In this episode of the Dead Code podcast, host Jared Norman interviews Robby Russell, the CEO of Planet Argon and creator of Oh My Zsh, who shares insights from his extensive experience in software development, particularly Ruby on Rails. Robby discusses the challenges of software maintenance and technical debt, emphasizing the importance of understanding and managing different types of debt within teams. He advocates for building simpler, more maintainable systems, taking ownership of the codebase, and integrating maintenance work into regular workflows through effective communication and documentation.

Links:

Robby’s TikTok

Robby’s LinkedIn

Robby’s X

Oh My Zsh

Planet Argon

Maintainable Software Podcast

Michael Feathers' book "Working Effectively with Legacy Code"

Ward Cunningham and the concept of Technical Debt

RailsConf

Ruby on Rails

Refinery CMS

Solidus

Spree

Martin Fowler's book "Refactoring"

John Osterhout's book "A Philosophy of Software Design"

Rails World 2024

Dead Code on Mastodon

Dead Code on X

Jared on Mastodon

Jared on X

Episode Transcript

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