Chats with Kent C. Dodds

Season 7 Finale: Become a Product Engineer Is Now Its Own Podcast 27.05.2026 5мин

Kent closes Chats with Kent season 7 and explains where the show lives now: subscribe to Become a Product Engineer for upcoming guest episodes, and check out Better with Kent for solo durable-skills videos and audio.

Primitives, agent UX, and Executor — product engineering with Rhys Sullivan 20.05.2026 41мин

Kent talks with **Rhys Sullivan** about building **Executor** and thinking like a product engineer in the AI-agent era: how to design the right **primitives**, why agent experience is becoming its own product surface, and how to keep quality high when shipping has never been easier. They cover **MCP**, code mode, approvals, workspace scoping, docs and APIs as user experience, and why slowing down can still be the right move even when agents make speed feel free.

Customer research, desire, and Sales Safari - product engineering with Alex Hillman 13.05.2026 1ч 11мин

Kent talks with **Alex Hillman** of **Stacking the Bricks** about customer research, product fit, and the kind of product engineering that starts before implementation: understanding who you are serving, what they already believe, and how to make people feel understood instead of sold to. They cover audience selection, observational research, helping in public, aligning your work with customer and business priorities, and why AI makes human judgment, trust, and synthesis more important rather than less.

Speed, prioritization, and maintainability — product engineering with Julius Marminge 06.05.2026 42мин

Kent talks with **Julius Marminge** about building **T3 Code** in the agent-orchestrator wave: why speed still matters, why fast shipping does **not** mean shipping every possible feature, and how product judgment becomes more important as parallel AI workflows make implementation cheap. They dig into **dogfooding**, core-product trade-offs, monetization pressure, customization vs defaults, and how to keep agent-built software maintainable over time.

Stakeholder empathy, UX, and durable product skills — product engineering with Jamon Holmgren 29.04.2026 56мин

Kent talks with **Jamon Holmgren** about product engineering from a long-running consultancy lens: how working with clients, stakeholders, and non-technical users sharpens your product sense, and why those skills matter even more as implementation gets cheaper with AI. They cover **React Native**, consulting, game design, stakeholder failures, feedback loops, and what software builders need to keep learning as the job shifts up the stack.

Watch users, fix systems, and design for humanity — product engineering with Don Norman 22.04.2026 1ч 16мин

Kent talks with **Don Norman** about why the core work of **product engineering** has not changed: watch people work, treat so-called **user error** as a design problem, and fix root causes instead of blaming symptoms. Don walks through a remarkable arc from electrical engineering and cognitive psychology to **Three Mile Island**, **Xerox PARC**, **Apple**, and the first use of **user experience** in a job title. They talk about timing and failed products, cross-functional product teams, what **AI** changes for software builders, and why Don now cares most about designing for **humanity**, not only usability.

Human factors, product debt, and industrial design - product engineering with Will King 15.04.2026 1ч 1мин

Kent talks with **Will King** about bringing an **industrial design** mindset into software: **human factors**, observing real users, and why good product engineering starts with caring enough to notice what frustrates people. They dig into **product debt**, support as a product superpower, pruning features without breaking trust, and how to use **AI agents** for exploration and critique instead of only faster implementation.

Vertical slices, Solo, and empathy — product engineering with Aaron D. Francis 08.04.2026 45мин

Kent talks with **Aaron D. Francis** about **product engineering**: why ticket-taking implementation is losing ground to agents, what a **vertical slice** from UI to database really means, and how Aaron’s desktop app **Solo** came from a painful problem—not a feature spec. They go deep on **scratch-your-own-itch** products, separating agents from dev stacks, **Jobs to Be Done**, why users bring you **solutions** instead of problems, and how empathy (and letting go of “technically correct”) changes what you ship.

Foundations, feedback, and agents — Dillon Mulroy on product at Cloudflare 01.04.2026 49мин

Kent talks with **Dillon Mulroy**, Principal Engineer at **Cloudflare**, about **Agent Experience** and dogfooding AI platform work: how Cloudflare closes the loop between builders and customers, why **observability** and support are product superpowers, and how to stay disciplined when agents tempt you to ship huge diffs overnight. They go deep on watching users work, **firehose** social feedback, partnering with support, and why "make pain painful" aligns incentives for better software.

The right thing before the thing right — product engineering with Wayne Allan 01.04.2026 50мин

Kent talks with **Wayne Allan** (engineer, PM, and consultant) about **product engineering** in practice: why "building the thing right" only matters after you're building the **right thing**, how to shorten feedback loops without six-month research theater, and why falling in love with the **problem** beats falling in love with your **solution**. They cover scrappy validation, talking to sales and support, the **Kano model**, *Crossing the Chasm*, and what changes when shipping gets faster than learning.

Product sense, restraint, and OpenCode with Dax Raad 01.04.2026 53мин

Kent talks with **Dax Raad** about building [OpenCode](https://opencode.ai) in a crowded coding-agent market: why dev tools are still a consumer-style product, how fast shipping can make good products feel worse, and what "product skill" actually looks like when agents remove friction from implementation. They dig into onboarding, progressive disclosure, listening across many user requests for the real pattern, and why slowing down can be the right move—even when competitors ship faster.

Become a Product Engineer - Introducing Season 7 01.04.2026 2мин

Kent kicks off **Chats with Kent** season 7: why **product engineering** is the durable skill as AI takes on more implementation, and how this season’s guests will help you move closer to product thinking—empathy, problem clarity, and building the right thing before making it right.

Wrapping up Season 6 of Chats with Kent 10.03.2025 1мин

Kent C. Dodds says goodbye for this season of the Chats with Kent podcast. It's all about the speakers at Epic Web Conf 2025.

Of Things Epic: The Principles Behind Great Decisions with Kent C. Dodds 09.03.2025 13мин

In this episode, Jason Lengstorf flips the script and interviews Kent C. Dodds about his upcoming talk at Epic Web Conf. Kent shares insights into the decision-making framework behind the Epic Stack and why strong principles matter more than specific tech choices. He explores the importance of making decisions that scale with complexity, avoiding analysis paralysis, and embracing simplicity in software architecture. Beyond the talk, Kent and Jason discuss the value of in-person conferences, how they impact careers, and why human connection remains irreplaceable in an AI-driven world.

Epic Image Optimization with Andre Landgraf 08.03.2025 12мин

Kent chats with Andre Landgraf about his journey as a web developer, his passion for community building, and his upcoming talk at Epic Web Conf on image optimization. Andre shares insights from organizing All Things Web, a Bay Area meetup that fosters discussions on modern web development. They also discuss his experiences at LinkedIn, his love for Remix, and the lessons learned from building a custom image optimization pipeline. Andre’s talk will dive into the trade-offs of using third-party services versus rolling your own solution, helping developers understand the fundamentals of image optimization and why it’s worth exploring.

Building, Learning, and Networking with Jason Lengstorf at Epic Web Conf 13.02.2025 18мин

Jason Lengstorf joins Kent to talk about his journey in web development, from his early days in agencies to his work at IBM, Gatsby, and Netlify, and now his latest project, CodeTV. He shares insights into the Web Dev Challenge, a fast-paced, high-energy developer show where participants race against the clock to build projects from scratch. Jason will be bringing the Web Dev Challenge to Epic Web Conf, along with an open hackathon for attendees to participate in. He also shares his thoughts on the importance of networking, building authentic relationships, and taking strategic risks in your career. With years of experience in developer relations, open-source contributions, and building community-driven projects, Jason offers practical advice for developers at any stage of their journey.

Remix, React, and the Web Platform with Ryan Florence 12.02.2025 22мин

Kent and Ryan Florence dive into the current state and future of Remix, the evolution of React Router, and the web platform’s growing role in modern web development. Ryan reflects on the changes in the ecosystem, the impact of AI, React Server Components, and the move towards standardized web APIs. He also shares insights on his shifting focus, the importance of in-person conferences, and how community-driven relationships have shaped his career. This conversation is packed with candid thoughts, deep technical insights, and a look at what’s next for web developers.

JavaScript: The Origin Story with Annie Sexton 11.02.2025 9мин

Kent sits down with Annie Sexton to explore the fascinating history of JavaScript. Annie, known for her engaging educational content, shares why understanding the origins of the language is essential to fully appreciating its present and future. She discusses how JavaScript evolved from a rushed project in the '90s into the dominant force shaping modern web development. Along the way, they touch on competing technologies, key moments in its adoption, and why preserving the history of software is just as important as innovating for the future. With her signature storytelling style, Annie promises an entertaining and insightful journey through JavaScript’s past.

Epic Federation: Scaling Web Infrastructure with Zackary Jackson 09.02.2025 16мин

Kent chats with Zackary Jackson, an infrastructure architect at ByteDance, about solving large-scale web infrastructure challenges. Zackary shares insights on building RSPack, a Rust-based bundler, and Module Federation, which enables seamless orchestration of distributed applications. They discuss how these technologies help companies like ByteDance scale efficiently, reducing build times, improving product velocity, and solving organizational friction. Zackary also teases exciting advancements in AI-driven development tools and shares why in-person connections at conferences are invaluable.

Epic Bets: Practical Tips for Betting on Yourself with Aaron Francis 08.02.2025 10мин

Kent chats with Aaron Francis about the power of resilience, adaptability, and taking calculated risks in your career. Aaron shares his journey from accounting to software development, navigating multiple career pivots, and ultimately betting on himself to start his own company. Drawing from his personal experience with job loss and reinvention, he offers practical advice on making yourself less fragile in an uncertain industry. This conversation is packed with insights on skill stacking, career resilience, and maintaining a work ethic that prioritizes both personal and professional fulfillment.