We just released a somewhat special episode of Kodsnack, the developer podcast I do with two friends. In the episode, I chat with Cenny Davidsson about Swift, functional programming and a whole lot more. There are many sides to the episode that I enjoy. Starting roughly at details and working my way up:
- We recorded face to face, using the amazingly handy Zoom h2n microphone. This was the first face to face recording I handled myself, and it did not hurt to do it at home, reclining in my own comfortable armchair.
- I was prepared. Doing more preparation for podcast episodes is actually a long-term project of mine. This time I had not only random thoughts but also a pretty good list of topics, questions and ideas. Even better …
- … I did not look at that outline even once after we started talking. No plan survives contact with reality, but making plans are a great way to sort stuff through and actually remember things a bit better. Even without looking, I recalled and brought up several of my thoughts, and many more got touched on without me even needing to ask.
- As the above might indicate, the chat flowed really well. Both during the chat and when I think or listen back to it, it feels like we did our take of an episode of The talk show with John Gruber. Yes, including episode length.
As I was listening, doing minimal editing and creating show notes, I also noted times for subject changes. My thought was that we might release a whole series of episodes cut in strategic places. There turned out to be a good number of suitable transitions, so we could easily have released four episodes. But in the end, we skipped all that fancy splitting, figuring people who like it will enjoy having it all at once. Those who do not enjoy it would certainly not be happier to get it all spread out.
If you like code and listen to Swedish, I would love to know what you think of it. The episode is two hours and 45 minutes, and if you want more there is also half an hour of bonus material.
To me, this feels like a clear step up in podcasting. I have done something new, am happy with the result and excited to see if anyone else will also like it. And I most definitely look forward to taking another step.