Venkat Subramaniam is a programmer, author, educator, and founder of Agile Developer. His career has taken him from computer architecture and software development to teaching, consulting, speaking, and writing books.

In this episode, Venkat talks about the unexpected decisions that changed the direction of his career, including volunteering to teach C before he really knew the language. We also get into how teaching changed the way he learns, what writing books taught him about feedback, and why he believes software development is as much about discipline as it is about technology.

In this episode:

• How Venkat found his way from engineering to software development
• Learning C by volunteering to teach it
• Why teaching became such an important part of his career
• Writing books and learning to value critical feedback
• What agile development means to Venkat and why adaptive planning matters
• How his thinking about AI has changed

Topics: software development, programming, agile development, teaching, technical writing, AI, software quality

Roundabout: Creative Chaos is a podcast hosted by Tammy Coron exploring creativity, design, and technology. Listen at roundaboutcreativechaos.com and subscribe on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts.

Adam Tow has spent decades exploring what technology can do and building tools to solve problems he encounters along the way. A longtime Apple developer and technologist, he's created software ranging from early Newton applications to MixEffect, ActionPhrase, and his latest app, C1B.

C1B grew out of Adam's experience helping care for his father during cancer treatment. Faced with medications, appointments, schedules, notes, and information spread across multiple places, Adam built an app around the realities of day-to-day caregiving. His approach reflects a pattern that runs throughout his career: see a problem, understand it, and build something useful.

In this episode:

• Growing up with the Apple II and discovering software development
• Why Adam builds apps to solve problems he encounters himself
• Creating MixEffect and ActionPhrase
• How caregiving for his father led to C1B
• Using AI agents to develop software
• What AI could mean for the future of programming

In the after show: Adam shares another major chapter of his career: nearly 15 years with All Things D, Recode, and Vox Media, where he had a front-row seat to the changing technology industry.

Topics: Apple, software development, AI, caregiving, C1B, indie development

Roundabout: Creative Chaos is a podcast hosted by Tammy Coron exploring creativity, design, and technology. Listen at https://roundaboutcreativechaos.com and subscribe on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts.

Bob Wegner has spent decades making music and digging into the history behind it. A multi-instrumentalist, music historian, archivist, and writer, Bob has worked with artists including Rush and Led Zeppelin and performed with Classic Albums Live. He is also the author of Max Webster: High Class, a book that took seven years to research and write.

From his own music to his deep dive into one of Canada's most distinctive rock bands, Bob brings a mix of research, firsthand experience, and a genuine love of music history. His work with Max Webster goes far beyond the songs, uncovering the people, performances, photographs, recordings, and stories that document the band's place in Canadian rock.

In this episode:

• Bob's journey as a musician and music historian
• How his interest in Max Webster became a seven-year book project
• Researching the people, performances, and stories behind the band
• What makes Max Webster's music and career so distinctive
• The challenges of documenting music history
• Preserving the stories behind Canada's rock history

Topics: music, Max Webster, Canadian rock, songwriting, music history, books

Audio note: Due to an issue with the original recording, you may notice a few audio imperfections in this episode. We've restored the audio as much as possible while preserving the conversation. Thanks for your understanding.

Roundabout: Creative Chaos is a podcast hosted by Tammy Coron exploring creativity, design, and technology. Listen at https://roundaboutcreativechaos.com and subscribe on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts.