The [REFACTORED] Podcast

Refactored 159: "Duck, Duck, Debug!"

Wherein Chris has a benchy and Frank is stuck in the 90's.

Show Notes

• Chris bought a 3D Printer! They’re really fun hammers just begging for nails.
• The guys unpack letting the team learn, vs stepping in and getting business done quickly.
• … and much more!

3d-Printing Database

Refactored 158: "It IS Called 'Work'"

Wherein the guys explore the depths of existential dread.

Show Notes

• The guys agree: buying a round (or meal) from time to time can pay dividends.
• The guys grapple with the reality of maintaining regulatory software (read: software only required for compliance reasons (read: soul crushing work)).
• Comment Block
  • How to proceed with a dissolved team?
  • How do you plan complex features before you start implementing them?
• … and much more!

Career Communication Management Planning Project-Management

Refactored 157: "No Longer Rupted"

Wherein the guys have been prompt engineering episodes since 1842.

Show Notes

• Chris is tired of being disrupted.
• The guys talk about RAG (Retrieval-Augmented Generation) and how it can be used to improve the experience with LLMs.
• Prompt engineering - Frank has a hot take on what’s to come.
• Comment Block
  • My manager wants me to pair up with the worst guy on the team for the next six months. How do I get out of this? Please help me talk to my manager about this. This guy is really incompetent. I thought he would be on a PIP, but I guess they are keeping him around. He’s senior too, which is higher than me, but can’t figure out the most basic compliation errors or problems with Git. He keeps making the same mistakes over and over. I wrote documentation for him and he forgets the same things. I keep responding with links to the doc to unblock him. He can’t pattern match. If I ask him to fix a certain type of issue one time in a code review and explain why, he’ll have the same problem again later in another section. I don’t care what happens to him, I just want to avoid him as much as possible; I’m gouing to lose my mind if I have to work closely with him for the next six months. How can I ask my manager to get assigned to a different feature?
• … and much more!

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