The Bike Shed

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 (https://www.goodnotes.com/blog/zettelkasten-method) 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 (https://judoscale.com/bikeshed), check the link for your free gift! Try out the reminder app Aji mentioned in this episode (https://www.inyourface.app/) to help keep yourself on track. Your hosts for this episode have been thoughtbot’s own Sally Hall (https://www.linkedin.com/in/sallyannahall) and Aji Slater (https://www.linkedin.com/in/doodlingdev/) If you would like to support the show, head over to our GitHub page (https://github.com/sponsors/thoughtbot), or check out our website (https://bikeshed.thoughtbot.c

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 (https://api.rubyonrails.org/v8.0.2.1/classes/ActiveRecord/SpawnMethods.html#method-i-merge). Thanks to our sponsors for this episode Judoscale - Autoscale the Right Way (https://judoscale.com/bikeshed) (check the link for your free gift!), and Scout Monitoring (https://www.scoutapm.com/). Your hosts for this episode have been thoughtbot’s own Joël Quenneville (https://www.linkedin.com/in/joel-quenneville-96b18b58/) and Aji Slater (https://www.linkedin.com/in/doodlingdev/) If you would like to support the show, head over to our GitHub page (https://gi

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 (https://acoup.blog/2025/07/11/collections-life-work-death-and-the-peasant-part-i-households/). Thanks to our sponsors for this episode Judoscale - Autoscale the Right Way (https://judoscale.com/bikeshed) (check the link for your free gift!), and Scout Monitoring (https://www.scoutapm.com/). Your hosts for this episode have been thoughtbot’s own Joël Quenneville (https://www.linkedin.com/in/joel-quenneville-96b18b58/) and Sally Hall (https://www.linkedin.com/in/sallyannahall). If you would like to support the show, head over to our GitHub page (https://github.com/sponsors/thoughtbot), or ch

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 (https://thecodingtrain.com) - Sarah Mel’s Livable Code (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lI77oMKr5EY&pp=ygUTc2FyYWggbWVpIHJhaWxzY29uZg==) Thanks to our sponsors for this episode Judoscale - Autoscale the Right Way (https://judoscale.com/bikeshed) (check the link for your free gift!), and Scout Monitoring (https://www.scoutapm.com/). Your hosts for this episode have been thoughtbot’s own Sally Hall (https://www.linkedin.com/in/sallyannahall) and Aji Slater (https://www.linkedin.com/in/doodlingdev/) If you would like to support the show, head over to our GitHub page (https://github.com/sponsors/thoughtbot), or c

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. — Check out the upcoming conferences mentioned in this episode - XO Ruby (https://www.xoruby.com/)and Rocky Mountain (https://rockymtnruby.dev/) Your hosts for this episode have been thoughtbot’s own Joël Quenneville (https://www.linkedin.com/in/joel-quenneville-96b18b58/) and Aji Slater (https://www.linkedin.com/in/doodlingdev/). If you would like to support the show, head over to our GitHub page (https://github.com/sponsors/thoughtbot), or check out our website (https://bikeshed.thoughtbot.com). Got a question or comment about the show? Why not write to our hosts: hosts@bikeshed.fm This has been a thoughtbot (https:

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 (https://radanskoric.com/articles/hotwire-or-frontend-framework), as well as unpacking the surprising benefits of different forms of browsers like the terminal text based platform Lynx (https://lynx.invisible-island.net/). — Thanks to our sponsors for this episode Judoscale - Autoscale the Right Way (https://judoscale.com/bikeshed) (check the link for your free gift!), and Scout Monitoring (https://www.scoutapm.com/). Your hosts for this episode have been thoughtbot’s own Joël Quenneville (https://www.linkedin.com/in/joel-quenneville-96b18b58/) and Sally Hall (https://www.linkedin.com/in/sallyannahall). If you would like to support the show,

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, (https://thoughtbot.com/blog/indiana-jones-and-the-crypt-of-cryptic-error-messages) and giving some advice to aspiring junior developers (https://thoughtbot.com/blog/turning-experience-into-growth). — Thanks to our sponsors for this episode Judoscale - Autoscale the Right Way (https://judoscale.com/bikeshed) (check the link for your free gift!), and Scout Monitoring (https://www.scoutapm.com/). Your hosts for this episode have been thoughtbot’s own Joël Quenneville (https://www.linkedin.com/in/joel-quenneville-96b18b58/) and Sally Hall (https://www.linkedin.com/in/sallyannahall). If you would like to support the show, hea

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 (https://judoscale.com/bikeshed) (check the link for your free gift!), and Scout Monitoring (https://www.scoutapm.com/). Joining Joël Quenneville (https://www.linkedin.com/in/joel-quenneville-96b18b58/) as your new co-hosts are Aji Slater (https://www.linkedin.com/in/doodlingdev/)and Sally Hall (https://www.linkedin.com/in/sallyannahall). Get to know your hosts a little better by checking out Sally’s recent episode on timezones (https://bikeshed.thoughtbot.com/457) or Aji’s RailsConf Keynote (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2u0ysVA17Os) and handy list of previous keynotes (https://gist.github.com/DoodlingDev/b8a77aad7451b2f5d33c6b82de2e4bce). If you would like to support the show, head over to our GitHub page (https://github.com/sponsors/thoughtbot), or c

Joël talks with Adam McCrea, founder of Judoscale (https://judoscale.com/), about the best ways to manage your queues and autoscaling. Adam discusses some tough lessons he learnt recently during a technical outage at Judoscale (https://judoscale.com/blog/upscaling-broken-post-mortem), 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 (https://www.linkedin.com/in/adamlogic/) or check out the work he does with Judoscale (https://judoscale.com/), who have also sponsored this episode of The Bike Shed. Be sure to claim your free gift (https://judoscale.com/bikeshed) if you haven’t already! Thanks to the second sponsor of this episode Scout Monitoring (https://www.scoutapm.com/). Your host for this episode has been thoughtbot’s own Joël Quenneville (https://www.linkedin.com/in/joel-quenneville-96b18b58/). If you would like to support the show, head over

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 (https://judoscale.com/bikeshed) (check the link for your free gift!), and Scout Monitoring (https://www.scoutapm.com/). Your host for this episode has been thoughtbot’s own Joël Quenneville (https://www.linkedin.com/in/joel-quenneville-96b18b58/), and you can connect with this week’s guest Jimmy Thigpen over on LinkedIn (https://www.linkedin.com/in/thigpenjimmy/). If you would like to support the show, head over to our GitHub page (https://github.com/sponsors/thoughtbot), or check out our website (h

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 (https://judoscale.com/bikeshed) (check the link for your free gift!), and Scout Monitoring (https://www.scoutapm.com/). Your guest this week was Tess Griffin (https://www.linkedin.com/in/tess-griffin/) and your host for this episode has been thoughtbot’s Joël Quenneville (https://www.linkedin.com/in/joel-quenneville-96b18b58/). If you would like to support the show, head over to our GitHub page (https://github.com/sponsors/thoughtbot), or check out our website (https://bikeshed.thoughtbot.com). Got a question or comment about the show? Why not write to our hosts: hosts@bikeshed.fm This has been a thoughtbot (https://thoughtbot.com/) podcast. Sta

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 (https://railsconf.org/) which takes place July 8th - July 10th in Philadelphia, PA! Thanks to our sponsors for this episode Judoscale - Autoscale the Right Way (https://judoscale.com/bikeshed) (check the link for your free gift!), and Scout Monitoring (https://www.scoutapm.com/). You can connect with Matheus via LinkedIn (https://www.linkedin.com/in/matheus-richard/), or check out some of the topics he’s written about over on his thoughtbot blog (https://thoughtbot.com/blog/authors/matheus-richard). Your host for this episode has been Joël Quenneville (https://www.link

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 (https://railsconf.org/) which takes place July 8th - July 10th in Philadelphia, PA! Get ready for by checking out Aji’s recommenced keynotes from previous years 2022 (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DzyGdOd_6-Y) - 2017 (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V4fnzHxHXMI) Thanks to our sponsors for this episode Judoscale - Autoscale the Right Way (https://judoscale.com/bikeshed) (check the link for your free gift!), and Scout Monitoring (https://www.scoutapm.com/). You can connect with Aji via LinkedIn and GitHub (https://github.com/DoodlingDev), or check out some

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 (https://judoscale.com/bikeshed). Check out the link for your free gift! You can read more about about inaccessable prototypes here (https://localghost.dev/blog/ai-and-the-trouble-with-inaccessible-saas/), or listen to the episode Joël mentioned with Aji about different typescripts here (https://bikeshed.thoughtbot.com/458)! Your guest for this week has been Elaina Natario (https://www.linkedin.com/in/elainanatario/) and you host has been Joël Quenneville (https://www.linkedin.com/in/joel-quenneville-96b18b58/). If you would like to support the show, head over t

Joël and Rémy draw inspiration from the stars as they discuss Rémy’s new open source Ruby gem, Astonoby (https://github.com/rhannequin/astronoby). 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 (https://judoscale.com/bikeshed). 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 (https://github.com/rhannequin/astronoby). Alternatively you can read more about astronomical computing here (https://dev.to/rhannequin/series/17782). Your host for this episode has been thoughtbot’s own Joël Quenneville (https://www.linkedin.com/in/joel-quenneville-96b18b58/) and was accompanied by Rémy, who can be found over on LinkedIn (https://www.linkedin.com/in/rhannequin/?locale=en_US), or through social medi

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 (https://judoscale.com/bikeshed). Check out the link for your free gift! Your guest for this week has been Elaina Natario (https://www.linkedin.com/in/elainanatario/) and you host has been Joël Quenneville (https://www.linkedin.com/in/joel-quenneville-96b18b58/). If you would like to support the show, head over to our GitHub page (https://github.com/sponsors/thoughtbot), or check out our website (https://bikeshed.thoughtbot.com). Got a question or comment about the show? Why not write to our hosts: hosts@bikeshed.fm This has been a thoughtbot (https://thoughtbot.com/) podcast. Stay up to date by following us on social media - YouTube (https:

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 (https://judoscale.com/bikeshed). Check out the link for your free gift! Learn more about Joël’s triangle of separation (https://thoughtbot.com/blog/triangle-of-separation) and working with vertical slices (https://thoughtbot.com/blog/break-apart-your-features-into-full-stack-slices)! Your guest this week has been Steve Polito (https://www.linkedin.com/in/steve-polito), and your host for this episode has been thoughtbot’s own Joël Quenneville (https://www.linkedin.com/in/joel-quenneville-96b18b58/). You can find St

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 (https://judoscale.com/bikeshed). Check out the link for your free gift! Check out Steve Polito’s Hotwire essentials project (https://thoughtbot.com/blog/hotwire-essentials-is-here-learn-hotwire-by-building-a-podcast-player), featured in Episode 452 (https://bikeshed.thoughtbot.com/452). Your host for this episode has been Joël Quenneville (https://www.linkedin.com/in/joel-quenneville-96b18b58/) and was accompanied by Sara Jackson (https://www.linkedin.com/in/saraejackson/). If you would like to support the show, head over to our Gi

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 (https://judoscale.com/bikeshed). Check out the link for your free gift! Take notes like a pro with Obsidian (https://obsidian.md/) and then read what Joël has to say on his own note taking (https://thoughtbot.com/blog/my-note-taking-system-gives-me-constant-content-ideas). Your guest this week has been Valerie Burzynski, (https://www.linkedin.com/in/valerieburzynski/) and your host for this episode has been thoughtbot’s own Joël Quenneville (https://www.linkedin.com/in/joel-quenneville-96b18b58/). If you

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! (https://www.rolodex.com/contact-management.html) Find out more about the Dewey Decimal System (https://esu.libguides.com/dewey). 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 (https://www.linkedin.com/in/joel-quenneville-96b18b58/). If you would like to support the show, head over to our GitHub page (https://github.com/sponsors/thoughtbot), or check out our website (https://bikeshed.thoughtbot.com). Got a question or comment about the show? Why not