Greater Than Code

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**Greater Than Code**

For a long time, tech culture has focused too narrowly on technical skills; this has resulted in a tech community that too often puts companies and code over people. Greater Than Code is a podcast that invites the voices of people who are not heard from enough in tech: women, people of color, trans and/or queer folks, to talk about the human side of software development and technology. Greater Than Code is providing a vital platform for these conversations, and developing new ideas of what it means to be a technologist beyond just the code.
Featuring an ongoing panel of racially and gender diverse tech panelists, the majority of podcast guests so far have been women in tech! We’ve covered topics including imposter syndrome, mental illness, sexuality, unconscious bias and social justice. We also have a major focus on skill sets that tech too often devalues, like team-building, hiring, community organizing, mentorship and empathy. Each episode also includes a transcript.
We have an active Slack community that members can join by pledging as little as $1 per month via Patreon. (https://www.patreon.com/greaterthancode)

Latest Episodes:

196: Documentation as Performance with Aisha Blake Aug 19, 2020

Show notes

02:26 - Aisha’s Superpower: Proofreading

04:05 - Documentation

“The Code Documents Itself”
Context / Entry Points
Documentation as a Narrative
The Value of Documentation

07:54 - Forms of Documentation Worth Investing In

Onboarding
Commit Messages
Pull Requests

10:34 - Architecture and Stories

Commit Messages
References
User Stories

17:17 - Telling Stories Through Documentation

Documentation as Performance
< title of conf >
Tail Call Optimization: The Musical!! by Anjana Vakil & Natalia Margolis

23:37 - Defining Documentation

26:17 - Making Documentation Accessible & Approachable

Requires Empathy
Collaboration
Constructing Shared Common Ground

33:33 - Giving Constructive Feedback

Feedback Requires Consent
Interviewing for Interpersonal Skills That Are Required to Give Good Feedback
“Tell me a story…” / Roleplaying
Give Feedback Fearlessly – Aisha Blake

44:37 - self.conference: Focusing on Human Aspects in Technology

48:49 - Technology is NOT Neutral

Moral Responsibility
The Things We Build Have Impact
Inclusion and Exclusion

This episode was brought to you by @therubyrep of DevReps, LLC. To pledge your support and to join our awesome Slack community, visit patreon.com/greaterthancode

To make a one-time donation so that we can continue to bring you more content and transcripts like this, please do so at paypal.me/devreps. You will also get an invitation to our Slack community this way as well.

Special Guest: Aisha Blake.

Sponsored By:

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195: Pivoting to PPE with Christina Perla Aug 12, 2020

Show notes

02:33 - Christina’s Superpower: Resourcefulness, Industrial Design

Pratt Institute
Building Physical Mockups of Items
Learning on The Go

07:30 - Starting Makelab; Inspiration for 3D Printing

Enabling Creatives
Mitigating Risk
Clientele

15:15 - Pivoting to PPE in Lieu of COVID-19

Making Faceshields
Handling Orders

22:04 - Advice for Other Women Who Want to Start a Business

Focus on What You Don’t Know
Stay Close to Customers

23:42 - Women in 3D Printing

Organizing a Community
Networking
Community Outreach & Support
Responsibilities as a Founder

35:15 - Liking What You Do

Recognizing Emotional Patterns
Hacking Your Emotional API – John K. Sawers

42:30 - Tackling Burnout and Getting Creative Juices Flowing Again

Going Back to Your “Why”
Feeling Changes and Self-Reflection

45:46 - Developing and Allocating Revenue to Respond to Current Events

3D Printing for Emergency Situations
Prototyping and Always Iterating

55:30 - Manufacturing Jigs – Building the Tools to Build the Tools

Tool Making: A Practical Treatise On the Art of Making Tools, Jigs, and Fixtures, with Helpful Suggestions On Heat Treatment of Carbon and High-Speed Steels for Tools, Punches, and Dies

59:23 - Adaptive Capacity

Embracing Discomfort
Going First

Reflections:

John: Being in touch with your feelings as a business skill.

Christina M.: Stop, drop, and remember my why.

Rein: Maintaining capacity for maneuver.

Christina P.: Emotions as APIs.

This episode was brought to you by @therubyrep of DevReps, LLC. To pledge your support and to join our awesome Slack community, visit patreon.com/greaterthancode

Special Guest: Christina Perla.

Sponsored By:

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194: I Don’t Need You To Like Me, I Need You To Hate Racism with Dr. Courtney D. Cogburn Aug 05, 2020

Show notes

02:28 - Courtney’s Superpower: Speaking on the Topic of Racism

“You can’t prioritize your discomfort over living your own values.” – Courtney

White Liberals Are Dangerous: the “I’m liberal...I’m not that bad” narrative
Action & Engaging in Antiracist Practices Over Lipservice
Antiracism is a Lifelong Learning Process
Not Seeing Race is Problematic – Disproportive Representation

13:16 - Adopting Attitudes Towards Antiracism

Understanding White Supremacy
If It’s Not Antiracist, It’s Racist

16:24 - 1000 Cut Journey

"1000 Cut Journey" Launches at Tribeca Film Festival
Culture, Narratives, and Stories are Powerful Tools
Feedback & Reactions

25:59 - Empathy is Insufficient

Are you aware of how white you are?

34:34 - The Tendency to Avoid Racism and Talking About Race

39:30 - Systemic Racism and Technology

Diversity is Not About Aesthetics
Centering Race
Training & Onboarding
Hiring From Non-Traditional Backgrounds
Understanding “Social Work”
Shifting Orientation:
Being Antiracist
Being Transdisciplinary
Understanding that avoiding harm is not the same thing as achieving justice

Reflections:

Rein: “Intention without strategy is chaos.” – Dr. Kim Crayton

Arty: Taking an antiracist approach to product development.

Jacob: Thinking more about the phrase “transdisciplinary” and the difference between it and “interdisciplinary.”

Courtney: 1. Talking about difficult things in a way that can be anchored in learning. 2. It’s not about what you believe; it’s what you do. 3. There is no neutral in marginalization and oppression.

This episode was brought to you by @therubyrep of DevReps, LLC. To pledge your support and to join our awesome Slack community, visit patreon.com/greaterthancode

Special Guest: Dr. Courtney D. Cogburn.

Sponsored By:

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Support Greater Than Code

193: Optimizing For Happiness with Tudor Gîrba Jul 29, 2020

Show notes

02:09 - Tudor’s Superpower: Storytelling

Getting Beyond Your Self-Critic
Writing Code is Storytelling
There’s No Semantics Without Syntax

13:04 - Reading Stories (and Code)

Reading Code Takes Place in an Editor
Code is Not Text. Code is Data.

17:56 - Optimizing For Happiness

Automation Creates More Jobs
Choosing Tools is Important

“The tools that we create end up influencing how we see the world.” – Marshall McLuhan

27:48 - Moldable Development

Making Metaphors and Building Abstractions
Glamorous Toolkit

32:50 - Editing Code as a Joint Activity

rust-analyzer
Simultaneous Perspectives Increase Communication Bandwidth

38:40 - Encouraging and Supporting the Presentation of New Ideas and Out-of-the-Box Thinking

58:41 - Culture is Formed by Storytelling; Identity is the Story We Tell About Ourselves

Alasdair MacIntyre

Reflections:

Rein: Reading and writing code can be different, but it can also be the same. See: the functional programming concept of lens.

Jessica: At the end of the presentation, if there’s no question that makes you think, then maybe you haven’t moved anything. Look for surprises.

Arty: Optimizing for happiness as a first principle. How do we do that more?

Tudor: With software, we are forcing people to listen to our ideas and then act according to our thoughts. That is a big responsibility, a privilege, and we have to train that skill.

This episode was brought to you by @therubyrep of DevReps, LLC. To pledge your support and to join our awesome Slack community, visit patreon.com/greaterthancode

Special Guest: Tudor Gîrba.

Sponsored By:

An Event Apart: This podcast is brought to you by An Event Apart. For over 15 years, An Event Apart conferences have been the best way to level up your skills, get inspiration from world-class experts, and learn what’s next in web design. Now, An Event Apart is proud to introduce Online Together: Front-End Focus, a single-day online conference on Monday, August 17th with a focus on developing for the front end. You’ll hear insights from Ire Aderinokun, Aaron Gustafson, Henri Helvetica, Jeremy Keith, Una Kravets, and Dave Rupert discussing the latest in CSS advances, best practices in design principles, surviving audits, improving performance, and more. In addition to live message boards during the sessions, each session features a live moderated moderated Q&A with the speaker. You’ll come away not only inspired, but ready to put new techniques and ideas immediately into practice. Greater Than Code listeners can save $50 off registration with promo code AEAGTC. Once again, that promo code is AEAGTC. So grab your spot and join us online Monday, August 17th. Visit AnEventApart.com to see the full agenda and register now. Promo Code: AEAGTC

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192: Bringing Our Whole Selves with Siobhán Cronin Jul 22, 2020

Show notes

02:36 - Siobhán’s Superpower: Catalyzing Personal and Community Change

04:19 - Managing Change During COVID-19

Experiencing Joy While Grieving
Bringing Your Whole Self to Work (a boundary being stretched like never before)
Working From Home: Ranges of Experiences and Comfort-Levels

13:51 - Pros and Cons of Bringing Your Whole/Full Self to Work

Building Affinity & Care
Interfacing with Capitalism
Painpoints as Learning Opportunities
Having Boundaries
Building Inclusive Communities and Workspaces
Extending Grace and Care

34:08 - People Have to Do Work on Themselves

“You’re not categorically a good person.” – Siobhán

Check Yourself: Look at Yourself Honestly
Psychological Safety

Reflections:

John: How can we inculcate more caring into corporate environments?

Jerome: Being more fearless; acknowledging consequences but not letting them stop us.

Jacob: Being more visible.

Siobhán: Building on each other’s ideas during the call and showing care while showing up.

This episode was brought to you by @therubyrep of DevReps, LLC. To pledge your support and to join our awesome Slack community, visit patreon.com/greaterthancode

Special Guest: Siobhán Cronin.

Support Greater Than Code

191: Sitting Down Together with Amy Tobey Jul 15, 2020

Show notes

02:14 - Amy’s Superpower: Looking at a mess and seeing the potential for what it could be.

03:40 - Generalists vs Specialists

“The job description should describe the capabilities that the team needs, not that the individual needs.”

15:28 - Finding a “Beautiful” Mess in Technical Systems

“The biggest impediment to change is your users.” – Jessica

Richard Dawkins Demonstrates Laryngeal Nerve of the Giraffe

22:40 - Artisanal and Industrial Modes of Production

Systems are indelibly stamped by the experience of the people who built them

28:25 - Design, Use, and Reliability

32:30 - Convincing Executives to Care About a Thing

Now vs Later
Where do we spend our attention to maximize value?
Viable System Model
Context Over Control / Communication Without Authority

41:08 - Whistleblowing is Good Because Misuse of Authority is Bad

51:33 - SRE (Site Reliability Engineering)

“The goal of SRE is to change the way your organization relates to the systems it runs.” – Rein

Reflections:

Jessica: Bonus question: Amy, why do you hate the word, “mature”?

Rein: “A problem is an abstraction extracted from a mess via analysis.” – Russel Ackoff

Amy: Models: We keep trying the same patterns and complaining about the same outcomes.

This episode was brought to you by @therubyrep of DevReps, LLC. To pledge your support and to join our awesome Slack community, visit patreon.com/greaterthancode

Special Guest: Amy Tobey.

Sponsored By:

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190: Social Media, Privacy, and Security with Joe LeBlanc Jul 08, 2020

Show notes

01:32 - Joe’s Superpower: Hospitality

Greater Than Code 054: Code Hospitality with Nadia Odunayo

06:20 - Social Media: It's time for us to stop acting like we are getting access to social media for free.

When you add up your household's cable/Internet/phone bills, you're paying bare minimum $100/mo.
This money isn't going to Facebook and Twitter, but it is the entry fee for bringing these platforms into your home, where they subsequently track everything you do, everyone you know, build a facial recognition database with the photos you post, and determine your sexual orientation before you even disclose it.
Nobody reads the privacy policies.
UBDI – Universal Basic Data Income

15:36 - Owing Your Identity & Data

Email Plus: An Idea
Slack, Microsoft Teams
A Key / Distributed Data Idea

25:25 - Protecting Children’s’ Privacy & Data

32:00 - Leading The Movement; Rolling Out a Solution: Taking back control of our data

People who are willing to be hobbyists
Experimentation & Activism

Reflections:

Christina: The value and the power of open source and thinking beyond giving your data out willy-nilly.

Jacob: Teaching our children to be thoughtful technologists.

Jerome: Keeping our kids safe is a job on top of a job, and the goalpost keeps moving!

Joe: A reminder that other people are thinking about this. We are all concerned about privacy.

This episode was brought to you by @therubyrep of DevReps, LLC. To pledge your support and to join our awesome Slack community, visit patreon.com/greaterthancode

Special Guest: Joe LeBlanc.

Sponsored By:

strongDM: Today's show is sponsored by strongDM. Managing your remote team as they work from home? Managing a gazillion SSH keys, database passwords, and Kubernetes certs? Meet strongDM. Manage and audit access to servers, databases, and Kubernetes clusters, no matter where your employees are. With strongDM, easily extend your identity provider to manage infrastructure access. Automate onboarding, offboarding, and moving people within roles. Grant temporary access that automatically expires to on-call teams. Admins get full auditability into anything anyone does: when they connect, what queries they run, what commands are typed. It's full visibility into everything. For SSH, RDP, and Kubernetes, that means video replays. For databases, it's a single unified query log across all database management systems. strongDM is used by companies like Hearst, Peloton, Betterment, Greenhouse, and SoFi to manage access. It's more control and less hassle. strongDM. Manage and audit remote access to infrastructure. Start your free 14-day trial today at strongdm.com/SDT

Support Greater Than Code

189: Succeeding in Science with Deborah Berebichez Jul 01, 2020

Show notes

01:13 - Debbie’s Superpower: Having an excellent memory and a detailed-oriented brain

03:23 - Teaching Science in Fun Ways

Sourcebooks Baby University Books, Assorted Science Titles, Set of 4
Thermodynamics for Babies and Toddlers
thesciencebabe (Debbie’s YouTube Channel)
Ruth Spiro Books

05:49 - Understanding Data & Data Literacy

First Steps to Understanding: See Examples; Do Experiments

15:16 - Negative Results Are Important (Failure)

Education Between Boys vs Girls
- Mindset: The New Psychology of Success by Carol S. Dweck
- Growth vs Fixed Mindset
- Battling Discouragement, Lack of Confidence, and Perseverance

29:20 - Human Performance is Contextual – Science can be exclusionary

34:27 - Debbie’s Inspiration to Become a Scientist

Your Story Is Your Power: Free Your Feminine Voice

41:17 - Debbie’s TV Career

The Physics of High Heels
Dr. Debbie Berebichez Talks About Science
Debbie’s National Geographic Reel
Humanly Impossible
Debbie’s IMDb Page
Co-Hosting Discovery Channel’s Outrageous Acts of Science

50:29 - Finding Ways to Solve Complex Concepts

Go Back to the Basics
Using Code is For Solving Problems; Critical Thinking
Taking a Holistic View

Reflections:

Rein: Gordon Pask’s Conversation Theory

Arty: Teaching the how and teaching the why.

Astrid: Perseverance and authenticity: Being yourself and allowing yourself to evolve.

Debbie: This podcast was much different from being a guest on other podcasts.

This episode was brought to you by @therubyrep of DevReps, LLC. To pledge your support and to join our awesome Slack community, visit patreon.com/greaterthancode

Special Guest: Deborah Berebichez.

Support Greater Than Code

188: Going Off the Rails with Damien Burke Jun 24, 2020

Show notes

01:10 - Damien’s Superpower: The ability to hold conflicting beliefs at the same time.

04:09 - Life is Hard. How do we make things easy?

12:03 - Treating Expertise as Transferable to Different Fields

Technical Privilege
Cognitive Bias – List of Cognitive Biases
Heuristic Shortcuts
Specifications not Test – Damien’s “Don’t Call it Test-Driven Development Essay
Fundamental Attribution Error

17:54 - Loving Yourself Unconditionally and Seeing Flaws

“You are whole, perfect, and complete.” – Damien Burke

Virginia Satir: The basis of human interaction is acknowledging the inherent value in ourselves and another person.
Giving Feedback – The key is authenticity.
Treating People The Way They Want to be Treated vs How YOU Want to be Treated
- The Platinum Rule
Mister Rogers: What do you do with the mad that you feel?

“The problem is never the problem; how we cope is the problem.” – Virginia Satir

27:03 - Shakespeare was Garbage

30:08 - Sponsorship Message

31:20 - EarlyWords / Morning Pages

The Artist's Way by Julia Cameron

36:08 - Damien’s Background in Theater and Applying it to Tech

“I play the piano, but my instrument is the orchestra.” – Attribution Unknown

“The conductor is the only person in the orchestra that doesn’t make a sound.” – Benjamin Zander

Being a Leader/Conductor/Manager is an Act of Service

41:42 - Ontological Coaching

Epistemic – What even is knowledge?
- The Scientific Method

Reflections:

John: Why Tacit Knowledge is More Important Than Deliberate Practice

Rein: It is hard to translate theory into practice.

Damien: Life is hard. Make everything you can easy!

This episode was brought to you by @therubyrep of DevReps, LLC. To pledge your support and to join our awesome Slack community, visit patreon.com/greaterthancode

Special Guest: Damien Burke.

Sponsored By:

strongDM: Today's show is sponsored by strongDM. Managing your remote team as they work from home? Managing a gazillion SSH keys, database passwords, and Kubernetes certs? Meet strongDM. Manage and audit access to servers, databases, and Kubernetes clusters, no matter where your employees are. With strongDM, easily extend your identity provider to manage infrastructure access. Automate onboarding, offboarding, and moving people within roles. Grant temporary access that automatically expires to on-call teams. Admins get full auditability into anything anyone does: when they connect, what queries they run, what commands are typed. It's full visibility into everything. For SSH, RDP, and Kubernetes, that means video replays. For databases, it's a single unified query log across all database management systems. strongDM is used by companies like Hearst, Peloton, Betterment, Greenhouse, and SoFi to manage access. It's more control and less hassle. strongDM. Manage and audit remote access to infrastructure. Start your free 14-day trial today at strongdm.com/SDT

Support Greater Than Code

187: Seeing The World with Bryan Liles Jun 17, 2020

Show notes

01:50 - Bryan’s Superpower: The ability to see the world as it is

06:52 - Conference Circuits / Virtual Conferencing

KubeCon
- Keynote: CNCF Project Updates - Bryan Liles, KubeCon + CloudNativeCon North America 2019 Co-Chair
- Beyond Kubernetes - Interview with Bryan Liles (KubeCon 2019, Barcelona)
Re-imagining Continuous {Integration | Delivery | Deployment | Whatever} - Bryan Liles (DeliveryConf Seattle Talk)
Engagement: In-Person vs Virtual
Conferences Aren’t Inclusive (as they stand)

17:44 - Working Remotely During Quarantine

Productivity
Depression
Find a Piece of Life That Makes You Happy

23:48 - The Premise of Being Greater Than Code

We Are Not Our Code

26:24 - Fighting/Overcoming Meritocracy

Be the Smartest Person in the Room
Sharing Ideas
Building a Supportive Community Around Yourself

“I'm not underrepresented anymore. Y'all are over-represented. Not going to use a negative to describe my existence. I'm Bryan, and I'm supposed to be here.” – Bryan Liles via Twitter

If you believe in meritocracy, you believe in white supremacy.

34:50 - How People Work and View the World

Writing Things Down
Be Ready to Perform
Cockiness vs Confidence: Celebrating Success
Humans are Inconsistent: People Are NOT Perfect

42:41 - Finding Power in Something Else

Have Mantras; Center Your Life
- Meek Mill - Dreams And Nightmares

This episode was brought to you by @therubyrep of DevReps, LLC. To pledge your support and to join our awesome Slack community, visit patreon.com/greaterthancode

Special Guest: Bryan Liles.

Sponsored By:

Support Greater Than Code

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