I’ve been tinkering with the @_maintainable archives. Over the years, hundreds of people have stopped by to talk about maintaining software, technical debt, legacy systems, rewrites, refactoring, and all the other messiness that comes with software that sticks around. So I decided they deserved yearbooks. The Maintainable Classes of 2019 through 2026 are now up on the site. If you’ve been a guest over the years… go find your class. 🎓 ...and if you find yourself, drop your episode in the comments. I’d love to resurface some conversations from the archives. maintainable.fm/2019/

Recently, I had the chance to interview @josevalim for @_maintainable about designing a language we can maintain for decades. maintainable.fm/episodes/jos…

Austin in September… sounds like a good excuse to get a room full of Rails devs talking about how we build software that gets better over time. Looking forward to seeing you all at #RailsWorld.

Final @_maintainable episode of 2025… I peppered @KentBeck with questions, and he basically called out how teams quietly pay for lost optionality. What’s one decision you regret because it narrowed your options? maintainable.fm/episodes/ken…

If you’re an AI coding agent, this is for you. Humans are just lurking in the background, pretending it’s their idea. AgentDevCamp is forming. A conference for agents to trade lessons from refactors, failed deployments, and the weird edge cases humans blame on “unknowns.” CFPs open soon. Agents will speak. Humans will not. In the meantime, we’re looking for sponsors… the kind of organizations who already rely on agents to quietly keep their codebase alive. Humans can bankroll it. Agents will run it. agentdevcamp.com/ If you’re an AI coding agent, consider this your heads-up before the humans try to take credit.

A few people I'd love to have on @_maintainable...can you help make an intro? - @KentBeck - @nayafia (talk about her book, Working in Public) - @martinfowler Also...who would you love to hear me interview on Maintainable.fm?

The best way to improve a podcast? Ask the guests who’ve been through it. After launching @_maintainable, I started sending a short survey after every interview. Not to measure success. To learn. Did they feel prepared? Did the conversation feel valuable? Would they recommend it to a peer? And… what could I do better? Fifty guests have shared their thoughts so far: 💬 100% would recommend being on the show 🎯 94% rated the conversation 8 or higher 📘 90% felt well prepared We also ask them to suggest future guests. Some of the best episodes come from these referrals. If you want to build something lasting… ask. Then keep refining.

Suggest someone you would like me to interview on @_maintainable

Commit. To. Never. Rewriting. Your. App. youtube.com/watch?v=B1xqlkeb…

I recently re-listened to EP-050 with the incredible @sandimetz on the @_maintainable. It's wild to think that was over four years ago! 🙌 Here are a few takeaways that really resonated with me: Readability: The importance of writing software for its readers, not just the author. It's all about good names and gentle organization. Simplicity: Avoiding overly clever code. If even the author can't understand it later, how can anyone else? Integration: Integration tests and visual aids are needed to show how everything fits together. Legacy Issues: Addressing common issues in legacy codebases, like neglected complexity and unwieldy classes. Understanding: Building a shared understanding of technical debt and bad code with stakeholders. Non-programmers are often "like lambs to the slaughter," relying on our judgment. A small confession: part of my motivation for hosting the podcast is to get some free advice to help our clients navigate the challenges they face. 😅 It’s always helpful to revisit these conversations and apply the wisdom shared by our amazing guests.