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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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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

AI won’t save your dev team—it will expose leadership cracks

Before deploying AI tools to your engineering team: A leadership readiness assessment

AI tools can 2-3x developer productivity—but only if your fundamentals are solid. Learn why AI exposes leadership weaknesses and what to fix first: data strategy, code review processes, and outcomes-focused metrics.

Test Double Editorial Board

Test Double Editorial Board

ai-ml

automation

communication

efficient software

eliminate-waste

Should code reviews be mandatory? A look at non-blocking reviews

Are mandatory code reviews a bottleneck for your team? Here's how non-blocking reviews can foster trust, accelerate development, and reduce frustration.

Andrew Walker

Communication & teams

productivity

What happens when code reviews aren’t mandatory? An experiment

Code reviews can feel like bottlenecks, slowing progress and increasing frustration. BridgeCare flipped the script with an experiment to make code reviews optional.

Andrew Walker

Communication & teams

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Survey: AI is here—and it’s reshaping product management

A new report from the Pragmatic Institute reveals how AI is transforming product management and driving growth. Here are the insights, adoption challenges, and the skills product leaders need to master AI and lead with intent.

Test Double Editorial Board

Test Double Editorial Board

ai-ml

product-innovation

The dangers of abstracting away vendors in code

The dangers of abstracting away vendors in code

When integrating third-party vendors, abstraction is key—but too much can make your code unnecessarily complex and inefficient. Here's how to strike the right balance.

River Lynn Bailey

River Lynn Bailey

Software tooling & tips

api

How a product transformation drove 3x sales growth

The road to 3x sales: a case study in scaling with strategy

When scaling exposed gaps in strategy, Test Double transformed a car platform’s chaotic growth into a clear path to 3x sales. Here’s how we did it.

Test Double Editorial Board

Test Double Editorial Board

Product management

kpi

product-innovation

7 takeaways from CIO Tomorrow 2024 for leading transformation

7 takeaways from CIO Tomorrow 2024 for leading transformation

Ohio’s Silicon Heartland is leading the charge in innovation. Here are the 7 most impactful insights from CIO Tomorrow 2024 that will inspire your next transformation.

Cathy Colliver

Communication & teams

ai-ml

Why domain expertise is overrated—and what your software really needs

Industry experience isn’t the solution—it’s the problem. When everyone plays by the same rules, ideas go stale. We cut AWS costs by 25% and drove 3x sales growth—with fresh skills, not insider knowledge.

Test Double Editorial Board

Test Double Editorial Board

Maximize software investment

product-innovation

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