Mastodawn

Maintainable Rails is getting some new material soon.

RailsConf prep stirred up a bunch of ideas worth sharing.

Join anytime: https://maintainablerails.com/

Maintainable Rails Email Course

What To Expect Guidance on tangible approaches to software challenges Tips on maintaining a stable, secure, and healthy Rails app Advice on getting past problems associated with technical debt and legacy code Real-world practice (sometimes even a little bit of homework!) No sales pitches- just good ol’ fashioned knowledge-sharing

Robby Russell Jun 10

When you HTTParty, you must party hard!

Robby Russell Jun 9

Looking for some music to work to? Give my band's new album a listen this week.

https://open.spotify.com/album/0LlFTRvvq22DngkRAchWfj?si=Su81W6MVRyWpN5RWa9My7Q

Ghost in the Mountain

The Mighty Missoula · Album · 2025 · 13 songs

Spotify

Robby Russell Jun 4

After 11½ years, I’m stepping away from the board of Path Home as the fiscal year wraps up. It’s been one of the most meaningful chapters of my life.

I wrote a few words about it…

https://www.linkedin.com/posts/robbyrussell_path-home-activity-7336060752102924288-mGPA?utm_source=social_share_send&utm_medium=member_desktop_web&rcm=ACoAAABB8HsBDZTAyLFdlrhElgJ3dMd_RxFoRN0

Path Home | Robby Russell

After 11 and a half years, my time serving on the board of Path Home will be coming to a close as the fiscal year wraps up. It’s been one of the most humbling and fruitful experiences of my life. As a board member, I’ve had the privilege of watching the real work unfold. The kind that doesn’t always make headlines but changes lives. The staff at Path Home are relentless in the best way. Creative. Grounded. Scrappy. Focused. They don’t wait for perfect conditions to start building. They just begin. Then they make it work. Brandi Tuck (Executive Director) and Ron Schubert (COO) are always a few steps ahead. Watching them lead has been a masterclass in doing the work, staying kind, and never losing sight of the mission. Years before I joined the board, Path Home was one of the organizations our team at Planet Argon chose to sponsor. A few years later, I was invited to join the board. Since then, we’ve proudly continued as an annual sponsor. When I joined, I didn’t know how long my tenure would be, but after a few years, I thought that ten years might be a nice number to aim for. I feel proud to have met that—even if it pales in comparison to some incredible board members who’ve been at it much longer. In that time, I’ve met local leaders, stood in newly opened shelters, and walked through buildings we weren’t sure we could afford. I’ve seen how hard it is to navigate local systems… and how many orgs are doing it anyway with shoestring budgets and stubborn optimism (sorry, I mean “an abundance mindset!”). And selfishly… it’s been a joy to collaborate with people I might not have otherwise met. Retired math teachers. Dieticians. Builders. People from social services and beyond, all working toward the same goal. Back then, Path Home was just becoming a $1M per year nonprofit. Last year… closer to $7M. That growth reflects the increased support the team is providing to families with children experiencing homelessness. More services. More stability. More hope. I’ve served as Secretary, Vice Chair, and on the Executive and Governance Committees. I shared my perspective as a small business owner. I asked a lot of (dumb) questions. And I tried my best to keep up with a team that moves fast and cares deeply. Now, I’m taking a short break from active board membership. I’ll still be cheering, giving, and staying close. And when the time is right, I’ll find other ways to stay involved in Portland’s nonprofit community. If you’re looking for a place to support, consider giving to Path Home. I’ll continue to do so. Their work matters. https://www.path-home.org To everyone at Path Home… thank you. It’s been an honor.

Robby Russell May 23

Who would you love to hear me talk shop with on @maintainable

Robby Russell May 22

There’s this weird phase of preparing a talk where you question everything.

Why did I pitch this?
Is there a point?
Should I flee the country?

And then, maybe 48 hours later, you’re running through it out loud, making small flow tweaks, and thinking… huh. Maybe this is a talk after all.

I hesitate to call it the “messy middle.”
It feels more like the messy first 30%…
the steep, awkward part of the hike where your legs are still remembering how to move uphill.

Robby Russell May 21

When? 2007
Where? rubyonrails-core
What? Debating whether semicolons belonged in our routes.

https://discuss.rubyonrails.org/t/i-miss-the-semicolon/16441

I Miss the Semicolon

The thing about the semicolon is how nicely it played with to_param'd resource identifiers. Take this: map.resources :users And a to_param on User: class User < ActiveRecord::Base alias_attribute :to_param, :name end And a find_by_name in our UsersController. Now we get /users/chris and /users/chris/edit as expected. Works great. But what about our 'Popular Members' page? /users/popular? Major namespace clash, now and in the future (when we add new features). This is a shame ...

Ruby on Rails Discussions

Robby Russell Apr 15

💬 I'm looking for small open source tools that quietly make your day better.

The kind of project maintained by one or two people, maybe not super flashy, but indispensable.

(Not fishing for Oh My Zsh praise...I'm just hoping to connect with more of those maintainers.)

Drop your favorites?

Robby Russell Apr 10

Rails has changed a lot over the years. So have we.

This July, I'll be speaking at the final RailsConf, sharing a talk that looks back at the features we embraced, deprecated, debated, and occasionally welcomed back like nothing ever happened.

It's called "The Rails Features We Loved, Lost, and Laughed At."

Also—this'll be my first time in Philly, so yes, I'll be getting some runs in. For obvious reasons. 👟🥊

Will you be there? https://railsconf.org/schedule/

Schedule

RailsConf 2025 is the world’s largest gathering of Rails developers, brought together to further discussion and learning about building, managing, and testing Rails applications. With a specific focus on Rails, conference topics can range from new users to administration to advanced techniques.

RailsConf 2025 Philadelphia, PA July 8 - July 10

Show thread

Robby Russell Apr 9

I'm collecting real questions like these.

Things that go beyond blog posts.
Things we only learn by doing — or by asking.

What would you want to know?