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How-to guides, tooling tips and real-world advice for developers and product managers tired of broken software. Let’s fix this mess together.

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Line drawing of a rocky mountain peak with a base camp and people building structures

Quality you can’t generate: AI is only as good as your constraints

AI changed the cost structure of software. It didn't change the value structure. The value is no longer the code you write. It's the taste, judgment, and constraints you encode into the system that shapes what AI produces.

Dave Mosher

A figure looks off towards the horizon. On the left is a giant robot, on the right a splash of vibrant color, connected nodes and a city unfurl.

Why we're not chasing the AI hype (And what we're doing instead)

Todd Kaufman

Speed is a side effect of making the system work

Doc Norton

Maximize software investment

Rubber duck in fedora and trench coat stands next to a vintage microphone

IndyPy Talk: Pydantically perfect in every way

Kyle Adams

Software tooling & tips

Double Takes

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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

Mocking callbacks: Speed up your TDD and test driven development

Avoid test delays by using mocking callbacks to achieve isolation in tests. Learn how to enhance your TDD process.

Caleb Hearth

testing

ruby

automation

postgres

Explosion on top of slide showing code

Looking for a better way to mock things in Ruby? Here's a quick rundown of what it's like to use our new Mocktail library in a RailsConf 2022 lightning talk presented by Justin Searls.

Justin Searls

testing

ruby

rails

Developing humility: How to find balance as a developer and a leader

Learn how finding the right balance of humility can improve your skills as a software engineer and leader. Embrace the power of being average.

Pam-Marie Guzzo

Pam-Marie Guzzo

Communication & teams

communication

professional-growth

How to create powerful APIs with GraphQL and Elixir

Join us as we explore the world of API development with GraphQL and Elixir, simplifying data management and boosting performance.

Eric Newbury

Software tooling & tips

open-source

api

elixir

data-engineering

How to fake time in a Postgres database

Mocking or freezing time when testing your application? Ruby and JavaScript make it easy … until your database is involved. Here are practical times, including an example Ruby on Rails app.

Justin Searls

postgres

testing

Overcoming flaky tests in Ruby with environment variables

Struggling with flaky tests in Ruby? Learn the best practices for using environment variables to stabilize your test suite and boost code reliability.

Ali Ibrahim

testing

rails

agile

Architecture Decision Records help you, your team, and future teams

Ever wondered why a past decision was made on your project? Architecture Decision Records (ADRs) capture the whys, making your team more efficient and informed.

Pam-Marie Guzzo

Pam-Marie Guzzo

Communication & teams

agile

consulting

assessments

testing

End-to-end testing with Cypress series

End-to-end testing with Cypress series

In the End-to-end Testing with Cypress video series learn what end-to-end tests are and why Cypress makes writing them familiar and fun.

Jeremy Fairbank

Jeremy Fairbank

testing

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