Work Through Conversations
A compact set of interview sequences that reflect how technical work, community stewardship, and long-horizon engineering practice overlap.
Architecture and Resilience
Conversations about system shape, operational boundaries, and decisions that hold under change.
★ Transcript Available
Interviewee: Robert Martin
Topic: conference speaking and presentation skills
Video description: Interview with Robert Martin at Software Craftsmanship North America 2012 on conference speaking and presentation skills. The conversation captures practical lessons shared at the event.
★ Transcript Available
Interviewee: Rich Hickey
Topic: conference speaking and presentation skills
Video description: Rich Hickey is the creator of the Clojure programming language, a dialect of Lisp that runs on the Java Virtual Machine (JVM). He released Clojure to the Lisp mailing list and it gained popularity through word of mouth and online communities. Hickey believes that the fact that Clojure runs on the stable and well-established JVM has contributed to its success, as it allows users to try something new while still maintaining a connection to the technologies they are familiar with. Hickey also discusses the importance of simplicity and concision in programming languages and the role of language design in enabling programmers to solve problems more effectively.
★ Transcript Available
Interviewee: Dave "pragdave" Thomas
Topic: developer education and learning
Video description: Dave Thomas was in town and took the time to speak with me about the GOTO conference and provide insight into the work he’s doing world wide to build broad spectrum technical communities.
Community as a Technical System
Interviews that treat user groups and conferences as feedback systems for shared practice.
★ Transcript Available
Interviewee: Ray Hightower
Topic: ChicagoRuby
Video description: Interview with Ray Hightower at Software Craftsmanship North America 2011 on chicagoruby. Themes include Ruby, Rails.
★ Transcript Available
Interviewee: Brian Ray
Topic: ChiPy
Video description: Brian Ray (@brianray) took the time to sit down before the April 2012 ChiPy (pronounced Chippy) and chat about the Chicago Python community.
★ Transcript Available
Interviewee: Scott Seely
Topic: Lake County .NET User Group (LCNUG)
Video description: Scott Seely runs a .NET users' group up in Grayslake, IL. He's also extremely active in the Chicago-land Microsoft Developer community that Microsoft recognized him as a Regional Director. He explains why he founded LCNUG and what exactly is a "Regional Director".
Craft and Mentorship
Discussions on apprenticeship, deliberate practice, and how experience is transmitted across teams.
★ Transcript Available
Interviewee: Adewale Oshineye
Topic: community building and user-group organizing
Video description: Interview with Adewale Oshineye at Software Craftsmanship North America (SCNA) on developer advocacy, documenting and sharing learning, and finding the right communities where technical contribution adds value.
★ Transcript Available
Interviewee: Cory Foy
Topic: community building and user-group organizing
Video description: Interview with Cory Foy at Software Craftsmanship North America 2012 on community building and user-group organizing. Themes include Ruby, Rails, software craftsmanship.
★ Transcript Available
Interviewee: Culley Smith
Topic: community building and user-group organizing
Video description: Interview with Culley Smith at Software Craftsmanship North America 2012 on community building and user-group organizing. Themes include testing practice, Agile methods, Rails.