This interview was recorded for GOTO Unscripted.
https://gotopia.tech

Read the full transcription of this interview here

Michelle Frost - AI Advocate at JetBrains & Responsible AI Consultant
Hannes Lowette - Principal Consultant at Axxes, Monolith Advocate, Speaker & Whiskey Lover

RESOURCES
Michelle
https://bsky.app/profile/aiwithmichelle.com
https://www.linkedin.com/in/michelle-frost-dev

Hannes
https://bsky.app/profile/hanneslowette.net
https://twitter.com/hannes_lowette
https://github.com/Belenar
https://linkedin.com/in/hanneslowette

DESCRIPTION
AI advocate Michelle Frost and principal consultant Hannes Lowette discuss ethical challenges in AI development. They explore the balance between competing values like accuracy versus fairness, recent US regulatory rollbacks under the Trump administration, and market disruptions from innovations like Deep Seek.

While Michelle acknowledges concerns about bias in unregulated models, she remains optimistic about AI's potential to improve lives if developed responsibly. She emphasizes the importance of transparency, bias measurement, and focusing on beneficial applications while advocating for individual and corporate accountability in the absence of comprehensive regulation.

RECOMMENDED BOOKS
Mark Coeckelbergh • AI Ethics
Debbie Sue Jancis • AI Ethics
Mohammad Rubyet Islam • Generative AI, Cybersecurity, and Ethics
Jeet Pattanaik • Ethics in AI

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Paul Slaughter - Staff Fullstack Engineer at GitLab & Creator of Conventional Comments
Adrienne Braganza Tacke - Senior Developer Advocate at Viam Robotics & Author of "Looks Good To Me: Constructive Code Reviews"

RESOURCES
Paul
https://x.com/souldzin
https://github.com/souldzin
https://gitlab.com/pslaughter
https://gitlab.com/souldzin
https://souldzin.com

Adrienne
https://bsky.app/profile/abt.bsky.social
https://x.com/AdrienneTacke
https://github.com/AdrienneTacke
https://www.linkedin.com/in/adriennetacke
https://www.instagram.com/adriennetacke
https://www.adrienne.io
https://blog.adrienne.io

Links
https://conventionalcomments.org

DESCRIPTION
Can "Conventional Comments" transform code reviews from frustrating experiences into productive collaborations?

Paul Slaughter shares his experience developing and practicing "Conventional Comments", a structured approach to improving code review communications through labeled feedback. The conversation explores clear communication patterns with labels (e.g. 'suggestion:', 'issue:' or 'question:').

Paul and Adrienne discuss the importance of empathy in the review process, the balance between politeness and efficiency, and how GitLab's Code Review Weekly Workshops have helped normalize review experiences across their remote teams. The interview highlights that effective code reviews depend not just on technical evaluations but on thoughtful communication that acknowledges developers' emotional investment in their work while fostering a culture of collaborative ownership.

RECOMMENDED BOOKS
Adrienne Braganza Tacke • "Looks Good to Me": Constructive Code Reviews
Adrienne Braganza Tacke • Coding for Kids
Grace Huang • Code Reviews in Tech
Martin Fowler • Refactoring
Matthew Skelton & Manuel Pais • Team Topologies
Dave Thomas & Andy Hunt • The Pragmatic Programmer

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This interview was recorded for GOTO Unscripted.
https://gotopia.tech

Read the full transcription of this interview here

Brooklyn Zelenka - Author of Numerous Libraries Including Witchcraft & Founded the Vancouver Functional Programming Meetup
Julian Wood - Serverless Developer Advocate at AWS

RESOURCES
Brooklyn
https://bsky.app/profile/expede.wtf
https://octodon.social/@expede@types.pl
https://github.com/expede
https://www.linkedin.com/in/brooklynzelenka
https://notes.brooklynzelenka.com

Julian
https://bsky.app/profile/julianwood.com
https://twitter.com/julian_wood
http://www.wooditwork.com
https://www.linkedin.com/in/julianrwood

Links
https://automerge.org
https://discord.com/invite/zKGe4DCfgR
https://www.robinsloan.com/notes/home-cooked-app
https://github.com/ipvm-wg
https://www.localfirst.fm
https://localfirstweb.dev

DESCRIPTION
Distributed systems researcher Brooklyn Zelenka unpacks the paradigm shift of local-first computing, where applications primarily run on users' devices and synchronize seamlessly without central servers.

In a conversation with Julian Wood, she explains how this approach reduces latency, enables offline functionality, improves privacy through encryption, and democratizes app development—all while using sophisticated data structures. Perfect for collaborative tools and "cozy web" applications serving smaller communities, local-first software represents a fundamental rethinking of how we've built software for the past 30 years.

RECOMMENDED BOOKS
Ford, Parsons, Kua & Sadalage • Building Evolutionary Architectures 2nd Edition
Ford, Richards, Sadalage & Dehghani • Software Architecture: The Hard Parts
Mark Richards & Neal Ford • Fundamentals of Software Architecture
Ford, Parsons & Kua • Building Evolutionary Architectures
Neal Ford • Functional Thinking
Michael Feathers • Working Effectively with Legacy Code

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This interview was recorded for the GOTO Book Club.
http://gotopia.tech/bookclub

Read the full transcription of the interview here

Charles Humble - Freelance Techie, Podcaster, Editor, Author & Consultant
Trisha Gee - Lead Developer Evangelist at Gradle, Java Champion & Co-Author of "Getting to Know IntelliJ IDEA"

RESOURCES
Charles
https://bsky.app/profile/charleshumble.bsky.social
https://linkedin.com/in/charleshumble
https://mastodon.social/@charleshumble
https://conissaunce.com

Trisha
https://bsky.app/profile/trishagee.bsky.social
https://twitter.com/trisha_gee
https://www.linkedin.com/in/trishagee
https://trishagee.com
https://github.com/trishagee

Links
https://www.conissaunce.com/professional-skills-shortcut.html
https://www.jeanettewinterson.com

DESCRIPTION
Trisha Gee interviews Charles Humble on his project "Professional Skills for Software Engineers", a collection of 14 articles organized into four categories:
• communication
• critical thinking
• documentation
• networking

Charles argues that career success in software engineering oftentimes depends more on non-programming skills than technical ability. Both Charles and Trisha emphasize that these skills are learnable and essential, despite being undervalued in the industry as mere "soft skills".

The conversation covers how intentional communication improves product development, the value of networking and public speaking for career advancement, and ways engineers can generate ideas for content creation while taking ownership of their career development. The interview makes a compelling case that developing these professional skills benefits both individual engineers and the industry as a whole.

RECOMMENDED BOOKS
Charles Humble • Professional Skills for Software Engineers
Kevlin Henney & Trisha Gee • 97 Things Every Java Programmer Should Know
Anne Currie, Sarah Hsu & Sara Bergman • Building Green Software
Cal Newport • Deep Work
Martin Fowler • UML Distilled
Cathy O'Neil • Weapons of

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This interview was recorded for the GOTO Book Club.
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Read the full transcription of the interview here

Stefan Baumgartner - Author of "TypeScript Cookbook" & "TypeScript in 50 Lessons"
Peter Kröner - Host of "Working Draft" Podcast & Freelance Trainer for Frontend Web Tech

RESOURCES
Stefan
https://bsky.app/profile/deadparrot.dev
https://mastodon.social/@deadparrot
https://x.com/ddprrt
https://github.com/ddprrt
https://www.linkedin.com/in/stefan-baumgartner-bb621564
https://oida.dev

Peter
https://bsky.app/profile/sirpepe.bsky.social
https://mastodon.social/@sir_pepe
https://github.com/SirPepe
https://www.linkedin.com/in/peterkroener
https://www.peterkroener.de

Links
https://typescript-cookbook.com
https://typescript-book.com
https://workingdraft.de

DESCRIPTION
Peter Kröner and Stefan Baumgartner explore practical TypeScript implementation strategies in this discussion of Stefan's latest book, "TypeScript Cookbook", a sequel to his previous work "TypeScript in 50 Lessons". From minimal type annotations to knowing when to use advanced features, Stefan shares insights on efficient project setup, alternatives to enums, and the strategic use of classes.

The conversation examines the philosophy behind TypeScript's design while emphasizing a pragmatic approach that focuses on understanding what happens behind the scenes to make better coding decisions. Stefan consistently advocates for simplicity and intentionality when working with TypeScript's powerful but sometimes complex type system.

RECOMMENDED BOOKS
Stefan Baumgartner • TypeScript Cookbook
Stefan Baumgartner • TypeScript in 50 Lessons
Alexandre Portela dos Santos • Deno Web Development
Fernando Doglio • Introducing Deno
Dan Vanderkam • Effective TypeScript
Nathan Rozentals • Mastering TypeScript

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This interview was recorded for the GOTO Book Club.
http://gotopia.tech/bookclub

Read the full transcription of the interview here

Barry O'Reilly - Founder at Black Tulip Tech and Author of "Residues" & "The Architect's Paradox"
Jacqui Read - Software Architect, Speaker & Author of "Communication Patterns"

RESOURCES
Barry
https://bsky.app/profile/technologytulip.bsky.social
https://www.linkedin.com/in/barry-o-reilly-b924657
https://www.blacktulip.se

Jacqui
https://bsky.app/profile/tekiegirl.bsky.social
https://jacquiread.com
https://fosstodon.org/@tekiegirl
https://www.linkedin.com/in/jacquelineread
https://github.com/tekiegirl

DESCRIPTION
In this GOTO Book Club interview, Jacqui Read discusses with Barry O'Reilly his books "Residues: Time, Uncertainty, and Change in Software Architecture" and "The Architect's Paradox". He explains how uncertainty defines the architect's role and introduces residuality—a method where architects deliberately stress their conceptual models until they collapse, then optimize the resulting "residues" or leftovers to create more resilient systems.

Unlike traditional software engineering approaches, that try to eliminate uncertainty through rigid requirements, residuality embraces random stressors (even far-fetched scenarios like giant lizards) to uncover architectural fault lines.

O'Reilly argues that this playful yet mathematically sound approach produces more robust architectures than conventional methods, and his second book explores how inherited philosophical thinking often undermines software architecture's effectiveness in complex business contexts.

RECOMMENDED BOOKS
Barry O'Reilly • Residues
Barry O'Reilly • The Architect's Paradox
Jacqui Read • Communication Patterns
Anne Currie & Jamie Dobson • The Cloud Native Attitude
Gregor Hohpe • The Software Architect Elevator
Gregor Hohpe • Enterprise Integration Patterns, Vol 2

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This interview was recorded for GOTO Unscripted.
https://gotopia.tech

Read the full transcription of this interview here

David Edoh-Bedi - Developer Relations at Stripe
James Beswick - Head of Developer Relations at Stripe

RESOURCES
David
https://x.com/edohbedi_d
https://www.linkedin.com/in/edohbedi
https://edoh-bedi.com

James
https://bsky.app/profile/jbesw.bsky.social
https://twitter.com/jbesw
https://linkedin.com/in/jamesbeswick

Links
https://stripe.dev

DESCRIPTION
James Beswick (Head of Developer Relations at Stripe) talks with David Edoh-Bedi (Developer Advocate) about his professional journey from growing up in Togo to working at Microsoft and eventually Stripe.

The conversation explores David's transition from software engineering to developer advocacy, highlighting the importance of empathy, communication skills, and technical knowledge in the role.
They discuss the challenges of working with large legacy systems, the complexities of payment processing, and how the software development landscape has evolved from library-focused development to API-centric approaches.

The interview provides valuable insights for developers considering a career path in developer relations and those integrating complex systems like payment processing into their applications.

RECOMMENDED BOOKS
Simon Brown • Software Architecture for Developers Vol. 2
David Farley • Modern Software Engineering
Kim, Humble, Debois, Willis & Forsgren • The DevOps Handbook
Simon Wardley • Wardley Maps
Simon Wardley • Wardley Mapping, The Knowledge
David Anderson, Marck McCann & Michael O'Reilly • The Value Flywheel Effect
Mike Amundsen • Restful Web API Patterns & Practices Cookbook

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Sign up for updates and specials at https://gotopia.tech/newsletter

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This interview was recorded for the GOTO Book Club.
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Sheen Brisals - AWS Serverless Hero, Engineering Leader & Co-Author of "Serverless Development on AWS"
Vlad Khononov - Author of "Balancing Coupling in Software Design" & "Learning Domain Driven Design" & Creator of the Balanced Coupling Model

RESOURCES
Vlad
https://bsky.app/profile/vladikk.bsky.social
https://vladikk.com
https://github.com/vladikk
https://www.linkedin.com/in/vladikk

Sheen
https://bsky.app/profile/sheenbrisals.bsky.social
https://twitter.com/sheenbrisals
https://www.linkedin.com/in/sheen-brisals
https://sbrisals.medium.com

Links
https://www.informit.com
https://youtu.be/6hTZXR2brWE

DESCRIPTION
Sheen Brisals sits down with software engineer and author Vlad Khononov to explore his latest book, "Balancing Coupling in Software Design". Vlad shares his journey from a failed microservices project to his deep dive into the principles of coupling, drawing insights from a 1970s structured design book.

The duo discusses the timeless nature of coupling in software, how modern systems like microservices and cloud architectures still rely on age-old design principles, and the importance of understanding complexity for better problem decomposition and estimation. Vlad also reveals his unique approach to the book—integrating AI-generated poetry into each chapter to help readers grasp complex concepts. With a focus on modularity as the antidote to complexity, Vlad emphasizes that by managing coupling, engineers can create more maintainable, scalable systems.

RECOMMENDED BOOKS
Vlad Khononov • Balancing Coupling in Software Design
Vlad Khononov • Learning Domain-Driven Design
Sheen Brisals & Luke Hedger • Serverless Development on AWS
Glenford Myers • Composite/Structured Design
Vaughn Vernon • Implementing Domain-Driven Design
Eric Evans • Domain-Driven Design
van Kelle, Verschatse & Baas-Schwegler • Collaborative Software Design
Nick Tune & Jean-Georges Perrin • Architecture Moderniza

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