Podcasts by CTO Think Podcast

Vue, Vuex, Auth, and State Management from 2020-06-23T04:30

BLM, White Privilege, Accountability, Guilt, Responsibilities, and Helping from 2020-06-09T15:30

The world feels like a different place from just a couple weeks ago, but it's not. The United States is still in the same place it has been for a long time, if you're a minority. Randy and Don disc...

From Manager/Dev to Non-coding Manager from 2020-05-19T04:15

Right before the COVID pandemic hit, Randy was asked to take on the management of two new teams, which changed his typical role of manager-developer to strictly people management, meetings, and pro...

Big Ideas Getting Planned, Part 2 from 2020-05-12T04:15

Don and Randy continue their discussion about the business plans in the Big Idea Gator Business Plan Competition, this time about the best entries and how the competition played out. Coconuts!

Big Ideas Getting Planned, Part 1 from 2020-05-05T04:15

Don brings in a few examples from an upcoming Big Idea Gator Business Plan Competition in which he's playing the role of a judge. We discuss the importance of good writing, identifying the problem,...

Difficult Choices and Hard Conversations from 2020-03-31T04:15

Don and Randy talk about what's been going on with the COVID-19 pandemic and how it has affected their firms, jobs, and side projects. What does it mean to talk to folks under your wing? What kind ...

Growing Up and Losing the Fun Parts of App Development from 2020-03-03T05:15

Don asked Randy about what he's working on, lately, and Randy exclaimed, "nothing fun," which actually turns out not to be true. Randy details the additional mix of people, communication, and risk ...

Improving Visual Communication for Remote Management from 2020-02-25T05:15

Randy is making efforts to improve the communication of visual examples via remote video meetings. We discuss his first attempt to achieve online whiteboarding using a Macbook Pro, a Wacom One tabl...

Security Concerns Keep Coming from 2020-02-11T05:15

In Don's role as CTO for AspirEDU, he has a number of security audits posed by potential customers and increasing complexity around third-party hosts. Randy keeps wanting to talk about the XFL (Par...

Proposed Project Approach and the Wonders of Sous Vide Cooking from 2020-01-28T05:15

Randy pitches to Don an approach for a CMS project and then rifs on the cool new toy he recently purchased for the kitchen: A sous vide cooking device.

Viable or crap? Discussing Blockchain, VR, Autonomous Cars, and Drone Delivery from 2020-01-21T06:15

This week we take a look at the state of a few hyped technologies and see where they really are in terms of usefulness, adoption, and long-term viability. Don thinks VR will never go mainstream and...

Modern Content Management Options from 2020-01-07T06:15

Don and Randy discuss content management options from the old-school Full Stack apps, WYSIWYG SaaS, and Headless + Static Site Generator options

A Deeper Dive into Building Power Apps from 2019-12-31T05:15

Don takes Randy along for the ride of his latest applications using Microsoft's Power App platform. They discuss building an application that uses Twilio, Trello, Flow, Power Apps, OneDrive, Adapti...

Automation vs Programming from 2019-12-17T05:15

Don describes his work on moving his company to Microsoft and his use of Power Apps. This leads to a discussion of the automation vs programming strategies and how this might be the future for all ...

Headless CMS + Static Site Generators from 2019-12-10T05:15

Randy's been approached, both at his job and from an external firm, about the need for a CMS. The old stalwarts of Wordpress and Drupal don't seem to work, but the idea of a Static Site Generator a...

Twilio Segments, Pricing, and Proxy from 2019-11-19T05:15

Randy has been working on Twilio a bit since the team last worked on the Chasms project and updates Don on some of the interesting features Twilio has brought to market. In addition, they discuss a...

Switching to Services from 2019-11-12T05:15

Randy is part of a team focused on building a Service Oriented Architecture with Go. Don figures out he has always been using services, but the SOA acronym seemed to involve more than simply work. ...

Power Apps for the People from 2019-11-05T05:15

Don has been hearing Randy tell him to quit coding so much and finally does something about it: He decides to build an app without writing a line of code (but not delegating it to someone else) by ...

Is Accessibility a Worthwhile Focus? from 2019-10-29T04:15

Domino's Pizza recently lost a lawsuit regarding the lack of accessibility features for their online ordering platform. Don and Randy discuss the ramifications of the decision and whether accessibi...

A Front-End Dev That Can't Build a Website? from 2019-10-15T16:00

Chris Coyier recently posted a tweet regarding a front-end developer he knew that "could not build a website." Is this strange? Shouldn't every developer that claims front-end skills be able to pro...

How Should a CTO Use Their Time? from 2019-10-01T14:15

When a CTO is juggling multiple responsibilities, people, and projects, what is the best use of their time? Randy, once again, tells Don to put down the keyboard and quit coding stuff!

Clean Code is Covered in Caca from 2019-09-24T04:45

This week, we shall rant! The term "Clean Code" is a vague and irresponsible phrase to use regarding programming and Randy will have nothing of it. It's time Uncle Bob's cute money-making catch phr...

Organizational Train Wrecks explained by College Football Dumpster Fires from 2019-09-10T05:15

In honor of the second week of the college football season, Randy and Don discuss three programs, UCLA, Tennessee, and FSU, falling into disaster scenarios and compare each with CTO failures at tec...

Using a Framework Before Mastering the Language from 2019-08-27T04:15

Following a tweet from Ben Hong @bencodezen about whether people need to master JavaScript before using a framework, Don and Randy discuss how they have used, shipped, and been paid to use framewor...

Should Startups Avoid Hiring a CTO? from 2019-08-20T04:15

A recent blog post by Philip Thomas of Moonlight titled "Startups Should Not Hire a CTO" sparked a conversation about why blanket statements like "Startups Should Not Do X" that are clickbait and s...

Developers, Ageing, Naps, and What Are We Talking About, Again? from 2019-08-13T04:15

Don and Randy discuss the changes that ageing has on their development skills and focus, how to combat it (or adapt to it), and stay somewhat off the "old person joke" train... sort of.

Authentication: Buy it or Build it? from 2019-08-06T16:00

With hacking stories dropping on a seemingly daily basis, the question keeps coming up about application security: Should you build your own user authentication or use an external service? This wee...

Breaking down bootcamps from 2019-07-30T14:30

Randy reacts to a Tweetstorm about Lambda School using his former experiences as a bootcamp teacher to add some perspective

Getting going with Go! from 2019-07-23T06:10

Randy starts his new position and Go (or Golang) is one of the main languages used there. He reviews what he's learned so far and what's ahead.

2x CTOs talk about 10x developers from 2019-07-16T10:00

In reaction to a Twitterstorm about the concept of a 10x engineer being important for any startup, we discuss the downfalls of such a thing and what positives exist.

Post-mortem on Randy's Job Search from 2019-07-09T04:30

Randy is about to start a new job and has a number of opinions about the job search, hiring, negotiation process he recently went through. Don tries to play Devil's Advocate as the employer/hiring ...

Using Cypress for Integration Testing from 2019-06-25T04:30

Randy and Megan recently worked on a Single Page App and Megan learned how to use Cypress for integration/acceptance testing. Don and Randy discuss how Cypress works vs the old stalwarts, like Sele...

Ditching Wordpress vs Free-time Driven Development from 2019-06-18T15:15

The show begins discussing setting up a product roadmap for AspirEdu, but things devolve when Don mentions he is considering swapping Wordpress for the marketing website with a static site builder....

Microsoft Bounces Back: Monopolies, Ballmer Years, and Open Source from 2019-06-11T14:30

Don and Randy discuss the "New Microsoft" and how a change in leadership has led to a completely different experience with one of the largest technology firms in the World. We also take a road trip...

From Hands-on Dev to CTO: Jess Szmajda, CTO of Axios from 2019-06-04T06:15

We have an exceptional guest for our 50th episode in Jess Szmajda, CTO of Axios, and we cover a whole lotta ground: From building "horrible PHP sites", to constructing retail tech teams from scrat...

Trying to find a product-market fit from 2019-05-28T04:15

Don and Randy discuss the latest installment of the Chasms app saga. Don heads out to Denver for a sales conference loaded with potential customers of the Chasms text-to-chat system, but finds no t...

Stages of the CTO Lifecycle from 2019-05-21T04:15

This week we review an old, but good, blog post by Andy Skipper named "Looking at the life of the CTO through the stages." We discuss our own experiences across these stages and the ones we haven't...

Testing with Node and JavaScript (Finally!) from 2019-05-14T14:15

After years of testing with Ruby on Rails and rspec, Randy never had quite the flow with testing on the JavaScript and Node side of things... until now. We discuss the value of testing with Node, E...

Benefits of Continuous Integration from 2019-05-07T13:15

Over the past two decades of working in tech, the use of Continuous Integration (or CI) has become a mainstream approach to product development. Randy and Don discuss the systems they used before (...

Managed Hosting Rocks! WPEngine, Pantheon, and Heroku from 2019-04-30T04:15

Randy is working with a client that uses Pantheon for Drupal hosting and he loves the tools. After spending a good decade using cPanel on cheap hosts, the stability that WPEngine and Pantheon gives...

Business Metrics and the Lack of Context from 2019-04-23T04:15

We discuss business metrics, reporting, statistics, and how many of the numbers, without context, lack much value. Can your business deliver the Five Nines? Does it even need to? What kind of perfo...

Typescript Pain. Is there any Gain? from 2019-04-16T04:15

Randy is diving back into the Chasms backend using Firebase Functions, which is written (by him) in Typescript. We discuss the ins and outs as to why Typescript was chosen, some pain points that cr...

Writing a Job Description for a Non-specific Job from 2019-04-09T04:15

Don's firm is looking to hire a non-senior Python developer to help spread the workload of the engineering team. We discuss how he's writing up the job description, who he's really looking for in t...

Document Datastores and Many-to-Many Relationships from 2019-04-02T04:15

While continuing work on the Chasms app, Randy asks Don for his two cents on an approach to solving a document datastore (firestore) schema involving a many-to-many relationship. A discussion ensue...

Customer Perspectives and Managing Expectations from 2019-03-26T04:15

A customer claims the service provided didn't meet expectations despite them choosing the more “economical” solution. Another client’s manager felt a contractor “yelled” at them, but the contractor...

Building an App (and Learning) with Vue.js from 2019-03-19T04:15

Randy has started working on the Chasms project again, and after the previous episode with David Rogers, he chose to use (and learn) Vue.js to get it started. Don and Randy discuss the various libr...

Hiring Good Consultants from 2019-03-12T04:15

This week we talk about how we’ve hired consultants in the past, where we’ve failed, and the perspective of consultants that might help tech leaders understand who they’re hiring.

Just Doing It Yourself Because of Liam Neeson from 2019-03-05T05:15

As a continuation to a previous episode, Don discusses why he's going to roll up his sleeves and handle a data-gathering project himself. He attempts to support his choice using a reference to a Li...

CTO, CIO, CDO, WTH? from 2019-02-26T05:15

This week we discuss the various C-Level titles in the tech world: CTO vs CIO vs CDO vs others. What do folks with those titles tend to do and do the titles really matter? Also, Randy talks about h...

Switching Frameworks to Vue.js with David Rogers from 2019-02-19T05:15

We interview David Rogers (a.k.a Al-the-X) about his career path among the front-end frameworks and his latest roles for firms switching from Angular and Backbone to Vue. A very valuable discussion...

When a Third-Party Service Fails from 2019-02-12T05:15

Don's company ran into problems when their email provider, Mandrill, suffered a significant outage. Randy and Don discuss how they handle outages, prepare for switching to other providers (before o...

Learning JavaScript and Accessibility with Megan Schemmel from 2019-02-05T05:15

Don follows-up with previous guest Megan Schemmel, who is learning how to be a full-stack web developer. They talk about how she went from being a non-developer to knowing HTML and CSS, launching w...

Pushing Your Team and Self to the Limits from 2019-01-29T05:15

Following up on another Elon Musk communication, we discuss the side effects of working too many hours, burning out, and how you might be guilty of causing extra-hour angst with only a simple email...

Products are Fun, Promotion is Not, and Preventing Perfectionism from 2019-01-22T05:15

We begin talking about the career aspirations of sports officiants (tennis gigs) and upcoming technology projects Don wants to tackle, but it slowly morphs into a discussion about outsourcing, buil...

Setting Goals for your Team from 2019-01-15T05:15

Don is setting up goals for AspirEdu for 2019, which takes us into a discussion about how to set up big projects and campaigns for small firms that have lots of small tasks to get done at the same ...

Discussing Firebase Authentication from 2019-01-08T05:15

Randy has a possible conference presentation coming up in the next few weeks, so he gets Don to listen to the outline and poke some holes in the outline. Along the way, they discuss what Firebase A...

Brainstorming the Tech, Managed meetup from 2018-12-31T05:15

As we move into 2019, Randy and Don discuss a new meetup concept they aim to create called Tech, Managed. With goals to build upon the growth of the CTO Think and This Old App audience, the Tech, M...

Follow-up with Mark on Flutter, TotallyStrong.me, and Family from 2018-12-27T05:15

About a year has passed since we last spoke to Mark Thompson about his journey through a solo developer application build for TotallyStrong.me using the new framework, Flutter. This week we talk ab...

Kubernetes Exploits, Bernie Madoff, and Minimal Skepticism from 2018-12-18T05:15

Don and Randy discuss a recent exploit that came to light in the Kubernetes container framework that seemed to fade off as a widespread concern. This leads to a discussion about how much diligence ...

Viability of a Watch App Concept from 2018-12-11T05:15

Don has an idea for a building a watch app to service American football referees and discusses with Randy whether the concept is viable for a build. Randy provides the customary ref jokes and insul...

Review of the State of JS Survey from 2018-12-04T05:15

How is Angular doing vs React and Vue? What are the most used and growing back-end JavaScript frameworks. Which strongly-typed flavor of JavaScript is winning hearts? This week, Don and Randy discu...

Crossover Episode - The World vs React (Nuff Said) from 2018-11-20T05:45

The previous two episodes of our sister podcast, This Old App, discussed the rapid development of React and its possible side effects on the development community. For this CTO Think episode, we ru...

React-ions and Corrections to Last Week from 2018-11-20T05:40

Last week's episode about the speed of React development either struck a nerve, had enough keywords for a Google SEO explosion, or involved a prominent member of the React dev team (cough, Mr. Abra...

Is React the Popular Kid in School? from 2018-11-13T05:15

During Randy's interviewing stint, he spoke to a good number of firms that had needs for different stacks, but one particular framework stood out: React. Startups, small firms, and enterprise firm...

Should We Open Source This Code? from 2018-11-07T05:15

Don and his company, AspirEDU, decided to open source a small bit of code for the first time for the Django community. We discuss the various considerations--across proprietary, support, and licens...

Chipping Away at Project Blockers from 2018-10-30T04:15

Don continues to work on his Azure-backed PDF processing application and describes his process to fix a number of blockers. After making progress, Randy asks him about widget pipeline options, like...

Adventures in Interviewing from 2018-10-23T04:15

Randy is moving to Kansas City and exploring new job opportunities both local and remote, which has him in the thick of a variety of interviewing processes. Don and Randy discuss the good and bad a...

Debugging Azure with Ego Driven Development from 2018-10-16T12:25

In another effort to prevent Don and Randy from working on the same stack, Don wanders off into Microsoft land to build a web app on Azure, and promptly runs into trouble. Through a little troubles...

Build vs Buy and Disrupting Processes from 2018-10-09T04:15

We're back after a couple-week break! Don and Randy discuss the ever-debated strategy of building versus buying your software solutions. But they up the ante by discussing how existing workflows an...

Thinking About Smart Homes from 2018-10-09T04:15

After a two-week break, we return to discuss how Randy's buying a house and is thinking about all the new tech and gadgets he can add to it. We discuss home automation, the unnecessary features add...

To Test or Not to Test? from 2018-09-18T04:15

Do you practice test-driven development or feel left out of the "cool-kids" club of folks that swear testing is a necessity to develop quality code? We discuss our history with testing, how we have...

Handling Critical Feature Updates from 2018-09-11T04:15

Don's firm recently underwent its first major platform upgrade and we discuss the various ways they prepared, tested, and worked through the changes, all the way up to the dreaded "point of no retu...

What to Use for Mobile Development? from 2018-08-28T04:15

We discuss the state of development around iPhone and Android development, mainly with using non-native code bases. Randy makes valid complaints about Apple. Don wonders why he isn't allowed to com...

Elon Musk and Leading Your Team to Burnout from 2018-08-21T04:45

Pulled from the media, Don and Randy discuss Elon Musk's interview regarding the personal toll that his attempt to run three companies, perhaps poorly, is taking upon himself. Moreso, they talk abo...

Debating (Angrily) the Responsibility of Cross-platform Support from 2018-08-14T04:15

Don runs into a problem with a podcast app as he launches a new podcast of his own, Friday Night Stripes, and wants to deploy his show on Overcast. The issue? Don is not an iOS user and cannot find...

Grab Bag - GraphQL vs REST, Websockets, Uber Fusion, Redux Sux, and Firestore Search from 2018-08-07T04:15

Don and Randy get back from a couple weeks of trips and projects and discuss a grab-bag of subjects of things they've worked on or learned.

Betting on Vue JS with Gregg Pollack from 2018-08-01T04:15

Covering everything from Rails for Zombies to Code School to Vue Mastery, we talk with one of the original online tutorial creators, Gregg Pollack, and how he decided to invest in the Vue.js commun...

Returning to Game Development with Renee Lahoff from 2018-07-24T06:15

We speak with Renee Lahoff, content editor for Moms Can: Code, who began a career years ago as a game developer, left the industry to start a family, and found that a return to the business wasn't ...

When People Don't Listen to You from 2018-07-17T04:15

We discuss the inevitable issue of bosses, owners, managers, and clients not listening to every bit of advice we offer up. From ignoring the frustration, the psychological reaction, and avoiding a ...

Benefits of Coding While Streaming with Jesse Weigel from 2018-07-10T04:15

Jesse Weigel talks about being a self-taught developer, how he got started live-streaming his code on FreeCodeCamp and YouTube, and how creating a coding community makes him a better developer.

When Everything's Going Wrong from 2018-07-03T04:15

How do you get things back on track when everything from the engine to the caboose is falling off? We discuss steps to take when everything and anything is spiraling downward on a tech project.

Moms Can: Code with Bekah Hawrot Weigel from 2018-06-26T05:45

After giving birth to her fourth child, and suffering a serious medical issue in the process, Bekah Hawrot Weigel coped by finding a new path in life as a software developer. We talk about how she ...

Stakeholder Types and Working With Them from 2018-06-26T04:15

We discuss the various types of stakeholders that a technology leader may need to deal as being part of a company or a particular product. We discuss the various motivations and communication techn...

Callbacks! and Promises! and Awaits! Oh My! from 2018-06-19T05:00

We discuss the asynchronous nature of JavaScript, the old-person method of callbacks, the evolution to Promises, and then the shiny new car of Async/Await. We whine about the learning curve of all ...

Thinking About Dependencies from 2018-06-12T04:15

What are the considerations do you need to make regarding third-party services and software? We talk about relying on Github after the Microsoft purchase, using AWS or Firebase, and the world of Ja...

Relational vs Document DBs from 2018-06-12T04:15

We yell at document datastores to get off our lawns! We talk about the joys of SQL and 50-year-old relational databases we grew up with, trying to make sense of why MongoDB, Firestore, and Dynamo a...

Learning as a Cultural Component with Griffin Caprio from 2018-06-05T04:15

We speak with Griffin Caprio of Dante32 about his experiences building trust and psychological safety, accepting failure in a positive way, and creating a learning-based culture on teams from the t...

Project Chasms - Part 3, Prototype Feedback and The Bug from 2018-06-05T04:15

We discuss our prototype of Chasms as it's used in the wild, successfully supporting a real business.

GDPR Pain and Projects Outside Your Expertise from 2018-05-29T04:15

We lament about the recent GDPR hullabaloo, our initial reactions to the new regulations, and how we approach projects that we don't have any business handling in the first place, but still fall on...

Appraising Alexa (and other voice interfaces) from 2018-05-29T04:15

We talk about Alexa development, the strong developer ecosystem Amazon is investing for it, some of the privacy problems it's facing, and a few quips about Apple, Google, Microsoft, and even Samsung.

Compassionate Coding with April Wensel from 2018-05-22T04:15

April Wensel started a company named Compassionate Coding, which aims to "humanize the tech industry." We discuss why she started the firm and how she goes about making the tech industry a better p...

Finding Firebase from 2018-05-22T04:15

We talk about Firebase as a new backend tool for a few projects we're working on and cover many of its features, what is weird about it, and why this seems to be a product in which Google is making...

Meetings, Schmeetings from 2018-05-15T04:15

We talk about meetings, the negative vibe the tech industry has taken against them, how to best run meetings, or finding ways to communicate without wasting so much time.

Project Chasms - Part 2, Debugging and Brainstorming from 2018-05-15T04:15

In another installment related to the Chasms app, we discuss errors with the prototype, finding the right balance of customer/product fit, and the need to brainstorm without adding requirements to ...

Project Chasms - Part 1, Getting Started from 2018-05-08T04:15

Listen as Don and Randy begin a new side project together from problem/solution explanation, planning, and build approach. We aim to reduce the product scope and target a quicker launch of the prot...

Why do we podcast (and other projects)? from 2018-05-01T04:30

People (and ourselves) have been asking: Why are you all doing this? What is motivating you to podcast? In this episode, we discuss our motivations for podcasting, our side projects, and why we're ...

Social Media Side-Effects from 2018-05-01T04:15

Would you hire Kanye West if he was a great programmer, despite his social media presence? This week, we talk about social media quality control, public personas, and the challenge of being inclusi...

Networking for Introverts from 2018-04-24T11:05

Having a strong network makes for a huge advantage for career opportunities and learning how to lead. We discuss how to push past shyness and introverted tendencies to grow your own network of rela...

The 30-Day Deadline of Failure and Follow-Through from 2018-04-24T04:15

Mark Thompson gave himself a tough 30-day deadline to build and launch the first version of his app, TotallyStrong.me. Setting a goal gave him tremendous motivation, but also served him with a stro...

Choosing a Tech Stack from 2018-04-17T04:05

There are a lot of factors tech managers need to consider when inheriting or choosing a technology stack. We talk about how we chose specific stacks in the past (or didn't) and why we're using a br...

Learning and Shipping with Flutter from 2018-04-17T04:05

Mark Thompson discusses his learning and launching a native app using Flutter, a new cross-platform framework developed by Google.

Identity Heft from 2018-04-10T05:00

With hacking, data security, and privacy as huge issues in the press, we discuss how we approach identity management on both products and across our teams.

Learning CSS Grid from 2018-04-09T06:00

We have a guest, Megan Schemmel, discuss her new career as a developer, learning Wordpress, and taking on the new Grid functionality of CSS

Learning JavaScript (Better) from 2018-04-08T05:00

Don and Randy discuss the steps we've taken to better learn JavaScript, Node.js, React, and React Native. A whole lotta videos and pain.

The Intro! from 2018-04-06T06:00

Randy and Don introduce our new, loose-form podcast, and talk about how it contrasts with our more formal, parent podcast, CTO Think.

Don't Be Evil-ish? from 2018-04-03T05:00

Where do you draw the line on ethics? How do you take a stand when you want to keep your job? This week, we discuss ethical behavior and the responsibility people have regarding it.

Non-Disclosures, Non-Competes, No Way? from 2018-03-27T08:00

Should you sign non-compete or non-disclosure agreements? Are these kinds of contracts binding? Are they even useful for your business? We discuss everything from saying "heck, no," to turning the ...

You're so vain, you think in-office work is about you from 2018-03-20T04:01

We discuss our history with in-office and remote work, why junior devs might reconsider working outside the office, and how requiring folks to work in your proximity is a trait of managerial vanity.

Fostering a learning environment with Mark Thompson of Trilogy from 2018-03-14T10:00

We speak with our first guest, Mark Thompson of Trilogy Education, about his approach to creating a productive learning environment both on the job and in a classroom setting. Mark is also working ...

Communicating on a roller coaster of uptime and downtime from 2018-03-07T18:00

Randy and Don found themselves stranded, mid-ride on the Expedition Everest roller coaster at Disney World's Animal Kingdom. Following their rescue, and during an in-person recording from Orlando, ...

Are code challenges a lazy or legitimate method for hiring developers? from 2018-02-25T18:00

Are code challenges or quizzes a legitimate practice for hiring developers? We debate whether the method of filtering candidates via whiteboarding or code games is plain lazy or a necessary part of...

Skills for a career in tech leadership from 2018-02-18T20:00

If a junior developer is looking at the fork in a technology career path of software engineering or management, what kinds of skills do they need for the leadership side?

Developer focus is an excuse not to talk, right? from 2018-02-10T20:00

Is the call for "developer focus" a selfish complaint from precious snowflake employees? What right do developers have to ruin the design trend of great-looking open offices where collaboration mag...

Your hosting strategy - Choosing from self, managed, cloud, or serverless from 2018-02-03T17:00

How do you choose the best hosting options for your product or firm? This week, we discuss the thinking in a choice between self-hosting, managed hosting, cloud options, and the new buzz word: "ser...

Work-life balance from 2018-01-27T20:00

We discuss the importance of a work-life or non-tech balance for someone building a career in technology. Do folks need to set aside a specific amount of time, or any at all, not working on things ...

Does a tech manager need to code to be effective? from 2018-01-18T19:00

Randy is a CTO that codes almost daily. Don has found it difficult to string together multiple days where he's able to code for his current roles. Today, we tackle the topic of whether a CTO or tec...

Antifragile and TDD - What's the value? from 2018-01-12T18:00

Don brings up the subject of chaos, based on a book he's been reading, Antifragile, by Nassim Nicholas Taleb. We discuss the merits of test driven development, unpredictability, and how technical m...

Risk and Exploits - Dealing with Meltdown and Spectre from 2018-01-05T23:00

Randy and Don discuss an item ripped from the headlines: What should a technical manager do about the recent Meltdown and Spectre exploits? They move into the CTO modes of research, understanding, ...

Managing tech debt - When best to work on it? from 2018-01-02T14:00

Don faced an issue at his education tech firm: When should you slow down forward progress on new features in order to spend time on festering technical issues?

Hiring developers - Who should I hire to build an app? from 2017-12-28T14:00

Randy was posed a question by a potential client: "I want to build an app. Who should I hire?" and he asks the same question to Don.

Introducing CTO Think from 2017-12-23T14:00

Welcome to CTO Think, a podcast about how technology leaders think about business, tech, and people problems. Don VanDemark and Randy Burgess, two current and former Chief Technology Officers will ...