BLM, White Privilege, Accountability, Guilt, Responsibilities, and Helping (00:55:18)
The world feels like a different place from just a couple weeks ago, but it's not. The United States is still in the same place it has been for a long time, if you're a minority. Randy and Don discuss the Black Lives Matter movement, police accountability, racism, privilege, guilt, and where they might fit in to not being part of the problem.
From Manager/Dev to Non-coding Manager (00:31:52)
Right before the COVID pandemic hit, Randy was asked to take on the management of two new teams, which changed his typical role of manager-developer to strictly people management, meetings, and project tracking. Don and Randy discuss the change as it affected Randy and what he thinks is the most important factors for folks in the same boat.
Big Ideas Getting Planned, Part 2 (00:51:53)
Don and Randy continue their discussion about the business plans in the Big Idea Gator Business Plan Competition, this time about the best entries and how the competition played out. Coconuts!
Big Ideas Getting Planned, Part 1 (00:50:52)
Don brings in a few examples from an upcoming Big Idea Gator Business Plan Competition in which he's playing the role of a judge. We discuss the importance of good writing, identifying the problem, and setting reasonable goals and metrics to give folks the notion you have some idea what you're doing. In Part 1, we discuss the weakest entries before tackling the better ones in Part 2.
Difficult Choices and Hard Conversations (00:43:23)
Don and Randy talk about what's been going on with the COVID-19 pandemic and how it has affected their firms, jobs, and side projects. What does it mean to talk to folks under your wing? What kind of leadership does it take when the real world seems out of your control?
Growing Up and Losing the Fun Parts of App Development (00:34:32)
Don asked Randy about what he's working on, lately, and Randy exclaimed, "nothing fun," which actually turns out not to be true. Randy details the additional mix of people, communication, and risk management around mature application development and it becomes the setting for a larger-picture discussion on how things change with app dev as you age.
Improving Visual Communication for Remote Management (00:29:56)
Randy is making efforts to improve the communication of visual examples via remote video meetings. We discuss his first attempt to achieve online whiteboarding using a Macbook Pro, a Wacom One tablet, and a Google Jamboard.
Security Concerns Keep Coming (00:34:52)
In Don's role as CTO for AspirEDU, he has a number of security audits posed by potential customers and increasing complexity around third-party hosts. Randy keeps wanting to talk about the XFL (Part 2).
Proposed Project Approach and the Wonders of Sous Vide Cooking (00:31:46)
Randy pitches to Don an approach for a CMS project and then rifs on the cool new toy he recently purchased for the kitchen: A sous vide cooking device.
Viable or crap? Discussing Blockchain, VR, Autonomous Cars, and Drone Delivery (00:51:59)
This week we take a look at the state of a few hyped technologies and see where they really are in terms of usefulness, adoption, and long-term viability. Don thinks VR will never go mainstream and Randy wants a drone to bring him something, ANYTHING, right now.
Modern Content Management Options (00:44:21)
Don and Randy discuss content management options from the old-school Full Stack apps, WYSIWYG SaaS, and Headless + Static Site Generator options
A Deeper Dive into Building Power Apps (00:45:09)
Don takes Randy along for the ride of his latest applications using Microsoft's Power App platform. They discuss building an application that uses Twilio, Trello, Flow, Power Apps, OneDrive, Adaptive Cards, and Microsoft Teams without much code, if any.
Automation vs Programming (00:41:49)
Don describes his work on moving his company to Microsoft and his use of Power Apps. This leads to a discussion of the automation vs programming strategies and how this might be the future for all non-coding employment.
Headless CMS + Static Site Generators (00:24:58)
Randy's been approached, both at his job and from an external firm, about the need for a CMS. The old stalwarts of Wordpress and Drupal don't seem to work, but the idea of a Static Site Generator and persisted content does. Randy and Don discuss the new products out there that can potentially serve both needs.
Twilio Segments, Pricing, and Proxy (00:21:56)
Randy has been working on Twilio a bit since the team last worked on the Chasms project and updates Don on some of the interesting features Twilio has brought to market. In addition, they discuss a few gotchas about SMS pricing that might needlessly cost developers a few extra bucks.
Switching to Services (00:33:44)
Randy is part of a team focused on building a Service Oriented Architecture with Go. Don figures out he has always been using services, but the SOA acronym seemed to involve more than simply work. Randy explains further the use of messages, queues, and other approaches to request buffering.
Power Apps for the People (00:40:23)
Don has been hearing Randy tell him to quit coding so much and finally does something about it: He decides to build an app without writing a line of code (but not delegating it to someone else) by using Microsoft's Power Apps platform. This week, we discuss everything about PowerApps and how this might be THE FUTURE!
Is Accessibility a Worthwhile Focus? (00:33:56)
Domino's Pizza recently lost a lawsuit regarding the lack of accessibility features for their online ordering platform. Don and Randy discuss the ramifications of the decision and whether accessibility is worth the time and effort product managers might put into making their products more inclusive.
A Front-End Dev That Can't Build a Website? (00:27:52)
Chris Coyier recently posted a tweet regarding a front-end developer he knew that "could not build a website." Is this strange? Shouldn't every developer that claims front-end skills be able to prop up a basic site?
How Should a CTO Use Their Time? (00:32:17)
When a CTO is juggling multiple responsibilities, people, and projects, what is the best use of their time? Randy, once again, tells Don to put down the keyboard and quit coding stuff!
Clean Code is Covered in Caca (00:25:03)
This week, we shall rant! The term "Clean Code" is a vague and irresponsible phrase to use regarding programming and Randy will have nothing of it. It's time Uncle Bob's cute money-making catch phrase was put to pasture.
Organizational Train Wrecks explained by College Football Dumpster Fires (00:38:56)
In honor of the second week of the college football season, Randy and Don discuss three programs, UCLA, Tennessee, and FSU, falling into disaster scenarios and compare each with CTO failures at technology firms. We keep the football/sportsball strategy discussion to a minimum, but we do eventually call out Tennessee as the "Steve Ballmer" of college football schools. Go Rocky Top?
Using a Framework Before Mastering the Language (00:35:23)
Following a tweet from Ben Hong @bencodezen about whether people need to master JavaScript before using a framework, Don and Randy discuss how they have used, shipped, and been paid to use framework and applications many times without knowing the base language beforehand.
Should Startups Avoid Hiring a CTO? (00:33:36)
A recent blog post by Philip Thomas of Moonlight titled "Startups Should Not Hire a CTO" sparked a conversation about why blanket statements like "Startups Should Not Do X" that are clickbait and should probably be avoided as good advice. Instead, we discuss letting your needs to drive your hires, instead, and the kinds of people you probably do want to hire to lead technical efforts. Randy's cats don't like anything about the recording, in addition to the article.
