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Double Takes

TDDing with Claude is like having a pair that removes all the failing assertions every time you go to the bathroom.

Steve Jackson

State machines are the answer for those seeking determinism in the era of AI agents.

Dave Mosher

A Slack conversation left Doc reflecting on what bug bashes say about the systems we work in.

Doc Norton

Test-driven development is to programming what double-entry bookkeeping is to accounting.

Neal Lindsay

The fundamental character flaw of the software creator is not the misguided belief that they can solve any problem with software. Instead, it is the belief they can understand how their own software works before they create it.

Steve Jackson

We may need a SaaS appendix for Zawinski's law:

Any SaaS platform attempts to expand until it is a social network.

Matt Jones

A foggy path clears into structured code and agentic tooling.

Developers

Agentic Tooling as Accessibility

Most organizations expect agentic tooling to greatly increase the speed at which we write code. But there's another benefit in this new world that may not get as much as attention as it deserves: accessibility. River Bailey looks at her own experiences, and that of other developers, to better understand accessibility in the age of AI.

River Lynn Bailey

Equity, Diversity & Inclusion

ally

accessibility

ai-ml

productivity

conference-talk

Rubber duck detective reviewing software test results and system health dashboards after all tests have passed.

Leadership

After the tests pass

Engineers are great at testing correctness. Far fewer teams know how to measure whether their code is actually performing well once it's in production.

Jed Schneider

Accelerate quality software

ai-ml

ci-cd

devops

testing

quality

A green cursor sits between two software structures: one orderly and stable, the other tangled and chaotic.

Developers

Lay the Foundation Before You Reach for Advanced Agentic Tooling

Is your code ready for advanced agentic tooling? River Bailey explores the foundational practices that help both humans and AI amplify good work, and avoid repeating the existing problems.

River Lynn Bailey

ai-ml

automation

eliminate-waste

quality

Developer workspace with a local database emulator, code on a laptop, and connected testing hardware.

Developers

A practical guide to Firebase Emulator for local dev and Cypress testing

Setting up Firebase Emulator to work with local dev, Cypress, CI, and Claude Code—what works, what doesn’t, and edge cases to watch out for.

Robert Komaromi

Software tooling & tips

cypress

testing

typescript

A warm, sunlit desk is arranged with a closed laptop, notebook, headphones, coffee mug, open book, hiking map, plants, and a small Test Double-themed rubber duck. A large open space in the center of the desk symbolizes the breathing room created when technology helps people reclaim time for thinking, rest, and life beyond work.

Developers

AI Should Give Us Our Lives Back, Not Fill Them With More Work

What do you do with the time saved using AI? River Bailey explores multiple threads while exploring the possibilities.

River Lynn Bailey

Software tooling & tips

ai-ml

communication

culture

productivity

professional-growth

Illustration of distributed process ownership: a person untangling a knotted ball of workflow threads into four clean, separate strands flowing to individual professionals working at desks, representing decentralized task management and team accountability

Leadership

Distributed process ownership eliminates team bottlenecks

Process ownership concentrated in a few hands creates invisible organizational drag. When distributed across the team, it eliminates bottlenecks, improves delivery, and frees leaders to do higher-value work.

Sukhraj Singh

Communication & teams

communication

culture

leadership

process

teams

Dark illustration showing a tangled gray scribble labeled "AI" resolving into a glowing green line that climbs upward through icons for code, systems, communication, and metrics before reaching a glowing star labeled "The Plot (Again): Meaning. Impact. Direction.

Developers

Software engineering and AI: Finding the plot(again)

Is "clean code" still the point when an agent writes it? River Bailey unpacks quality, tech debt, and what it means to be a product engineer.

River Lynn Bailey

Communication & teams

ai-ml

communication

professional-growth

tech-debt

quality

An airy bridge with complex structural foundations deep in the ground

Developers

Why quality software is expensive (to build)

Quality software is expensive because the parts users notice least often require the most work: usability, reliability, security, compliance, testing, and long-term maintenance.

Shawn Rinehart

Maximize software investment

budgeting

efficient software

regulatory-compliance

security

software-purchase

Insights for great software & great teams

Double Takes

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