For a long time, tech culture has focused too narrowly on technical skills; this has resulted in a tech community that too often puts companies and code over people. Greater Than Code is a podcast that invites the voices of people who are not heard from enough in tech: women, people of color, trans and/or queer folks, to talk about the human side of software development and technology. Greater Than Code is providing a vital platform for these conversations, and developing new ideas of what it means to be a technologist beyond just the code. Featuring an ongoing panel of racially and gender diverse tech panelists, the majority of podcast guests so far have been women in tech! We’ve covered topics including imposter syndrome, mental illness, sexuality, unconscious bias and social justice. We also have a major focus on skill sets that tech too often devalues, like team-building, hiring, community organizing, mentorship and empathy. Each episode also includes a transcript. We have an active Slack community that members can join by pledging as little as $1 per month via Patreon. (https://www.patreon.com/greaterthancode)
060: Coping with Complexity with Kent Beck
01:19 – Kent’s Superpower: Putting Things Together That Don’t Necessarily Go Together
04:01 – Metaphors in Software Development
07:32 – Writing Tests and Keeping a Journal
@jessitron
The unit/integration distinction confuses me. I test at the level of, “Here’s a thought I need to capture.”@KentBeck on @greaterthancode
10:58 – Complexity Partitioning
One Bite At A Time: Partitioning Complexity
Kent’s musings on the topic of unit versus integration testing after the show.
21:59 – The Way Systems Change Over Time as an Important Part of How We Design Software
27:20 – Changing Culture Vs Code and Storytelling and Succession
Reflections:
Jamey: Thinking about the reasons why we do things.
Rein: How computer systems are beginning to take on the complexity of biological systems.
Coraline: The concept of lumpers vs splitters.
Sam: How strategies for dealing with complexity don’t just have to be about the problem itself, they can be about the emotional response of the programmer who has to get some work done.
Jessica: The for-allers vs the for-eachers; universalist vs existentialist.
Kent: Not being bothered by culture change and helping people feel the same.
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Special Guest: Kent Beck.
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