Michael Toppa

Michael Toppa

@mtoppa.bsky.social

Senior Software Engineer, Planning Center www.toppa.com

44 followers116 following21 posts

Michael Toppa
@mtoppa.bsky.social

The talk at #Rubyconf that made the biggest impression on me was Alicia Rojas' about making the transition from humans reviewing AI written code, to AI also being responsible for all code review. It’s an excellent and substantial talk, not hype. toppa.com/2026/pairing... @rubycentral.org

toppa.comPairing with AI #5: making AI coding output trustworthy by default | Nothing But WordsThe talk at RubyConf that made the biggest impression on me was Alicia Rojas’ about making the transition from humans reviewing AI written code, to AI also being responsible for all code review (a…
Michael Toppa
@mtoppa.bsky.social

Video of my RubyConf talk is live! "AI-assisted coding: practical lessons from small startups to legacy codebases" To prepare the talk, I interviewed several people working with AI in various kinds of organizations to get their perspectives. toppa.com/2026/pairing...

toppa.comPairing with AI #4: my RubyConf talk | Nothing But WordsVideo from my RubyConf talk on AI assisted coding is live! You can also see the slides. My inspiration for the talk was all the advice out there saying you really have to X, Y, or Z with AI coding.
Michael Toppa
@mtoppa.bsky.social

I don't have a new post this week on coding with AI, but I do have updates on my previous posts. Things move fast so I'm keeping them up to date. More in the 🧵(1/4)

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Michael Toppa
@mtoppa.bsky.social

I don't have a new post this week on coding with AI, but I do have updates on my previous posts. Things move fast so I'm keeping them up to date. More in the 🧵(1/4)

Michael Toppa
@mtoppa.bsky.social

I've updated my post on planning with AI, and my write-plan and implement-plan skills. If you missed this one before, it's the one most worth your time: toppa.com/2026/pairing... (2/4)

toppa.comPairing with AI #3: iterative planning (or, no plan survives first contact with the code) | Nothing But WordsThe problem with “1 shot” AI coding implementation is that, in my experience no amount of up front planning and research is going to catch all the potential problems. This post describes how to instea...
Michael Toppa
@mtoppa.bsky.social

My 3rd post on pairing with AI: "Iterative planning (or, no plan survives first contact with the code)" In my experience no amount of up-front planning can catch all the potential problems in an implementation plan. Here's how to take an iterative approach instead. toppa.com/2026/pairing...

toppa.comPairing with AI #3: iterative planning (or, no plan survives first contact with the code) | Nothing But WordsThe problem with “1 shot” AI coding implementation is that, in my experience no amount of up front planning and research is going to catch all the potential problems. This post describes how to instea...
Michael Toppa
@mtoppa.bsky.social

My 2nd post on pairing with AI: fixing Opus 5’s unintelligible output. I created an "output style" to fix it, using Simplified Technical English. STE was created in the 1980s to standardize the language used in airplane repair manuals. Turns out it's great for AI too. toppa.com/2026/pairing...

toppa.comPairing with AI #2: fixing Opus 5’s unintelligible output | Nothing But WordsThis is the second post in a series on coding with AI. It’s inspired by the talk I gave at RubyConf in July (video should be available soon). The first post was Pairing with AI #1: brainstorming.
Michael Toppa
@mtoppa.bsky.social

This is a side project I've been working on, and it's now ready to share. I started a separate Bluesky account for it. If you play the "Magic: The Gathering" Commander format, and you're frustrated by power creep in recent years, check it out! #mtg

Vulcan Highlander@vulcanhighlander.bsky.social

Vulcan Highlander is Commander plus one rule: every card costs 0 to 5 points, and a deck may spend at most 50 points. If you and your play group are frustrated by power creep, it gives you an even-handed framework to return to less over-powered game play. Learn more at vulcanhighlander.com

vulcanhighlander.comVulcan HighlanderCommander should be an evergreen format, not a rotating one (a 2016 deck should be playable against a 2026 deck). If you and your play group are frustrated by power creep, Vulcan Highlander gives you an even-handed framework to return to less over-powered game play.
Michael Toppa
@mtoppa.bsky.social

In my new post "Pairing with AI #1: brainstorming" I compare Matt Pocock's "grilling" skill to Superpowers' "brainstorming." One is an adversarial interviewer and the other is a friendly collaborator, so they are each useful for different situations. toppa.com/2026/pairing...

toppa.comPairing with AI #1: brainstorming | Nothing But WordsThis is the first post in a series on coding with AI. It’s inspired by the talk I gave at RubyConf last week: AI-assisted coding: practical lessons from small startups to legacy codebases.
Michael Toppa
@mtoppa.bsky.social

An 8 years too late blog post: I drafted a "RailsConf 2018 highlights" post in 2018, and I've very belatedly realized I never published it 🤦‍♂️ I'm pleasantly surprised how relevant many of the talks still are toppa.com/2026/railsco...

toppa.comRailsConf 2018 highlights | Nothing But WordsI drafted this post after RailsConf in 2018, and very belatedly realized I never published it. So I’m finally getting around to it 😉. Reviewing it now, 8 years later, I’m pleasantly surprised at how…
Michael Toppa
@mtoppa.bsky.social

From the archives (July 2012) - Japanese Baseball on the 4th of July "When you combine Japanese baseball fans' fanaticism with their obsessions over convenience, cleanliness, and group activities involving alcohol, you get a unique experience." toppa.com/2018/japanes...

toppa.comJapanese Baseball on the 4th of July | Nothing But WordsAs an American attending a Japanese major league baseball game for the first time, it turned out that the most fun part wasn’t watching the game, it was enjoying the highly choreographed…
Michael Toppa
@mtoppa.bsky.social

If you use Rspec and you've struggled to figure out the best way to avoid a tangled mess of `let` calls in your specs (like I have) then my latest post is for you: "RSpec: 5 rules for using let effectively" toppa.com/2026/rspec-5... #ruby

toppa.comRSpec: 5 rules for using let effectively | Nothing But WordsI’ve been using Rspec since 2012 and in all this time I’ve never had a really clear picture of how to best use . I don’t have this issue with any other aspect of Rspec. Probably our most common…
Michael Toppa
@mtoppa.bsky.social

RubyConf is in 2 weeks! For my presentation on practical tips for AI-assisted coding, I've interviewed half a dozen people working with AI in a variety of contexts (start-ups, legacy codebases, etc) so I can share advice from several perspectives. I've learned a lot & I'm looking forward to sharing!

Ruby Central@rubycentral.org

More Day 1 talks that are not to be missed 👀 AI. Overengineering. Streaming. Las Vegas. This is RubyConf 🎉 buff.ly/N0Ls0lO

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