The Pondjumpers podcast is about (agile) software development in open source communities. It’s hosted by two self-confessed geeks on either side of the Atlantic: Greg Turnquist of SpringSource (the originator of Spring Python and currently on the TC Server team), and Russ Miles of Open Credo (consultants specializing in building open source communities). Their first hour-long episode came out in June 14, 2009, and they publish a new one about every other month. It’s available on iTunes or at http://pondjumpers.com, and you can follow them on Twitter at pondjumprs (http://twitter.com/pondjumprs).
Overcoming Delays – No Silver Bullet
Where past episodes have featured interviews with developers of various open source projects, this episode is devoted to a discussion between the two hosts. One of their main themes this time around is overcoming delays in software development, from delays imposed by the technology to delays imposed by time zones separating distributed team members. In particular, they discuss how companies looking to “lower the waterline,” increasingly realize that there is no silver bullet — that it’s always a matter of scrutinizing lots of little things. Shaving a few minutes here and even a few seconds there all add up. We’re talking about things like speeding up unit tests, speeding up the compile/run/debug cycle, and how long it takes to commit code to a branch and then merge it into the trunk. These kinds of time savings make the difference between being able to consistently deploy new code to production in terms of days and weeks rather that weeks and months.
On a related subject, Turnquist and Miles stress the importance of automated continuous deployment (not just continuous integration) complete with “smoke tests.” Another topic covered is the popularity of distributed version control and, specifically, the trials and tribulations of moving from Subversion to Git.
If Pondjumpers resonates with you, then keep an eye out for a new podcast series that Russ Miles is involved in producing for Open Credo. It will feature screencasts and videos devoted to, as Miles boldly puts it, “software development in the real world.” For this endeavor, Miles is aiming to focus on interviews with “honest, no-holds-barred doers.”