Acima Development

Improving software development

About the show

At Acima, we have a large software development team. We wanted to be able to share with the community things we have learned about the development process.
We'll share some tech specifics (we do Ruby, Kotlin, Javascript, and Haskell), but also talk a lot about mentoring, communication, hiring, planning, and the other things that make up a lot of the software development process but don't always get talked about enough.

Episodes

  • Episode 61: Effective Meetings

    December 11th, 2024  |  44 mins 56 secs

  • Episode 60: Business Logic Architecture

    November 27th, 2024  |  50 mins 34 secs

  • Episode 59: Infrastructure Tools

    November 13th, 2024  |  46 mins 8 secs

  • Episode 58: Feature Verification

    October 30th, 2024  |  58 mins 28 secs

  • Episode 57: How to Learn

    October 16th, 2024  |  49 mins 44 secs

  • Episode 56: Team Sizes

    October 2nd, 2024  |  56 mins 19 secs

  • Episode 55: How to Estimate Badly

    September 18th, 2024  |  52 mins 30 secs

  • Episode 54: Monoliths vs Microservices

    September 4th, 2024  |  55 mins 59 secs

  • Episode 53: Velocity vs Thoroughness

    August 21st, 2024  |  1 hr 2 mins

  • Episode 52: Scary Code

    August 7th, 2024  |  45 mins 39 secs

  • Episode 51: Changing Languages

    July 24th, 2024  |  49 mins 3 secs

  • Episode 50: Onboarding

    July 10th, 2024  |  40 mins 9 secs

  • Episode 49: Breaking Down Work

    June 26th, 2024  |  38 mins 2 secs

  • Episode 48: Strategies and Pitfalls of Estimation

    June 13th, 2024  |  42 mins 38 secs

  • Episode 47: Onboarding New Employees

    May 29th, 2024  |  46 mins 19 secs

    The panel delves into the challenges and strategies of onboarding new employees to discuss the importance of communication, mentorship, and understanding context. Mike shares a story from his construction days in New Orleans, where he learned the value of being paired with an experienced team member. This buddy system helped him overcome communication barriers and adapt more quickly to his new environment.

    Effective onboarding involves more than just providing documentation. While documentation is valuable, it must be up-to-date and supplemented with hands-on guidance and practical experience. The panel advocates for giving new employees context about their tasks and the organization. This can include having them use the software as end-users or working directly with customers to understand the system and its impact better. Regular check-ins and skills clinics are also recommended to help employees stay updated and improve their skills.

    Additionally, the podcast highlights the importance of continuous learning and mentorship for all employees, not just new hires. Regular mentor-mentee interactions and collaborative updates to documentation ensure that onboarding remains practical and relevant. Panelists note the pitfalls to avoid, such as not following through on commitments and assigning unsuitable onboarding buddies. Ensuring psychological safety and fostering a supportive culture are crucial to a successful onboarding process.

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    Episode 46: Coding Myths

    May 22nd, 2024  |  36 mins 13 secs