Going to Production
Claim This Podcastby David Dieruf & Wael Rabadi
Podcast Overview
<p>Going to Production is the podcast where technical leaders get real about the complexities of shipping software. Hosted by Wael and David, each episode features honest conversations with VPs of Engineering, CTOs, and seasoned technical decision makers who share the unvarnished truth about what it really takes to get code from development to production.</p> <br/> <b>What You'll Discover</b> <p>This isn't another podcast about the latest frameworks or theoretical best practices. We dive deep into the messy realities that every technical leader faces: the trade-offs that keep you up at night, the production incidents that teach hard lessons, and the organizational challenges that textbooks don't prepare you for.</p><br/> <p>Our guests share real stories from the trenches—the moments when "it works on my machine" meets the harsh reality of production environments, scaling challenges, team dynamics, and the pressure to deliver reliable software under tight deadlines.</p> <br/> <b>Who This Is For</b> <p>Going to Production is designed for technical decision makers who need more than surface-level advice. Whether you're a VP of Engineering navigating organizational complexity, a technical lead managing production systems, or an engineering manager balancing technical debt with feature delivery, you'll find actionable insights from leaders who've been where you are.</p> <br/> <b>The Format</b> <p>Each series focuses on a broad topic critical to production success, explored across multiple episodes with different perspectives and real-world case studies. From deployment strategies and incident response to team scaling and technical decision-making under pressure, we cover the full spectrum of challenges that define modern software delivery.</p> <br/> <p>Join us for conversations that matter—where technical leaders share what they've learned, what they wish they'd known, and what really works when the stakes are high.</p>
Language
🇺🇲
Publishing Since
9/4/2025
1 verified contact email on file for Going to Production
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Recent Episodes
March 12, 2026
The Spec That Runs Your Whole Business
<p>Everyone's talking about spec driven development — and almost everyone is thinking about it too narrowly. If your spec only describes what your engineering team needs to build, you're leaving most of its power on the table. In this episode, David Dieruf and Wael Rabadi challenge the AI coding community's definition of "spec" and make the case for holistic specification thinking that drives your entire business.</p> <p><strong>What You'll Learn:</strong></p> <ul> <li>Why spec driven development as it's currently practiced is too narrow</li> <li>How LLMs fill context gaps the same way humans do — and why that's not hallucination</li> <li>Why BRD thinking and agile aren't mutually exclusive</li> <li>How a holistic spec drives backlogs, architecture, marketing, and sales from a single source of truth</li> <li>The regeneration power of AI when product direction changes from Feature A to Feature B</li> <li>Why ubiquitous language across all teams is more critical than ever in the AI era</li> <li>How the "multiplier effect" of centralized business context accelerates everything</li> </ul> <p><strong>Key Insight:</strong> A spec isn't a technical artifact — it's a business artifact. When your entire organization shares the same context, AI doesn't just help you write code faster. It helps you change direction, regenerate plans, and move the whole business forward in days instead of months.</p>
December 11, 2025
True Development in the AI Age: What It Means Beyond Writing Code
<p>Is computer science a dying field now that AI can generate code? Are developers just becoming "code monkeys" who paste AI output into repositories? In this episode, David Dieruf and Wael Rabadi tackle these questions head-on and explore what true development actually means when AI handles the implementation grunt work.</p> <p><strong>What You'll Learn:</strong></p> <ul> <li>What true development means beyond writing code</li> <li>Why context and documentation are critical for effective AI pairing</li> <li>How AI exposes the difference between code monkeys and real developers</li> <li>The importance of shared understanding and ubiquitous language</li> <li>Why interdisciplinary teams and collaboration matter more in the AI age</li> <li>How to provide AI with the context it needs to be effective</li> <li>The future of software development careers when AI handles implementation</li> </ul> <p><strong>Key Insight:</strong> AI doesn't eliminate the need for skilled developers—it raises the bar. The question isn't whether AI will replace developers, but whether you're doing true development or just being a code monkey. If you're the latter, AI is coming for your job. If you're the former, AI is your new superpower.</p> <p>Hosted by engineering leaders David Dieruf and Wael Rabadi, co-founders of Kisasa.</p>
November 27, 2025
Production First Development: Why Staging Environments Are Holding You Back
<p>Most engineering teams treat staging environments as a safety net—a place to test changes before they hit production. But what if that safety net is actually slowing you down and creating more problems than it solves? In this episode, David Dieruf and Wael Rabadi challenge the conventional wisdom around staging environments and make the case for production-first development.</p> <p><strong>What You'll Learn:</strong></p> <ul> <li>Why staging environments create false confidence and environment parity problems</li> <li>How infrastructure as code (CDKTF) enables production-first development</li> <li>Blue-green deployment strategies for safe production deployments</li> <li>Why moving the edge to deployment eliminates the need for staging</li> <li>How to simplify cloud security audits with infrastructure as code</li> <li>Practical approaches to deploying directly to production safely</li> </ul> <p><strong>Key Insight:</strong> If your staging environment isn't identical to production, it's not protecting you—it's just slowing you down. Invest in deployment practices that make production safe, not in maintaining a staging environment that lies to you.</p> <p>Hosted by engineering leaders David Dieruf and Wael Rabadi, co-founders of Kisasa.</p>
9 total episodes available
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Frequently asked questions
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- What is Going to Production?
<p>Going to Production is the podcast where technical leaders get real about the complexities of shipping software. Hosted by Wael and David, each episode features honest conversations with VPs of Engineering, CTOs, and seasoned technical decision makers who share the unvarnished truth about what it really takes to get code from development to production.</p> <br/> <b>What You'll Discover</b> <p>This isn't another podcast about the latest frameworks or theoretical best practices. We dive deep into the messy realities that every technical leader faces: the trade-offs that keep you up at night, the production incidents that teach hard lessons, and the organizational challenges that textbooks don't prepare you for.</p><br/> <p>Our guests share real stories from the trenches—the moments when "it works on my machine" meets the harsh reality of production environments, scaling challenges, team dynamics, and the pressure to deliver reliable software under tight deadlines.</p> <br/> <b>Who This Is For</b> <p>Going to Production is designed for technical decision makers who need more than surface-level advice. Whether you're a VP of Engineering navigating organizational complexity, a technical lead managing production systems, or an engineering manager balancing technical debt with feature delivery, you'll find actionable insights from leaders who've been where you are.</p> <br/> <b>The Format</b> <p>Each series focuses on a broad topic critical to production success, explored across multiple episodes with different perspectives and real-world case studies. From deployment strategies and incident response to team scaling and technical decision-making under pressure, we cover the full spectrum of challenges that define modern software delivery.</p> <br/> <p>Join us for conversations that matter—where technical leaders share what they've learned, what they wish they'd known, and what really works when the stakes are high.</p> - How often does this podcast release new episodes?
This podcast updates daily.
- Where can I listen to this podcast?
This podcast is available on 4 platforms including Apple Podcasts, Spotify, and more. You can also use the RSS feed directly.
- Does this podcast accept guests?
No, this podcast does not typically feature guests.
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