Refactored

By Chris Tonkinson, Frank KoehlTechnology

Refactored episodes

April 25, 2025165: Counting Is Hard
Refactored #165: “Counting Is Hard”
On this episode of Refactored…
The guys never recorded episode 162. So in case you were wondering, it just doesn’t exist. Joke’s on you.
Unexpected surprise: this episode includes a cameo by Matt Damon, soundtracked by Europe.
Chris can’t clone a repo. There’s no commentary on that… it’s so-sad-it’s-funny enough on its own.
The guys talk beers, lizards, real customers, and interpersonal conflict.
FAANG is discussed: what “special” skills do you actually need?
… and much more!
Don’t be shy! Reach out at [email protected].
Visit https://refactored.work/ for the full archive, show notes, and more. Hosted by Chris Tonkinson and Frank Koehl.
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1 hr 5 min
April 25, 2025164: Vibe Check: Messrs. Dunning and Kruger Would Like a Word
Refactored #164: “Vibe Check: Messrs. Dunning and Kruger Would Like a Word”
On this episode of Refactored…
The guys are going to start a vibe-code-cleanup consultancy. Lot of money to be made…
Yet Another Debate about whether LLM are going to but technologists out of business.
Chris explains why lack of understanding creates false confidence in LLM capability.
The guys spend some time chatting about the malware industry.
… and much more!
Don’t be shy! Reach out at [email protected].
Visit https://refactored.work/ for the full archive, show notes, and more. Hosted by Chris Tonkinson and Frank Koehl.
Direct link to RSS feed
1 hr 4 min
April 18, 2025163: It's Always Permissions (Or DNS)
Refactored #163: “It’s Always Permissions (or DNS)”
On this episode of Refactored…
Chris has a war story about PosgtreSQL upgrades changing default permissions. TLDR: stuff breaked then Chris fix.
Frank drops some trivia: MySQL, MariaDB, and MaxDB are named after Monty Widenius’ kids.
DeepSeek [non-]update: they just stole and lied. More at 11 after sports, weather, and traffic.
TikTok: Stealing data from your phone? Frank believes it, Chris doesn’t.
The guys debate religiosity of tech stack choices within companies.
Frank decries cutls of personality, and also ColdFusion. Like… duh. Honestly, which is worse?
… and much more!
Don’t be shy! Reach out at [email protected].
Visit https://refactored.work/ for the full archive, show notes, and more. Hosted by Chris Tonkinson and Frank Koehl.
Direct link to RSS feed
1 hr 8 min
April 11, 2025161: Web3: Basically Just DocuSign?
Refactored #161: “Web3: Basically just DocuSign?”
On this episode of Refactored…
Frank asks, “Like, uh, what… IS… Web3?” and Chris answers, “Most of it is just the web with extra steps.”
Chris explains why derivatives are so exciting for finance bros, and so risky for pension funds.
The guys fight about CC swiping vs inserting vs tapping vs phone tapping.
Cursive: a dead art? Yeah. Yeah… it really is. Like who even still cares?
… and much more!
Don’t be shy! Reach out at [email protected].
Visit https://refactored.work/ for the full archive, show notes, and more. Hosted by Chris Tonkinson and Frank Koehl.
Direct link to RSS feed
1 hr
April 04, 2025160: The Great DeepSeek Bake-Off
Refactored #160: “The Great DeepSeek Bake-Off”
On this episode of Refactored…
The guys talk skin tone and color palettes. Celts just have fewer options #SadTrombone
Frank claims the DeepSeek hype is nuaght but lies and theft and vapor. Aaaaaaand he’s right.
Chris gets tired of talking; advocates simple living documents and point-in-time artifacts to move teams forward.
… and much more!
Don’t be shy! Reach out at [email protected].
Visit https://refactored.work/ for the full archive, show notes, and more. Hosted by Chris Tonkinson and Frank Koehl.
Direct link to RSS feed
1 hr 4 min
February 28, 2025159: Duck, Duck, Debug!
Refactored #159: “Duck, Duck, Debug!”
On this episode of Refactored…
Chris bought a 3D Printer! They’re really fun hammers just begging for nails.
The guys unpack letting the team learn, vs stepping in and getting business done quickly.
… and much more!
Don’t be shy! Reach out at [email protected].
Visit https://refactored.work/ for the full archive, show notes, and more. Hosted by Chris Tonkinson and Frank Koehl.
Direct link to RSS feed
53 min
February 21, 2025158: It IS Called 'Work'
Refactored #158: “It IS Called ‘Work’”
On this episode of Refactored…
The guys agree: buying a round (or meal) from time to time can pay dividends.
The guys grapple with the reality of maintaining regulatory software (read: software only required for compliance reasons (read: soul crushing work)).
Comment Block
How to proceed with a dissolved team?
How do you plan complex features before you start implementing them?
… and much more!
Don’t be shy! Reach out at [email protected].
Visit https://refactored.work/ for the full archive, show notes, and more. Hosted by Chris Tonkinson and Frank Koehl.
Direct link to RSS feed
54 min
February 14, 2025157: No Longer Rupted
Refactored #157: “No Longer Rupted”
On this episode of Refactored…
Chris is tired of being disrupted.
The guys talk about RAG (Retrieval-Augmented Generation) and how it can be used to improve the experience with LLMs.
Prompt engineering - Frank has a hot take on what’s to come.
Comment Block
My manager wants me to pair up with the worst guy on the team for the next six months. How do I get out of this? Please help me talk to my manager about this. This guy is really incompetent. I thought he would be on a PIP, but I guess they are keeping him around. He’s senior too, which is higher than me, but can’t figure out the most basic compliation errors or problems with Git. He keeps making the same mistakes over and over. I wrote documentation for him and he forgets the same things. I keep responding with links to the doc to unblock him. He can’t pattern match. If I ask him to fix a certain type of issue one time in a code review and explain why, he’ll have the same problem again later in another section. I don’t care what happens to him, I just want to avoid him as much as possible; I’m gouing to lose my mind if I have to work closely with him for the next six months. How can I ask my manager to get assigned to a different feature?
… and much more!
Don’t be shy! Reach out at [email protected].
Visit https://refactored.work/ for the full archive, show notes, and more. Hosted by Chris Tonkinson and Frank Koehl.
Direct link to RSS feed
1 hr 6 min
February 07, 2025156: WP Press Word Engine
Refactored #156: “WP Press Word Engine”
On this episode of Refactored…
What’s the deal with airline peanuts WordPress vs WP Engine?
Agile vs Sprints vs Scrum vs sanity. The guys debate at length.
The guys fight (lightly) about PHP.
Comment block
Yo… why do you guys fight all the time?
… and much more!
Don’t be shy! Reach out at [email protected].
Visit https://refactored.work/ for the full archive, show notes, and more. Hosted by Chris Tonkinson and Frank Koehl.
Direct link to RSS feed
1 hr 8 min
January 31, 2025155: Architectural Outages
Refactored #155: “Six Figure Flat Tires”
On this episode of Refactored…
Hill Rejection Assist: Chris complains about Honda
The guys decrypt the firewall to open a socket to the kernel.
Comment Block
How do you not beat yourself up over causing an outage? Recently caused a SEV-1 outage that impacted a few hundred users. It was able to be corrected in a few hours but the app was not usable during the event. My manager was cool about it and is focused on the process; putting guardrails in place so that it doesn’t happen again. I find myself ruminating on it quite a bit and feeling embarassed about it, as over my 13 years as a dev this has only happened one other time. I am also somewhat newish to this company so I’m hoping this doesn’t ruin my reptuation.
Why do we even need architects? Question/observation: maybe it’s just me, but in my 19-year career as a software developer, I’ve worked on many different systems. In the projects where we had architects on the team the solutions have tended to be over-engineered with large complex tech stacks making them difficult maintain and challenging to find engineers familiar with the technologies. Over time I’ve started losing respect and appreciation for architects. Don’t get me wrong, I’ve also worked with some great architects, but most of them have been underwhelming. What has your experience been?
… and much more!
Don’t be shy! Reach out at [email protected].
Visit https://refactored.work/ for the full archive, show notes, and more. Hosted by Chris Tonkinson and Frank Koehl.
Direct link to RSS feed
1 hr 4 min

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A casual, ongoing conversation between two technology leaders with Chris Tonkinson and Frank Koehl.

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Refactored

Refactored episodes

About Refactored