Podcast
The Bike Shed
Hosted by thoughtbot · EN
On The Bike Shed, hosts Joël Quenneville, Sally Hall, and Aji Slater discuss development experiences and challenges at thoughtbot with Ruby, Rails, JavaScript, and whatever else is drawing their attention, admiration, or ire this week.
20episodes
Episodes
Newest firstAll episodes
506: The Muppet Software Team
2w ago00:38:42Tap to summarizeIt’s time to play the music, it’s time to… get Aji and Sally together again. This week’s episode is a radical one, and a listener suggestion no less; let’s Muppet-cast a software development team! Who would you hire as the content designer? Which of the Muppets would do their best work as the QA? And the most important question of all - which role would be played by the human?! — Your hosts for this episode have been thoughtbot’s own Sally Hall and Aji Slater. Don't forget you can now also watch episodes of The Bike Shed over on YouTube! 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? Write to our hosts: hosts@bikeshed.fm This has been a thoughtbot podcast. Stay up to date by following us on social media - YouTube - LinkedIn - Mastodon - BlueSky © 2026 thoughtbot, inc.Support The Bike Shed
Transcribe →505: What is a “principal” or “staff” engineer?
3w ago00:34:11Tap to summarizeSally and Joël join forces to discuss the different ways to interpret the role of a ‘principle’ or ‘staff’ engineer, and the handwaving around what those titles mean in terms of the gradation. Whilst Joël dives into career progression within the industry, what a staff engineer does and the different archetypes within it, Sally talks about the importance of having principle engineers in the room during AI discussions, and her previous positive experiences working with principle engineers. — Joel used the Staff Archetypes page from staffeng.com during this episode’s discussion. Your hosts for this episode have been thoughtbot’s own Joël Quenneville and Sally Hall. Don't forget you can now watch every episode of The Bike Shed over on YouTube! 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? Write to our hosts: hosts@bikeshed.fm This has been a thoughtbot podcast. Stay up to date by following us on social media - YouTube - LinkedIn - Mastodon - BlueSky © 2026 thoughtbot, inc.Support The Bike Shed
Transcribe →504: AI Ethics (with guests!)
4w ago00:32:19Tap to summarizeAji is joined by thoughtbot’s own Tess Griffin and Jimmy Thigpen, two members of the recently established AI Ethics Taskforce, to talk about what kind of conversations are going on in the company around AI. With AI becoming an omnipresent entity in the industry, Tess and Jimmy take a deep dive into how and why the taskforce got started, figuring out what thoughtbot’s stance is around AI in terms of ethics and workflows, and how it relates to their clients. — As mentioned in the episode: Blastoff Rails June 11 - 12, 2026 (past) Albuquerque, New Mexico Freddy discovers America during the World Cup Your guests for this episode have been Tess Griffin and Jimmy Thigpen and your host was thoughtbot’s own Aji Slater. 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? Write to our hosts: hosts@bikeshed.fm This has been a thoughtbot podcast. Stay up to date by following us on social media - YouTube - LinkedIn - Mastodon - BlueSky © 2026 thoughtbot, inc.Support The Bike Shed
Transcribe →503: Seeing the Graph for the Trees
Jun 2300:41:12Tap to summarizeAji and Joël join forces to discuss graph and tree structures, and their connection to the emergent properties, attributes and qualities you can find from a largely connected group of data. Joël dives into their recent graphs and tree work through a contracting system, whilst Aji looks back at when he previously tried to serialise a graph or tree to a database. — Watch Joël’s Blue Ridge Ruby talk here, or Matheus’ Ruby Internal talk from last year here. There’s still time to secure your place at thoughtbot’s upcoming UK meet ups over the next month. London Tech Leader Meetup - Tuesday June 23rd Brighton Tech Leader Meetup - Wednesday June 24th Brighton Ruby - Thursday June 25th Evolve - Friday June 26th Your hosts for this episode have been thoughtbot’s own Joël Quenneville and Aji Slater. 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? Write to our hosts: hosts@bikeshed.fm This has been a thoughtbot podcast. Stay up to date by following us on social media - YouTube - LinkedIn - Mastodon - BlueSky © 2026 thoughtbot, inc.Support The Bike Shed
Transcribe →502: Apps That Make Our Work Go
Jun 1600:40:55Tap to summarizeAji and Sally are back together again, this time to discuss the different apps they use to make their workflows and To Do lists easier and quicker to achieve. Sally dives into the Notion calendar system which she uses to coordinate her many Google calendars, Aji looks back on using Jira to co-ordinate their international move, before they both reminisce about the benefits of using Alfred as people with ADHD. — There’s still time to secure your place at thoughtbot’s upcoming UK meet ups over the next month. London Tech Leader Meetup - Tuesday June 23rd Brighton Tech Leader Meetup - Wednesday June 24th Brighton Ruby - Thursday June 25th Evolve - Friday June 26th Your hosts for this episode have been thoughtbot’s own Sally Hall and Aji Slater. 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? Write to our hosts: hosts@bikeshed.fm This has been a thoughtbot podcast. Stay up to date by following us on social media - YouTube - LinkedIn - Mastodon - BlueSky © 2026 thoughtbot, inc.Support The Bike Shed
Transcribe →501: What makes for good technical writing?
Jun 200:34:27Tap to summarizeSally and Joël get technical as they lay out their thoughts on blog posts. Our hosts pick apart what makes a good technical blog post, why consistent terms are more important than you might think when communicating with your audience, and how to improve your own writing to ensure your reader remains engaged. — There’s still time to secure your place at thoughtbot’s upcoming UK meet ups over the next month. London Tech Leader Meetup - Tuesday June 23rd Brighton Tech Leader Meetup - Wednesday June 24th Brighton Ruby - Thursday June 25th Evolve - Friday June 26th Your hosts for this episode have been thoughtbot’s own Joël Quenneville and Sally Hall. 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@bikeshed.fm This has been a thoughtbot podcast. Stay up to date by following us on social media - YouTube - LinkedIn - Mastodon - BlueSky © 2026 thoughtbot, inc.Support The Bike Shed
Transcribe →500: Celebrating with past hosts
May 2600:58:21Tap to summarizeThe Bike Shed celebrates its 500th episode with hosts new and old as they reflect on the show’s history and ask, what’s new in your world? Our past hosts look back at their time on the show, their favourite moments while hosting, what they took away from producing the Bike Shed, and what they might do today if they were still in the hosting chair. — Your hosts for this special episode of The Bike Shed have been Joël Quenneville, Sally Hall and Aji Slater. Joining them have been our returning hosts Derek Prior, Sage Griffin, Stephanie Viccari, Chris Toomey and Stephanie Minn. Listen back to some of our guest’s highlighted episodes Bike Shed 14: An Acceptable Level of Hassle with David Heinemeier Hanson Bike Shed 172: What I Believe About Software Bike Shed 180: A Citizen of the Internet with John Resig Bike Shed 302: Observability with Charity Majors Bike Shed 325: Pranting Bike Shed 404: Estimation 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@bikeshed.fm This has been a thoughtbot podcast. Stay up to date by following us on social media - YouTube - LinkedIn - Mastodon - BlueSky © 2026 thoughtbot, inc.Support The Bike Shed
Transcribe →499: BikeTube ShedTacular!
Apr 2800:48:43Tap to summarizeTake a trip through Joël and Aji’s YouTube recommended list as they go over the media that has inspired their work the most over the course of their careers. Our hosts highlight different creators that feature regularly in their YouTube rotation, the long standing channels that have had the most impact on them, the video essays that inspire their work, as well as a small detour Into the world of history videos. — Here’s a handful of Joël and Ali’s personal recommendations: VSauce - Veritasium - Jet Lag the Game - The Coding Train - Tom Scott - Kings and Generals - Daniel Steiner - Assassin’s Creed: Echoes of History - Jay Foreman / Map Men - Practical Engineering - Hannah Morris - Computerphile Your hosts for this episode have been thoughtbot’s own Joël Quenneville and Aji Slater. 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@bikeshed.fm This has been a thoughtbot podcast. Stay up to date by following us on social media - YouTube - LinkedIn - Mastodon - BlueSky © 2026 thoughtbot, inc.Support The Bike Shed
Transcribe →498: Season 2 Recap
Mar 1700:37:23Tap to summarizeOur hosts come together to wrap up season 2 and share some of their highlights along the way. Our trio expand and recap on some key topics covered over the last few months, Sally and Joël provide updates on their work with typescripts and LLMs, and Aji accidentally stumbles into an idea for a new keynote topic. — Your hosts for this episode have been thoughtbot’s own Joël Quenneville, Sally Hall and Aji Slater. 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@bikeshed.fm This has been a thoughtbot podcast. Stay up to date by following us on social media - YouTube - LinkedIn - Mastodon - BlueSky © 2026 thoughtbot, inc.Support The Bike Shed
Transcribe →497: Diagrams we love
Mar 1000:41:46Tap to summarizeAji and Joël get into a flow as they discuss the different diagrams that help guide their thought processes when working. Together they compare their go to diagrams and why they find them so useful, the different analysis tools a diagram can offer and the alternative perspective on your work it provides, as well as how using diagrams can help communicate your mental models more effectively with your colleagues. — Be sure to check out these resources on diagrams and conditionals for some wider reading on today’s episode - BeautifulMermaid Repo - Visualising RSepc - Structuring Conditionals You can also find our hosts speaking at various conferences over the next few months - Haggis Ruby - Blue Ridge Ruby Your hosts for this episode have been thoughtbot’s own Joël Quenneville and Aji Slater. 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@bikeshed.fm This has been a thoughtbot podcast. Stay up to date by following us on social media - YouTube - LinkedIn - Mastodon - BlueSky © 2026 thoughtbot, inc.Support The Bike Shed
Transcribe →