The Bike Shed

Sally and Joël get technical as they lay out their thoughts on blog posts.

Our hosts pick apart what makes a good technical blog post, why consistent terms are more important than you might think when communicating with your audience, and how to improve your own writing to ensure your reader remains engaged.

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There’s still time to secure your place at thoughtbot’s upcoming UK meet ups over the next month.

London Tech Leader Meetup - Tuesday June 23rd

Brighton Tech Leader Meetup - Wednesday June 24th

Brighton Ruby - Thursday June 25th

Evolve - Friday June 26th

Your hosts for this episode have been thoughtbot’s own Joël Quenneville and Sally Hall.

If you would like to support the show, head over to our GitHub page, or check out our website.

Got a question or comment about the show? Why not write to our hosts: hosts@bikeshed.fm

This has been a thoughtbot podcast.

Stay up to date by following us on social media - YouTube - LinkedIn - Mastodon - BlueSky

© 2026 thoughtbot, inc.

The Bike Shed celebrates its 500th episode with hosts new and old as they reflect on the show’s history and ask, what’s new in your world?

Our past hosts look back at their time on the show, their favourite moments while hosting, what they took away from producing the Bike Shed, and what they might do today if they were still in the hosting chair.

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Your hosts for this special episode of The Bike Shed have been Joël Quenneville, Sally Hall and Aji Slater. Joining them have been our returning hosts Derek Prior, Sage Griffin, Stephanie Viccari, Chris Toomey and Stephanie Minn.

Listen back to some of our guest’s highlighted episodes

Bike Shed 14: An Acceptable Level of Hassle with David Heinemeier Hanson

Bike Shed 172: What I Believe About Software

Bike Shed 180: A Citizen of the Internet with John Resig

Bike Shed 302: Observability with Charity Majors

Bike Shed 325: Pranting

Bike Shed 404: Estimation

If you would like to support the show, head over to our GitHub page, or check out our website.

Got a question or comment about the show? Why not write to our hosts: hosts@bikeshed.fm

This has been a thoughtbot podcast.

Stay up to date by following us on social media - YouTube - LinkedIn - Mastodon - BlueSky

© 2026 thoughtbot, inc.

Take a trip through Joël and Aji’s YouTube recommended list as they go over the media that has inspired their work the most over the course of their careers.

Our hosts highlight different creators that feature regularly in their YouTube rotation, the long standing channels that have had the most impact on them, the video essays that inspire their work, as well as a small detour Into the world of history videos.

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Here’s a handful of Joël and Ali’s personal recommendations:

VSauce - Veritasium - Jet Lag the Game - The Coding Train - Tom Scott - Kings and Generals - Daniel Steiner - Assassin’s Creed: Echoes of History - Jay Foreman / Map Men - Practical Engineering - Hannah Morris - Computerphile

Your hosts for this episode have been thoughtbot’s own Joël Quenneville and Aji Slater.

If you would like to support the show, head over to our GitHub page, or check out our website.

Got a question or comment about the show? Why not write to our hosts: hosts@bikeshed.fm

This has been a thoughtbot podcast.

Stay up to date by following us on social media - YouTube - LinkedIn - Mastodon - BlueSky

© 2026 thoughtbot, inc.

Our hosts come together to wrap up season 2 and share some of their highlights along the way.

Our trio expand and recap on some key topics covered over the last few months, Sally and Joël provide updates on their work with typescripts and LLMs, and Aji accidentally stumbles into an idea for a new keynote topic.

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Your hosts for this episode have been thoughtbot’s own Joël Quenneville, Sally Hall and Aji Slater.

If you would like to support the show, head over to our GitHub page, or check out our website.

Got a question or comment about the show? Why not write to our hosts: hosts@bikeshed.fm

This has been a thoughtbot podcast.

Stay up to date by following us on social media - YouTube - LinkedIn - Mastodon - BlueSky

© 2026 thoughtbot, inc.

Aji and Joël get into a flow as they discuss the different diagrams that help guide their thought processes when working.

Together they compare their go to diagrams and why they find them so useful, the different analysis tools a diagram can offer and the alternative perspective on your work it provides, as well as how using diagrams can help communicate your mental models more effectively with your colleagues.

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Be sure to check out these resources on diagrams and conditionals for some wider reading on today’s episode - BeautifulMermaid Repo - Visualising RSepc - Structuring Conditionals

You can also find our hosts speaking at various conferences over the next few months - Haggis Ruby - Blue Ridge Ruby

Your hosts for this episode have been thoughtbot’s own Joël Quenneville and Aji Slater.

If you would like to support the show, head over to our GitHub page, or check out our website.

Got a question or comment about the show? Why not write to our hosts: hosts@bikeshed.fm

This has been a thoughtbot podcast.

Stay up to date by following us on social media - YouTube - LinkedIn - Mastodon - BlueSky

© 2026 thoughtbot, inc.