Episode 63: Software Consulting With Chad Pytel

Software Consulting With Chad Pytel Guest Chad Pytel: CEO, Co-Founder, and Developer of thoughtbot. Summary Our guest this week is Chad Pytel. Chad is the CEO of thoughtbot, which is a design and development firm known in the world for its support of open source projects like paperclip and shoulda. Chad and I talk about how to make short consulting projects work, the importance of hiring, why thoughtbot makes their internal guides public, and how they continue to be able to support open source. It's a great conversation about how thoughtbot approaches the world. Notes 02:09 - How thoughtbot Works as an Integrated Design and Development Team 06:50 - Handling Discovery Phases and Product Design Sprints 11:40 - When Clients Aren’t a Good Fit and Setting Expectations 14:12 - Hiring for Values Beyond the Whiteboard Interview 21:05 - The thoughtbot Playbook 26:43 - Client Communication During Projects 30:48 - Investment Days and Supporting Open Source Projects 36:49 - Using Rails and Not Using RailsSpecial Guest: Chad Pytel.