How “paper-first” regression routines, natural language oracles, and structured checklists can help teams catch subtle regressions before CI ever runs—and make automated tests more effective.
Explore how an analog, reusable tabletop gameboard can turn software debugging into a tangible, engaging practice system—independent of programming language and endlessly extensible.
Refactoring legacy code doesn’t have to feel like open-heart surgery. Treat it like assembling a physical puzzle on your desk: make technical debt visible, use visual maps, and apply behavior-preserving changes selectively, where they matter most.
How to turn scattered logs, metrics, traces, and tickets into a single, tangible ‘control tower’ that helps you understand and tame long-lived, hard-to-reproduce software bugs.
How to use tabletop-style war games, security thinking, and legacy code techniques like characterization tests and golden masters to safely refactor fragile systems without blowing them up.
How to transform incident postmortems into a physical “puzzle wall” that makes outages easier to visualize, share, and learn from—while reducing hero culture and improving reliability.
How a low-tech “paper circuit” lab with index cards and string can make concurrency, race conditions, and real-world mitigation strategies intuitive and concrete.
How low‑tech tabletop exercises and premortems help teams uncover hidden failure modes, tighten incident response, and build a culture that’s ready for real‑world outages.
How to design and use a lightweight, aviation-inspired “paper black box” to capture crucial context for every scary production incident—and turn chaos into a repeatable learning engine.
How treating legacy refactors like comic-strip storyboards can de-risk complex changes, align teams, and turn your plan into a test‑driven migration path—before you write a single line of code.