Podcast
Giant Robots Smashing Into Other Giant Robots
Hosted by thoughtbot · EN
A podcast about the design, development, and business of great software. Each week thoughtbot is joined by the people who build and nurture the products we love.
38episodes
Episodes
Newest firstAll episodes
598: Animals and AI Accounting with Sam Landsberg
Dec 1100:40:18Tap to summarizeSami talks with Sam Landsberg, head of sales at Light, about the wide world of fintech and how they’re working to simplify accounting software for businesses big and small. Sam lays out his journey into the world of fintech and how he came to work with Light, the way they utilise AI with clients to condense the human element of accounting, and Sami challenges Sam’s knowledge of animals with a surprise pop quiz. — You can connect with Sam on LinkedIn or contact his company Light if you’re looking to refresh your accountancy software. Your host for this episode has been Sami Birnbaum. Sami can be found through his website or via LinkedIn. If you would like to support the show, head over to our GitHub page, or check out our website. Got a question or comment about the show? Why not write to our hosts: hosts@giantrobots.fm This has been a thoughtbot podcast. Stay up to date by following us on social media - LinkedIn - Mastodon - YouTube - Bluesky © 2025 thoughtbot, inc.Support Giant Robots Smashing Into Other Giant Robots
Transcribe →597: Say Yes with Nick Merwin
Nov 2000:46:03Tap to summarizeChad talks with developer and guitarist Nick Merwin about the challenges of balancing his career in development with his life as a musician. Nick tells of his time delivering code on the road as a guitarist with the band Capital Cities, the pros and cons of working as a solo programmer, what he’s learnt from saying yes for so many years, and Chad asks whether AI is diluting the art of coding. — Nick can be heard playing with his band Capital Cities, alternatively you can follow him on X or connect with him on LinkedIn. Your host for this episode has been Chad Pytel. You can find Chad all over social media as @cpytel, or over on LinkedIn. If you would like to support the show, head over to our GitHub page, or check out our website. Got a question or comment about the show? Why not write to our hosts: hosts@giantrobots.fm This has been a thoughtbot podcast. Stay up to date by following us on social media - LinkedIn - Mastodon - YouTube - Bluesky © 2025 thoughtbot, inc.Support Giant Robots Smashing Into Other Giant Robots
Transcribe →596: Building Bridges Between Brands and Creators: The Story of Sheer
Nov 1300:42:45Tap to summarizeSami revisits his time on a recent project for Sheer as he talks with it’s CTO and founder Mads Ulrik Svendsen about the ever evolving and creative world of influencers. Mads talks about the story of Sheer, how they’re helping influencers maximise their potential and creativity, where they expect to see change in the industry over the coming years, the desire for authenticity in a world of AI content, and Sami is determined to discover just what it would take to become an influencer in 2025. — If you want to get in touch with Mads about anything you’ve heard on todays show you can connect with him through LinkedIn or directly via email - mads@sheer.dk Your host for this episode has been Sami Birnbaum. Sami can be found through his website or via LinkedIn. If you would like to support the show, head over to our GitHub page, or check out our website. Got a question or comment about the show? Why not write to our hosts: hosts@giantrobots.fm This has been a thoughtbot podcast. Stay up to date by following us on social media - LinkedIn - Mastodon - YouTube - Bluesky © 2025 thoughtbot, inc.Support Giant Robots Smashing Into Other Giant Robots
Transcribe →595: Projects in Progress and Nature’s Ultimate Sacrifice
Oct 2300:43:44Tap to summarizeSami, Chad and Will share the projects they’ve been working on at thoughtbot recently and how they adapt to new systems they’re unfamiliar with. Sami shares his recent horror at the animal kingdom and how he might be getting into crypto, Chad reveals how he invests his time into thoughtbot whilst also managing to stay on top trending tech, and the group discuss best practices for dealing with clients. — Against Chad’s wishes you can watch Sami’s spider video here, but we don’t recommend it! You can find Chad all over social media as @cpytel and Sami through his website. You can also connect with the trio via their LinkedIn pages - Chad - Will - Sami. If you would like to support the show, head over to our GitHub page, or check out our website. Got a question or comment about the show? Why not write to our hosts: hosts@giantrobots.fm This has been a thoughtbot podcast. Stay up to date by following us on social media - LinkedIn - Mastodon - YouTube - Bluesky © 2025 thoughtbot, inc.Support Giant Robots Smashing Into Other Giant Robots
Transcribe →594: AI is Draining with Pablo Curell
Oct 900:45:37Tap to summarizeSami assesses the long term viability of AI with Pablo Curell, software developer at Recovr, as they break down the hype and logistics that surround the popular tool. The pair examine why it’s still important you learn to code, what AI’s best use cases are now and what they could be in the future, what a successful AI product actually looks like on the back end, as well as the ever growing and unsustainable economics behind AI tokens. — Read the article mentioned in this week’s episode - The Case Against Generative AI Check out Pablo’s podcast A Junior, A Senior and I for similar discussions and perspectives on the world of tech, or follow him on social media - LinkedIn - Mastodon - Website Your host for this episode has been Sami Birnbaum. Sami can be found through his website or via LinkedIn. If you would like to support the show, head over to our GitHub page, or check out our website. Got a question or comment about the show? Why not write to our hosts: hosts@giantrobots.fm This has been a thoughtbot podcast. Stay up to date by following us on social media - LinkedIn - Mastodon - YouTube - Bluesky © 2025 thoughtbot, inc.Support Giant Robots Smashing Into Other Giant Robots
Transcribe →566: Staying Grounded and Product Innovation with Tanu Chellam
Mar 20, 202500:41:33Tap to summarizeSami chats with Tanu Chellam, Senior Vice President of Product at Seldon and Chairperson of the Board at Atlas Rosetta, about her journey and career in the world of products. Tanu covers her journey from start to finish, from building websites as a teenager and her dreams of travelling, all the way through to her time at AutoDesk where she was instrumental in scaling one of their largest product’s installation time from 8 hours, to 8 minutes. Learn how Tanu learnt to balance her working life and downtime, and how her definition of success and relationship to work has changed over the course of her career. — You can connect with Tanu over on LinkedIn, where she would be happy to discuss anything mentioned in this episode in greater detail. Your host for this episode has been Sami Birnbaum. Sami can be found through his website or via LinkedIn. If you would like to support the show, head over to our GitHub page, or check out our website. Got a question or comment about the show? Why not write to our hosts: hosts@giantrobots.fm This has been a thoughtbot podcast. Stay up to date by following us on social media - LinkedIn - Mastodon - Bluesky © 2025 thoughtbot, inc.Support Giant Robots Smashing Into Other Giant Robots
Transcribe →565: Coding Journeys with Will and Sami
Mar 13, 202500:43:49Tap to summarizeEver wondered how our Giant Robots hosts got into programming in the first place? In today’s episode Sami and Will take some time to dive into their coding journeys and the lessons they learnt along the way. Hear about their ambitions growing up and where they thought they were headed, the motivation, drive and hurdles they overcame to get to where they are today and how impostor syndrome isn’t just a “new job” problem. — Hear more about Sami and Will’s kids in their previous episode together! Check out the Dunning-Kruger graph. Your hosts for this episode have been Will Larry and Sami Birnbaum. You can find Sami through his website, or you can connect with them both via their LinkedIn pages - Will - Sami. If you would like to support the show, head over to our GitHub page, or check out our website. Got a question or comment about the show? Why not write to our hosts: hosts@giantrobots.fm This has been a thoughtbot podcast. Stay up to date by following us on social media - LinkedIn - Mastodon - Bluesky © 2025 thoughtbot, inc.Support Giant Robots Smashing Into Other Giant Robots
Transcribe →564: Making humans more valuable, not less with Andrei Oprisan
Mar 6, 202500:38:08Tap to summarizeChad talks with Andrei Oprisan, head of engineering at Agent.AI, about his new approach to making AI tools and agents accessible to everyone. Hear how the community are helping to shape and build on Agent.AI in ways the team never thought of, the road blocks of developing such an accessible market place, and the desire to make every AI agent as easy to use for as many people as possible. — Explore Agent.AI’s catalogue of tools to see if it can help enhance your workflow for free! If you find the resource useful, consider joining the AI builders community and get even more involved with AI tools! You can email Andrei at andrei@mail.agent.ai, or connect with him via LinkedIn If you would like to support the show, head over to our GitHub page, or check out our website. Got a question or comment about the show? Why not write to our hosts: hosts@giantrobots.fm This has been a thoughtbot podcast. Stay up to date by following us on social media - LinkedIn - Mastodon - Instagram © 2025 thoughtbot, inc.Support Giant Robots Smashing Into Other Giant Robots
Transcribe →563: Next-Gen Aging: The Venture Capital Perspective with James Hueston
Feb 27, 202500:42:56Tap to summarizeSami is joined by James Hueston, venture investor at Primetime Partners, as they discuss technology’s failure to connect with the older generation. James explains how technology aimed at older people is often not fit for purpose, how the investment process for new startups is currently swamped with the same AI ideas, and Sami explores the idea of how AI can help improve loneliness in our modern world. — If you’d like to hear more about the importance of keeping accessibility at the forefront every project, check out Episode 559. If you’re an entrepreneur in the early stages of developing something in age tech, why not reach out to James at Primetime Partners to see if he can help! james@primetimepartners.com Your host for this episode has been Sami Birnbaum. Sami can be found through his website or via LinkedIn. If you would like to support the show, head over to our GitHub page, or check out our website. Got a question or comment about the show? Why not write to our hosts: hosts@giantrobots.fm This has been a thoughtbot podcast. Stay up to date by following us on social media - LinkedIn - Mastodon - Instagram © 2025 thoughtbot, inc.Support Giant Robots Smashing Into Other Giant Robots
Transcribe →562: The evolution of design sprints with Dawn Delatte and Elaina Natario
Feb 20, 202500:37:45Tap to summarizeChad talks with fellow thoughtboters Dawn Delatte and Elaina Natario about the evolution of design sprints within the company. Listen to how design sprints helped shape and streamline the discovery stage of work with clients, how it helps route out what should and shouldn’t be done in a project, as well as the way thoughtbot has tweaked the formula over the years to build their own playbook. — Check out thoughtbot’s Design Sprint Guide! Read through thoughtbot’s AI ethics guide and ask yourself thoughtbot's six key questions when working with AI. You can find both Dawn and Elaina on LinkedIn, or through their respective thoughtbot blogs - Dawn’s Blog - Elaina’s Blog Your host for this episode has been Chad Pytel. You can find Chad all over social media as @cpytel, or over on LinkedIn. If you would like to support the show, head over to our GitHub page, or check out our website. Got a question or comment about the show? Why not write to our hosts: hosts@giantrobots.fm This has been a thoughtbot podcast. Stay up to date by following us on social media - LinkedIn - Mastodon - Instagram © 2025 thoughtbot, inc.Support Giant Robots Smashing Into Other Giant Robots
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