Refactored #165: “Counting Is Hard” Notes coming soon… Don’t be shy! Reach out at [email protected]. Visit https://refactored.work/ for the full archive, show notes, and more. Hosted by Chris Tonkinson and Frank Koehl. Direct link to RSS feedBy Chris Tonkinson, Frank Koehl

Refactored #164: “Vibe Check: Messrs. Dunning and Kruger Would Like a Word” Notes coming soon… Don’t be shy! Reach out at [email protected]. Visit https://refactored.work/ for the full archive, show notes, and more. Hosted by Chris Tonkinson and Frank Koehl. Direct link to RSS feedBy Chris Tonkinson, Frank Koehl

Refactored #163: “It’s Always Permissions (or DNS)” Notes coming soon… Don’t be shy! Reach out at [email protected]. Visit https://refactored.work/ for the full archive, show notes, and more. Hosted by Chris Tonkinson and Frank Koehl. Direct link to RSS feedBy Chris Tonkinson, Frank Koehl

Refactored #161: “Web3: Basically just DocuSign?” Notes coming soon… Don’t be shy! Reach out at [email protected]. Visit https://refactored.work/ for the full archive, show notes, and more. Hosted by Chris Tonkinson and Frank Koehl. Direct link to RSS feedBy Chris Tonkinson, Frank Koehl

Refactored #160: “The Great DeepSeek Bake-Off” Notes coming soon… Don’t be shy! Reach out at [email protected]. Visit https://refactored.work/ for the full archive, show notes, and more. Hosted by Chris Tonkinson and Frank Koehl. Direct link to RSS feedBy Chris Tonkinson, Frank Koehl

Refactored #159: “Duck, Duck, Debug!” On this episode of Refactored… 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! Don’t be shy! Reach out at [email protected]. Visit https://refactored.work/ for the full…

Refactored #158: “It IS Called ‘Work’” On this episode of Refactored… 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?…

Refactored #157: “No Longer Rupted” On this episode of Refactored… 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…

Refactored #156: “WP Press Word Engine” On this episode of Refactored… What’s the deal with airline peanuts WordPress vs WP Engine? Agile vs Sprints vs Scrum vs sanity. The guys debate at length. The guys fight (lightly) about PHP. Comment block Yo… why do you guys fight all the time? … and much more! Don’t be shy! Reach out at feedback@refactored.…

Refactored #155: “Six Figure Flat Tires” On this episode of Refactored… Hill Rejection Assist: Chris complains about Honda The guys decrypt the firewall to open a socket to the kernel. Comment Block How do you not beat yourself up over causing an outage? Recently caused a SEV-1 outage that impacted a few hundred users. It was able to be corrected i…

Refactored #154: “Touching Grass: A Privilege” On this episode of Refactored… The guys discuss DOGE: Memelordship ascendent or super cereal? I beg your finest pardon: remote work is a “COVID-era privilege?” The duo explore the iron of high performers being the first to pack their bags when RTO mandates come down. Comment Block I work in a remote co…

Refactored #153: “Clicking Up the Wrong Tree” On this episode of Refactored… Chris is in love with ClickUp on TikTok. Straight unhinged. But he’s not in love with ClickUp itself. The guys debate. All-in-one vs specialized tools? The classic debate. Chris tells a story about the wrong people being put in charge of the wrong “hard” things. Frank sees…

Refactored #152: “A Framework of Fear” On this episode of Refactored… Comment Block “With the explosion of AI tools I’m becoming more paranoid than ususal. How can I trust that any of these AI powered platforms are secure when I know how often we skip actual security reviews, and should I be worred that we’re prioritizing cool features over actual …

Refactored #151: “Horse Massacre” On this episode of Refactored… The guys debate risk and business context of “tech debt” and whether that term is even valid. Good luck getting management to care! Frank says microservices are just trendy, while Chris just complains about the operational complexity. Either way, maybe we can just… not?… for a while? …

Refactored #150: “Octo-Kimono” On this episode of Refactored… Chris has been demoted! He explains how he fell from supreme executive to mere sea urchin. Chris rants about AWS. Those unreliable, gaslighting sons of… well, he has a bit of a strong reaction to some recent challenges. Frank corroborates: Digial Ocean (as a proxy for one of a dozen diff…

Refactored #149: “WP Engine SHALL NOT Pass” On this episode of Refactored… NIST SP 800-63B-4 is out, and Chris couldn’t be happier. They have now officially barred password rotations (along with some other super great updates)! Seriously, Chris is like, too excited by this. Frank brings the story about the (now legal and very public) battle between…

Refactored #148: “DevOps: The Third Silo” On this episode of Refactored… The guys discuss the evolution of DevOps Still a philosophy. Still not a job title. But also, now definitely a job title. Danger zone: Did we just create a new silo? That would be… not great. Why do people elect .NET for web dev? The guys are baffled. Comment: “Serverless soun…

Refactored #147: “Pro Consoles: Nothing to See Here” On this episode of Refactored… Chris becomes a camera snob while Frank warns against combination appliances. Nothing CEO Carl Pei issues Return-To-Office mandate; publishes on LinkedIn. It’s impassioned It sounds logical It’s unsubstantiated TLDR: GTFO Are smartphones commoditized? Are “Pro” cons…

Refactored #146: “Procedural Justice” On this episode of Refactored… Chris has a new GPT power use case. It’s not new, and it’s not his, but he pretends like it is. The guys avoid a longer-form discussion about popular game dev algos, like Perlin Noise and Voronoi Diagrams. Frank brings up Pandora (yeah, it’s still a thing) and the guys talk ML “fi…

Refactored #145: “Skibidi Rollbacks” On this episode of Refactored… Chris grouses about his Logitech BRIO. Decent camera, until the autofocus goes haywire. The guys talk M&A: Elgato, Corsiar, and Origin PC. AI hype: Chris brings a stupid story about “AI” being shoved into toothbrushes. “Move fast and break things”: A debate. Also: do you actually b…

Refactored #144: “Ethics in 4K” On this episode of Refactored… Frank just can’t seem to win with his new streaming setup. It’s 2024, should 4K really be this hard? The guys admire VoiceMeeter, the kitchen sink of audio (for windows). Robin Williams approved! Chris explains how fickle users are with new systems - even when they are Provably better™ …

Refactored #143: “21 Parameter Salute” On this episode of Refactored… The guys kick off with (probably the final) update on the CrowdStrike debacle. Spoiler: the proximal issue is code coverage, but the real villain is the lack of staged rollouts. External Technical Root Cause Analysis - PDF warning Is this a story of swiss cheese failure, or syste…

Refactored #142: “Certified Paranoia Engineer” On this episode of Refactored… Surveillance capitalism: Is your phone listening to you? No. It’s not. But it doesn’t need to. Chris goes ona mini-rant about misdirected paranoia. The guys debate possible legal culpability for ClownStrike following their epic foible. Frank takes a more measured stance (…

Refactored #141: “Gone Fishin’ for BSODs” On this episode of Refactored… Azure goes down, but no one seems to care after CrowdStrike breaks the world. The guys talk at length about the dangers of monoculture. Frank reminisces about the Winchester Mystery House, drawing a parallel to Google’s cobbled-together cloud services. Frank’s fishing analogy …

Refactored #140: “Streaming Interviews” On this episode of Refactored… Frank has a new streaming setup in anticipation of the upcoming WoW expansion. The guys talk about the accessibility of streaming and how kids are responding/adapting. Ghost Jobs: the next scourge we have to combat? Seriously? Like we don’t have enough nonsense in the market alr…

Refactored #139: “Independently Procrastinating” On this episode of Refactored… Frank built a patio and now his back hurts. The American Dream! Happy Independence Day! The guys banter about the often-overlooked intelligence and skill required in blue-collar work. Frank channels his inner Mike Rowe, but both champion the trades. Frank rants about De…

Refactored #138: “Perplexfully Agile” On this episode of Refactored… Bitcoin. Why in the fundamentals is it hovering right around $69,420? (nice) Agile is dead! Everything is a lie! Agiles projects fail almost 3x more! The guys demolish this BS article. Frank emphasizes that Agile principles are often misinterpreted, leading to unnecessary complica…

Refactored #137: “Job Search: The Next Generation” On this episode of Refactored… The guys dive into the hilarity that is r/LinkedInLunatics. For example: someone complaining about applicatns using AI to complete mindless tasks. Frank suggests a quick sanity check on potential employers, but Chris says anything over five minutes is (likely) excessi…

Refactored #136: “Ball-Curious Coffee Badging” On this episode of Refactored… Chris reveals his long-standing “ball curiosity” and finally takes the plunge into the world of trackballs. Frank, however, maintains his dignity and sticks with a traditional mouse. Frank introduces the latest buzzwords in the remote work lexicon: “quiet quitting,” “coff…

Refactored #135: “Fiber Fiasco” On this episode of Refactored… Chris gets entangled in a suburban standoff where HOAs and ISPs play hot potato with his Internet dreams. Logitech, once a name synonymous with quality peripherals, now hocking an “AI” mouse. For real. Ansible and Pulumi pick up steam. No one loves Chef anymore. Terraform is still a thi…

Refactored #134: “Standard Issue Hostility” On this episode of Refactored… American Kennel Club makes a mockery of their trademark. Frank explains. Chris explains why he’s ruined his life. Again. Yet Another Email Migration. Gonna hashtag #YAEM for next time. Moves back to QWERTY because he loves the pain. The guys have a good debate over standards…

Refactored #133: “Helldevins 2: The Electric Intelligoo” On this episode of Refactored… Devin was a lie. Can’t make this stuff up. The guys eat humble pie, admitting their miscall on AI’s immediate threat to software engineering jobs. Helldivers 2 storms gaming, leaving Chris ever FOMOd. The pick of the week is the Makalu Max from Mountain. … and m…

Refactored #132: “SCANdelous calculus” On this episode of Refactored… Chris’ newest billion dollar idea: empowering despots with AI. Frank doesn’t even like GPS-monitoring. Frank’s WoW team achieves a milestone! He and his raiding group are among the top 0.19% on the new content. The guys virtually drool over Helldivers 2 while Chris admits he’s to…

Refactored #131: “Supply Chain Shenanigans” On this episode of Refactored… The XZ Utils library was compromised. Guys, this could have been very bad. The guys talk supply chain security — the weak[est?] point in your infrastructure? Frank makes a bold cliam; apparently “too many” is more than “some.” Breaking mathematical discoveries like this, you…

Refactored #130: “Jesus 2.0” On this episode of Refactored… Frank introduces a concept he is calling “Jesus 2.0 Projects” Projects that will solve everything™… once (if?) they ship. Projects that take real testicular fortitude to launch. Projects that also take real courage to terminate if they languish. Are executive sponsors to blame? Chris rumag…

Refactored #129: “World of WarCAP” On this episode of Refactored… MongoDB. The wrong choice for your website, but thankfully at least it’s “Web Scale”. Chris rants. Hard. Postgres has “inexact” numerics. Today Chris learned. NewSQL lets you pretend to break the CAP Theorem for your ACID RDBMS. Frank has a bone to pick with Blizzards implementation …

Refactored #128: “Jobs Destroyed or Prevented” On this episode of Refactored… It was Pi Day! The guys… well, the guys basically just complain. Devin exists now. The guys debate whether “he” (is that misgendering?) will replace you. Chris claims peak mania, and Primeagen has some great commentary. Frank points towards the… uh… bold? stupid? boring? …

Refactored #127: “Gandalf on a T-Rex” On this episode of Refactored… The guys debate compenastion transparency, but not the way you think. Should managers hold comp info? Um, duh. What are we even doing here? Should companies be fully comp-transparent? That’s more complex. “At will” employment is the only will, per the guys. Chris has an exposed ne…

Refactored #126: “Self-Promoting Class Suits” On this episode of Refactored… Chris struggles with self-promotion. Frank says “just have confidence.” They fight. “Get me somebody! And get me somebody while I’m waiting!” Interesting analogy - how often do you turn into the Hulk? Wyze breach. People… don’t put cameras in your bedroom. Chris doesn’t bu…

Refactored #125: “If It Ain’t AI, We Don’t Want None” On this episode of Refactored… Chris has a gripe with the Apple Magic Mouse - the USB-C charging port is still on the bottom? The guys talk about removable batteries and the Right to Repair. Ubiquiti is… ubiquitous. Frank wonders to what degree “AI” will terk ’em jerbs in the gaming industry. Th…

Refactored #124: “Friction Ain’t Free” On this episode of Refactored… Chris discovers another Biz Dev Dark Pattern: service cancellation requiring a conversation with a human rep, only to be greeted by a chatbot. Thanks, Sirius XM. Who wants to pay to create and maintain proper Personas, anyway? The guys debate. Features vs benefits - what are you …

Refactored #123: “You’re a Mercenary” On this episode of Refactored… Frank demonstrates Harvard Business Review has their heads so far up their isn’t unequivically perspicacious. The guys clown on their article, Research: The Growing Inequality of Who Gets to Work from Home. Dum da-da-dum dum DUH! TLDR; the whole article is insipid pablum. Chris to…

Refactored #122: “Russ Hashimoto Gained a B” On this episode of Refactored… StarTech.com isn’t so bad after all, turns out. Chris really likes their 12U Open Rack. Mitchell Hashimoto leaves Hashicorp. The guys agree - this is not a coincidence. HCL. Love it or hate it. Hate it but gotta use it, says Github’s state of open source report. Russ Hannem…

Refactored #121: “Mungers Three Rules” On this episode of Refactored… StarTech.com exists (little did Chris know). Also, don’t buy their USB-C KVMs. Charlie Munger asserted three rules for career satisfaction: Don’t sell anything you wouldn’t buy yourself. Don’t work for anyone you don’t respect and admire. Work only with people you enjoy. Crypto i…

Refactored #120: “Business Development Dark Patterns” On this episode of Refactored… Chris buys too many new servers. His advice: avoid eBay. Everyone rants. Frank about YouTube, Chris about cable. Enshittification is real, friends. Chris mints “Biz Dev Dark Patterns” and rampant capitalism ensues. Odyssey of the Mind - pretty cool. Destination Ima…

Chris Park - Druid, traditional beekeeper, storyteller, brewer and all round Iron-age man, joins the Queens around Esther's dinner table. It's a session of mead drinking, ritual celebrations for the end of summer, plenty of historical bee and language facts and just a little bit of singing. Follow @queenbeespod on instagram for pictures from the re…

Refactored #119: “Avoid Cyber Bikeshedding” On this episode of Refactored… The guys talk about variable naming. Great content! Frank recounts his recent talk: Avoiding Cyber Bikeshedding (see below) Chris has a spicy take on “shift left” everywhere. Frank thinks testing - get this - is actually helpful. You believe this guy? “Yes and [go f*** yours…

Jane and Esther meet the founders of new honey company Australian Rare, Natalie Bussau and Rick Bains, to talk about their very special honey from Western Australia. Rigorously tested, their honey comes from an area of the world that prides itself on the biodiversity of its surroundings as well as being completely pest free. All this comes at a hig…

Refactored #118: “Self-Hosting: It Sucks” On this episode of Refactored… The guys serve up a fresh and timely takedown of… EA? And Comcast? From like, a decade+ ago? Lit. What’s in your home network? Plex is… not The Way anymore. (check out Jellyfin) Chris explains (poorly, I might add) about yak shaving - seemingly useless prerequisite tasks. Obli…

A homemade lunch for Jane from Esther and a catch up with the bees in Esther's garden hives. Esther also shares a cache of old letters she's found in her shed. Keep up with the Queens on instagram @queenbeespod and also - if you can believe it - on Tiktok at the same handle. Queen Bees is a Hat Trick Podcast featuring Jane Horrocks, Esther Coles an…