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.
15episodes
Episodes
Newest firstAll episodes
501: What makes for good technical writing?
4d ago00:34:27Tap 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
2w ago00:58:21Tap 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 →496: Test suite performance
Mar 300:43:37Tap to summarizeJoël and Sally cover all the bases as they look at improving their test suite performances times. Our hosts lay out some spicy takes on various different test suites, comparing the key differences across the different forms of testing, where you might encounter pitfalls in each method, and how to make the most of each test. — Interested in exploring different test suites to see if they could improve your projects? Check out these articles on everything our hosts discussed today, as well as Joël’s talk on slow tests. Avoiding Factory Bot - Why Factories? - Parallelisation in Testing - Joël’s Talk 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 →495: A shortcut to years of experience
Feb 2400:34:13Tap to summarizeSally and Aji flick through thoughtbot’s guide to best practices in a bid to brush up on their coding habits. Our hosts discuss key ideas from the guides that stand out to them the most, why they’re considered to be good practice, as well as reviewing the cons of complex writing and the benefits of simple coding. — Be sure to check out Sally’s new repo Michel if you’re looking to create an appointment database, and check out the thoughtbot guides for more general coding advice. If you’ve got some spare time and want to hear Aji’s talk on breaking the enigma code you can watch that here. 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? 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 →494: Primitive Obsession
Feb 1700:40:41Tap to summarizeJoël and Sally examine the simpler components of programming and why using basic data structures may not always be the best approach to solving a problem. Our hosts cover all the telltale signs and symptoms of primitive obsession, what it is, it’s drawbacks and limitations, and how to avoid it creeping into your own work. — Want to learn more about primitive obsession and readability in programming? Check out these links for some wider reading, including a talk from Joël! - Design Patterns and Null - thoughtbot blog on primitive obsession - Define User 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 →493: Suspenders with Steve Polito
Feb 1000:41:30Tap to summarizeJoël talks with guest thoughtbotter Steve Polito about his recent work rewriting Suspenders, an old thoughtbot gem from the 2000s. Steve discusses his role on the rewrite and the steps he took in optimising it for modern rails, Joël dives into some of the new features found in the gem, before discussing with Steve the use cases for Suspenders and why you might choose it over other rails starter apps. — Want to learn more about our gem Suspenders? Check out some of these links to get yourself up to speed and try it for yourself. Suspenders Gem - Suspenders Feature List - thoughtbot’s guide for programming Your hosts for this episode have been thoughtbot’s own Joël Quenneville and Steve Polito. 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 →492: Defining value within your team
Feb 300:32:52Tap to summarizeSally and Aji assess some common metrics for success when working a project and how they may not always provide the clearest picture of how things are going. Together they discuss how to communicate effectively with stakeholders who are less technical to fully appreciate certain decisions and choices being made on a project, as well as the different metrics you can use to better reflect success and setbacks on a project. — 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? 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
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