of code. In this episode, we explore how to reframe technical debt, build cross-team trust, and make legacy systems easier to change.

4 months ago

56 minutes 39 seconds

Maintainable

Melanie Sumner: Why Continuous Accessibility Is a Strategic Advantage

What if accessibility wasn’t a checklist—but an integrated part of your development workflow? Melanie Sumner shares how her team at HashiCorp is building with purpose and why continuous accessibility gives them a lasting edge.

5 months ago

49 minutes 30 seconds

Maintainable

Joe Masilotti: Simplify Your Stack, Ship Mobile Sooner

Consultant Joe Masilotti shares why most mobile apps don’t need to be fully native, how he helps Rails developers simplify their stack, and what it means to be a respectful guest in someone else’s codebase.

6 months ago

55 minutes 42 seconds

Maintainable

Freedom Dumlao: What 70 Java Services Taught Me About Focus

Freedom Dumlao made the rare decision to rebuild a microservices platform as a monolith. In this episode, he shares why—and how it made his team more effective. Plus, we talk Java, Rails, AI, and how not to drown in decision-making.

7 months ago

1 hour 3 minutes 19 seconds

Maintainable

Mercedes Bernard: Friendly Code Welcomes Everyone In

Mercedes Bernard believes that friendly code is the truest measure of maintainability. She shares how teams can reduce friction, make small architectural wins, and advocate for technical debt investment without sounding the alarm.

7 months ago

49 minutes 27 seconds

Maintainable

Evan Phoenix: The Why of the One Line

What if trying to “future-proof” your code is actually making it harder to maintain? Evan Phoenix shares how a well-intentioned monolith split went sideways—and why clarity and confidence matter more than cleverness.

7 months ago

1 hour 9 minutes 13 seconds

Maintainable

Chris Salvato: Building Developer Paradise by Sitting in the Problem Space

Senior Staff Engineer Chris Salvato believes that understanding real bottlenecks starts with focusing on the problem space. Instead of rushing in to fix legacy code, he listens—deeply—to the people behind it. By trimming bloat and clarifying the domain, Chris reveals how a few carefully chosen changes can transform a codebase.

8 months ago

46 minutes 31 seconds

Maintainable

Heimir Thor Sverrisson: Architecture First, Tech Debt Second

Sustainable software starts with sustainable architecture. Heimir Thor Sverrisson joins Robby to discuss why poor architectural decisions make maintenance a losing battle, how technical debt should be managed, and why adding more CPUs won’t always fix your performance problems.

8 months ago

40 minutes 58 seconds

Maintainable

Noémi Ványi: Only Fix Problems That Are Actually Problems

Not every messy piece of code needs a refactor. Noémi Ványi joins Robby to discuss how to decide when technical debt is worth paying down, why developer autonomy matters, and how intuition plays a key role in software sustainability.

8 months ago

42 minutes 1 second

Maintainable

Julia López: Code Tells a Story—Even the White Spaces

What can legacy code tell us—beyond just functionality? Julia Lopez shares how even white spaces and variable names reveal a system’s history. She and Robby dive into mentoring, refactoring, and the realities of rewriting Harvest’s billing system.

8 months ago

50 minutes 32 seconds

Maintainable

Marty Haught: Rethinking Technical Debt—Is It Really Just Drift?

Is "technical debt" really the best metaphor for aging software? Marty Haught suggests a better one—drift. He joins Robby to discuss how software naturally diverges from its original intent, the challenge of sustaining open-source projects, and what companies can do to support critical infrastructure like RubyGems.

9 months ago

52 minutes 39 seconds

Maintainable

Mike Bowers - From ISAM to JSON—Navigating 40+ Years of Database Evolution

For over 40 years, FairCom has evolved its database technology from ISAM to high-performance JSON APIs. Mike Bowers, Chief Architect at FairCom, joins Robby to discuss the complexities of maintaining a legacy codebase while innovating for the future. What does it take to modernize without breaking everything?

9 months ago

44 minutes 46 seconds

Maintainable

Lorna Mitchell: Writing Documentation Engineers Will Actually Read

Why is documentation often overlooked but so critical to success? Lorna Mitchell shares practical strategies for writing documentation engineers will actually read and explains how thoughtful API design and open source stewardship create more maintainable software.

9 months ago

43 minutes 18 seconds

Maintainable

Carola Lilienthal: Tackling Technical Debt with Patterns and Domain Knowledge

What role do architecture, modularity, and domain knowledge play in reducing technical debt? Join Robby as he chats with Carola Lilienthal about designing maintainable software, using cognitive science to simplify systems, and the importance of patterns for sustainable development.

10 months ago

43 minutes

Maintainable

Joel Hawksley: The Hidden Costs of Frontend Complexity

Joel Hawksley, Staff Software Engineer at GitHub, joins Robby to discuss the challenges of scaling frontend systems and ensuring accessibility across a massive platform. With over six years of experience at GitHub, Joel reflects on the evolution of their design system, Primer, the importance of changeability in software, and strategies for addressing the complexities of frontend maintenance.

10 months ago

46 minutes 13 seconds