The Bike Shed

Our 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.

Aji 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.

Joël 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.

Sally 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.

Joël 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.

Joël 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.

Sally 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.

Joël and Aji reference their personal bibliographies as they compare the different influences that have shaped their programmer world view. Our hosts discuss their most influential programming material, from books, talks and video, and how it’s impacted the way they write code, Joël hones in on the importance of confidence and dealing with uncertainty of objects in a project, while Aji dips into his knowledge of RailConf talks to find his biggest inspiration. — Take a leaf out of our hosts book and discover some of the material that influenced them and their work for yourself - POODR - Confident Ruby - RailsConf 2014 Talk - Take Smart Notes - Working Effectively with Legacy Code 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.

Our hosts discuss the pros of AI and where they find the tool genuinely useful, it’s limitations, downsides and where it’s causing harm, the differences between bad AI code and human code, before asking the question of where this AI boom could be leading us. — To get more of an insight into today’s episode consider watching Sandi Metz's RubyConf talk (https://youtube.com/watch?v=c5WWTvHB_sA) to learn more about red-lighting, or read the article Aji mentioned about running out of ideas (https://www.vox.com/future-perfect/471918/ai-science-growth-deepmind-alphafold-chatgpt-google). Thanks to our sponsor for this episode Scout Monitoring (https://www.scoutapm.com/). Your hosts for this episode have been thoughtbot’s own Sally Hall (https://www.linkedin.com/in/sallyannahall) and Aji Slater (https://www.linkedin.com/in/doodlingdev/). If you would like to support the show, head over to our GitHub page (https://github.com/sponsors/thoughtbot), or check out our website (https://bikeshed.thoughtbot.com). Got a question or comment about the show? Why not write to our hosts: hosts@bikeshed.fm This has been a thoughtbot (https://thoughtbot.com/) podcast. Stay up to date by following us on social media - YouTube (https://www.youtube.com/@thoughtbot/streams) - LinkedIn (https://www.linkedin.com/company/150727/) - Mastodon (https://thoughtbot.social/@thoughtbot) - BlueSky (https://bsky.app/profile/thoughtbot.com) © 2026 thoughtbot, inc.

Joël and Sally tidy up the place as they discuss the different ways a new codebase and team can feel welcoming to them. Together they break down the things that help them ingrate into a new project more easily, explain why the lore of a project can be sacred to some, what you can do in the present to make things easier for a developer down the road, and why communication is crucial for keeping everyone on the same page even long after you’ve moved on. — Check out these resources for a deeper dive into some of the topics mentioned in this week’s episode - Fixtures (https://api.rubyonrails.org/v3.1/classes/ActiveRecord/Fixtures.html) - Hierarchy of Documentation (https://challahscript.com/hiearchy_of_documentation) - Domain Modelling 1 (https://martinfowler.com/bliki/AnemicDomainModel.html) - Domain Modelling 2 (https://thoughtbot.com/blog/avoid-putting-logic-in-map-blocks) Thanks to our sponsor for this episode Scout Monitoring (https://www.scoutapm.com/). Your hosts for this episode have been thoughtbot’s own Joël Quenneville (https://www.linkedin.com/in/joel-quenneville-96b18b58/) and Sally Hall (https://www.linkedin.com/in/sallyannahall). If you would like to support the show, head over to our GitHub page (https://github.com/sponsors/thoughtbot), or check out our website (https://bikeshed.thoughtbot.com). Got a question or comment about the show? Why not write to our hosts: hosts@bikeshed.fm This has been a thoughtbot (https://thoughtbot.com/) podcast. Stay up to date by following us on social media - YouTube (https://www.youtube.com/@thoughtbot/streams) - LinkedIn (https://www.linkedin.com/company/150727/) - Mastodon (https://thoughtbot.social/@thoughtbot) - BlueSky (https://bsky.app/profile/thoughtbot.com) © 2026 thoughtbot, inc.

Aji and Joël talk all things hackerthons and why taking the time to have a little having fun with your work every now and then is important for developers. Our hosts reflect on their shared experience at a previous RailsConf where they entered a mini hackerthon, why playing around in a creative sandbox is crucial to honing your skills as a dev, and how programming on the fly can teach you a lot about your own strengths and weaknesses. — Read more about Joël’s entry in Rails Rumble (https://thoughtbot.com/blog/rails-rumble-roundup), as well as their participation in the RailsConf 2022 mini Hackerthon (https://thoughtbot.com/blog/thoughtbot-presentations-good-vibes-from-railsconf-2022). Thanks to our sponsors for this episode Judoscale - Autoscale the Right Way (https://judoscale.com/bikeshed) (check the link for your free gift!), and Scout Monitoring (https://www.scoutapm.com/). Your hosts for this episode have been thoughtbot’s own Joël Quenneville (https://www.linkedin.com/in/joel-quenneville-96b18b58/) and Aji Slater (https://www.linkedin.com/in/doodlingdev/). If you would like to support the show, head over to our GitHub page (https://github.com/sponsors/thoughtbot), or check out our website (https://bikeshed.thoughtbot.com). Got a question or comment about the show? Why not write to our hosts: hosts@bikeshed.fm This has been a thoughtbot (https://thoughtbot.com/) podcast. Stay up to date by following us on social media - YouTube (https://www.youtube.com/@thoughtbot/streams) - LinkedIn (https://www.linkedin.com/company/150727/) - Mastodon (https://thoughtbot.social/@thoughtbot) - BlueSky (https://bsky.app/profile/thoughtbot.com) © 2025 thoughtbot, inc.

Joël contributes some thoughts on working with custom attributes as he follows up on last week’s discussion about ActiveModels with Sally. Joël breaks down how he transforms various strings and objects when working with ActiveModels to simplify more advance workloads, as Sally queries their different use cases and how best to utilise them for her own workflow. — Catch up on Sally and Aji’s episode from last week on ActiveModels before diving into this discussion! (https://bikeshed.thoughtbot.com/) If you’d like to give some of the gems mentioned in this episode a try for yourself they can be found here - phonelib (https://github.com/daddyz/phonelib) - money-rails (https://github.com/RubyMoney/money-rails) - astronoby (https://github.com/rhannequin/astronoby) Thanks to our sponsors for this episode Judoscale - Autoscale the Right Way (https://judoscale.com/bikeshed) (check the link for your free gift!), and Scout Monitoring (https://www.scoutapm.com/). Your hosts for this episode have been thoughtbot’s own Joël Quenneville (https://www.linkedin.com/in/joel-quenneville-96b18b58/) and Sally Hall (https://www.linkedin.com/in/sallyannahall). If you would like to support the show, head over to our GitHub page (https://github.com/sponsors/thoughtbot), or check out our website (https://bikeshed.thoughtbot.com). Got a question or comment about the show? Why not write to our hosts: hosts@bikeshed.fm This has been a thoughtbot (https://thoughtbot.com/) podcast. Stay up to date by following us on social media - YouTube (https://www.youtube.com/@thoughtbot/streams) - LinkedIn (https://www.linkedin.com/company/150727/) - Mastodon (https://thoughtbot.social/@thoughtbot) - BlueSky (https://bsky.app/profile/thoughtbot.com) © 2025 thoughtbot, inc.

Aji and Sally join forces to discuss the different ways they utilise active models in their workflows. Aji describes a new system for working with active models they’ve been using recently, Sally recalls a project where active models could have saved her a lot of time, before putting their heads together to think of new creative ways to utilise rails’ tools toolset to build other active models. — Discover more of The Magic of Rails through Eileen Uchitelle’s Keynote (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TgNb2_LSMMo), or check out the GitHub repo (https://github.com/thoughtbot/administrate) mentioned in this episode. Thanks to our sponsors for this episode Judoscale - Autoscale the Right Way (https://judoscale.com/bikeshed) (check the link for your free gift!), and Scout Monitoring (https://www.scoutapm.com/). Your hosts for this episode have been thoughtbot’s own Sally Hall (https://www.linkedin.com/in/sallyannahall) and Aji Slater (https://www.linkedin.com/in/doodlingdev/). If you would like to support the show, head over to our GitHub page (https://github.com/sponsors/thoughtbot), or check out our website (https://bikeshed.thoughtbot.com). Got a question or comment about the show? Why not write to our hosts: hosts@bikeshed.fm This has been a thoughtbot (https://thoughtbot.com/) podcast. Stay up to date by following us on social media - YouTube (https://www.youtube.com/@thoughtbot/streams) - LinkedIn (https://www.linkedin.com/company/150727/) - Mastodon (https://thoughtbot.social/@thoughtbot) - BlueSky (https://bsky.app/profile/thoughtbot.com) © 2025 thoughtbot, inc.

Joël and Aji kick off a new season by discussing the best use cases for HTTP basic auth and talking all things security. The pair ask when and why you would use basic auth over standard HTTPS, it’s pros, cons and vulnerabilities over other forms of security, and provide some advice to help decide on what form of security you could implement on your site. — Thanks to our sponsors for this episode Judoscale - Autoscale the Right Way (https://judoscale.com/bikeshed) (check the link for your free gift!), and Scout Monitoring (https://www.scoutapm.com/). Check out these links for more information on some of the topics covered in today’s episode - Cross-Origin Resource Sharing - Cross-site request forgery (CSRF) - The Universe is Hostile to Computers Your hosts for this episode have been thoughtbot’s own Joël Quenneville (https://www.linkedin.com/in/joel-quenneville-96b18b58/) and Aji Slater (https://www.linkedin.com/in/doodlingdev/). If you would like to support the show, head over to our GitHub page (https://github.com/sponsors/thoughtbot), or check out our website (https://bikeshed.thoughtbot.com). Got a question or comment about the show? Why not write to our hosts: hosts@bikeshed.fm This has been a thoughtbot (https://thoughtbot.com/) podcast. Stay up to date by following us on social media - YouTube (https://www.youtube.com/@thoughtbot/streams) - LinkedIn (https://www.linkedin.com/company/150727/) - Mastodon (https://thoughtbot.social/@thoughtbot) - BlueSky (https://bsky.app/profile/thoughtbot.com) © 2025 thoughtbot, inc.

Our Bike Shed trio check back in with one another to follow up on some topics that caught their attention over the course of season 1. Sally covers her time working with React over the last few months and the challenges it still presents to her workflow, Joël goes back over typescripts and the benefits he’s found when debugging, and the cast reflect on the first season as a whole, what they liked, what went well and what they’d like to improve on for season 2. — You can read up on some of the topics mentioned in this episode here - Constructive vs Predictive Data - Aji’s Keynote - Aji’s Recommended Keynote from 2022 Your hosts for this episode have been thoughtbot’s own Joël Quenneville (https://www.linkedin.com/in/joel-quenneville-96b18b58/), Sally Hall (https://www.linkedin.com/in/sallyannahall) and Aji Slater (https://www.linkedin.com/in/doodlingdev/) If you would like to support the show, head over to our GitHub page (https://github.com/sponsors/thoughtbot), or check out our website (https://bikeshed.thoughtbot.com). Got a question or comment about the show? Why not write to our hosts: hosts@bikeshed.fm This has been a thoughtbot (https://thoughtbot.com/) podcast. Stay up to date by following us on social media - YouTube (https://www.youtube.com/@thoughtbot/streams) - LinkedIn (https://www.linkedin.com/company/150727/) - Mastodon (https://thoughtbot.social/@thoughtbot) - BlueSky (https://bsky.app/profile/thoughtbot.com) © 2025 thoughtbot, inc.

Joël and Sally compare various note taking styles as they set out to find which ones work best for them. The pair break down the different ways of formatting their notes and what they’re used for, Sally explains her struggles with note taking in general and the work arounds she’s found to achieve similar results instead, and Joël provides a small update on his book as he examines the different use cases for all his notes. — Thanks to our sponsors for this episode Judoscale - Autoscale the Right Way (https://judoscale.com/bikeshed) (check the link for your free gift!), and Scout Monitoring (https://www.scoutapm.com/). Read about Joël’s note taking in depth through his thoughtbot blog posts - Blog 1 (https://thoughtbot.com/blog/my-note-taking-system-gives-me-constant-content-ideas) - Blog 2 (https://thoughtbot.com/blog/turning-experience-into-growth) Your hosts for this episode have been thoughtbot’s own Joël Quenneville (https://www.linkedin.com/in/joel-quenneville-96b18b58/) and Sally Hall (https://www.linkedin.com/in/sallyannahall). If you would like to support the show, head over to our GitHub page (https://github.com/sponsors/thoughtbot), or check out our website (https://bikeshed.thoughtbot.com). Got a question or comment about the show? Why not write to our hosts: hosts@bikeshed.fm This has been a thoughtbot (https://thoughtbot.com/) podcast. Stay up to date by following us on social media - YouTube (https://www.youtube.com/@thoughtbot/streams) - LinkedIn (https://www.linkedin.com/company/150727/) - Mastodon (https://thoughtbot.social/@thoughtbot) - BlueSky (https://bsky.app/profile/thoughtbot.com) © 2025 thoughtbot, inc.

Joël and Sally analyse their job titles as they try to figure out exactly which borrowed labels best define their work at thoughtbot. Together they break down the components of commonly used titles such as engineer, architect and consultant to see which element reflects their work best, how they would describe their roles at thoughtbot, which industries they’d draw from if they came up with their own titles, and what does Lil Wayne have to do with all this? — For a deeper dive into today’s episode consider checking out Hillel Wayne’s post “Are we really engineers?” (https://www.hillelwayne.com/post/are-we-really-engineers/) and Henrik Kniberg’s article on Minimal Viable Products (https://blog.crisp.se/2016/01/25/henrikkniberg/making-sense-of-mvp). Thanks to our sponsors for this episode Judoscale - Autoscale the Right Way (https://judoscale.com/bikeshed) (check the link for your free gift!), and Scout Monitoring (https://www.scoutapm.com/). Your hosts for this episode have been thoughtbot’s own Joël Quenneville (https://www.linkedin.com/in/joel-quenneville-96b18b58/) and Sally Hall (https://www.linkedin.com/in/sallyannahall). If you would like to support the show, head over to our GitHub page (https://github.com/sponsors/thoughtbot), or check out our website (https://bikeshed.thoughtbot.com). Got a question or comment about the show? Why not write to our hosts: hosts@bikeshed.fm This has been a thoughtbot (https://thoughtbot.com/) podcast. Stay up to date by following us on social media - YouTube (https://www.youtube.com/@thoughtbot/streams) - LinkedIn (https://www.linkedin.com/company/150727/) - Mastodon (https://thoughtbot.social/@thoughtbot) - BlueSky (https://bsky.app/profile/thoughtbot.com) © 2025 thoughtbot, inc.

Joël and Sally grab a flashlight to share some scary dev stories with each other to celebrate spooky season. Sally tales the tale of the missing production database, Joël flees from some corrupted data, and each recall instances of haunted code and heart stopping moments from projects gone wrong. — Thanks to our sponsors for this episode Judoscale - Autoscale the Right Way (https://judoscale.com/bikeshed) (check the link for your free gift!), and Scout Monitoring (https://www.scoutapm.com/). If you’re ever in Amsterdam consider checking out Joël’s museum recommendation. (https://grachten.museum/en/) Your hosts for this episode have been thoughtbot’s own Joël Quenneville (https://www.linkedin.com/in/joel-quenneville-96b18b58/) and Sally Hall (https://www.linkedin.com/in/sallyannahall). If you would like to support the show, head over to our GitHub page (https://github.com/sponsors/thoughtbot), or check out our website (https://bikeshed.thoughtbot.com). Got a question or comment about the show? Why not write to our hosts: hosts@bikeshed.fm This has been a thoughtbot (https://thoughtbot.com/) podcast. Stay up to date by following us on social media - YouTube (https://www.youtube.com/@thoughtbot/streams) - LinkedIn (https://www.linkedin.com/company/150727/) - Mastodon (https://thoughtbot.social/@thoughtbot) - BlueSky (https://bsky.app/profile/thoughtbot.com) © 2025 thoughtbot, inc.

Aji gets his priorities straight as he talks with fellow thoughtboter Jared Turner about his recent article titled The President’s Doctor (https://thoughtbot.com/blog/the-presidents-doctor). Jared breaks down the thought process behind the president’s doctor and the wasted time we accrue when working on a project, where we can minimise pauses and delays in our workflows, and why watching cat videos while you wait may actually be the most productive thing you can do! — Thanks to our sponsors for this episode Judoscale - Autoscale the Right Way (https://judoscale.com/bikeshed) (check the link for your free gift!), and Scout Monitoring (https://www.scoutapm.com/). Read Jared’s article (https://thoughtbot.com/blog/the-presidents-doctor) to get a full breakdown of The President’s Doctor theory. Your host for this episode has been Aji Slater (https://www.linkedin.com/in/doodlingdev/) and was joined by fellow thoughtboter Jared Turner (https://www.linkedin.com/in/jaredlt/). If you would like to support the show, head over to our GitHub page (https://github.com/sponsors/thoughtbot), or check out our website (https://bikeshed.thoughtbot.com). Got a question or comment about the show? Why not write to our hosts: hosts@bikeshed.fm This has been a thoughtbot (https://thoughtbot.com/) podcast. Stay up to date by following us on social media - YouTube (https://www.youtube.com/@thoughtbot/streams) - LinkedIn (https://www.linkedin.com/company/150727/) - Mastodon (https://thoughtbot.social/@thoughtbot) - BlueSky (https://bsky.app/profile/thoughtbot.com) © 2025 thoughtbot, inc.

Aji and Sally set out to crack the problems surrounding remote working as they share their thoughts on the various aspect of working from home. Together they discuss their time at the recent thoughtbot summit in Amsterdam, how they felt about working in-person again, what they took away from the experience, the best remote solutions they’ve found to recreate that in-person feeling (https://www.gather.town/), and what friction points about remote working still linger for them both. — Thanks to our sponsors for this episode Judoscale - Autoscale the Right Way (https://judoscale.com/bikeshed) (check the link for your free gift!), and Scout Monitoring (https://www.scoutapm.com/). Sign up for thoughtbot’s open summit (https://thoughtbot.com/events/open-summit) at the end of the month. Your hosts for this episode have been thoughtbot’s own Sally Hall (https://www.linkedin.com/in/sallyannahall) and Aji Slater (https://www.linkedin.com/in/doodlingdev/) If you would like to support the show, head over to our GitHub page (https://github.com/sponsors/thoughtbot), or check out our website (https://bikeshed.thoughtbot.com). Got a question or comment about the show? Why not write to our hosts: hosts@bikeshed.fm This has been a thoughtbot (https://thoughtbot.com/) podcast. Stay up to date by following us on social media - YouTube (https://www.youtube.com/@thoughtbot/streams) - LinkedIn (https://www.linkedin.com/company/150727/) - Mastodon (https://thoughtbot.social/@thoughtbot) - BlueSky (https://bsky.app/profile/thoughtbot.com) © 2025 thoughtbot, inc.