Joe’s Favourite Podcasts (2023 Edition)

Whelp, it’s been 5 years since I last posted my favourite podcasts in 2018. Time to update it.

It’s a much bigger list the list from 2018, partly related to a keen interest in history I picked up in recent years, plus my original interest in science, statistics, psychology and software. The following list is roughly arranged in the order that I will listen to the topics when I have a big backlog (as sometimes happens). There’s been a few times when I’ve though about dropping some of the podcasts lower in the list, but they all have something that keeps me interested and learning something new.

The podcasts are…

The Skeptics’ Guide to the Universe

Topics: Science, Scepticism

Website: https://www.theskepticsguide.org/

Still my longest lived podcast. I’ve been listening to this for over 15 years now. I initially found the SGU logical fallacies page, and graduated to the full podcast a year later. Still one of my favourites. An excellent resource on new science, as well as the use of critical thinking.

In the last 5 years they’ve also published a couple of books, both highly recommened.

Dan Carlin’s Hardcore History

Topics: History

Website: https://www.dancarlin.com/hardcore-history-series/

This was recommended to my by my brother. The first time I looked at it, I was shocked to see the lenght of each episide (not to mention each series of episodes). However, after listening to the first episode for 5 minutes I was hooked. Dan Carlin’s narrative style is incrediby engaging and captivating. The stories he tells are full of drama and lessons still relavant today.

Dan rarely posts new episodes, but when he does, it goes straight to the top of my playlist

Tactics for Tech Leadership

Topics: Leading Teams, Culture, Communication

Website: https://open.spotify.com/show/0cHJltpFEPQYYgJPB9TDTX

My newest podcast subscription, but very quickly my faviourite. It helps that I know Andy very well, and we regularly discuss many of the topics in this podcast. Everything dicussed is incredibly relevant to me in my current role (an engineering manager), so there’s things I can use and apply almost immediately. Having said that, many of the topics touch upon much wider topics of effective communication, which is relevant to every who ever tries to communicate with other people.

Oddly Influenced

Topics: Software Development

Website: https://podcast.oddly-influenced.dev/

A podcast about how people have applied ideas from outside software to software.

Host Brian Marick (one of the signatories to the Agile Manifesto) has fasinating discussions about some interesting concepts and research, as applied to the practice of software development. A relatively new podcast, but very quickly has become one of my favourites.

Troubleshooting Agile

Topics: Leading teams, Communication, Software development, Agile

Website: https://soundcloud.com/troubleshootingagile

Jeff and Squirrel, two CTOs of a company I previously worked at, combine to from mega-agile-CTO in a Voltron style. Troubleshooting Agile is a problem-solving session for agile teams. Jeff and Squirrel look at common problems agile teams face and provide practical, immediately useful advice for getting back on track.

Risky Biz + Risky Biz News

Topics: Cybersecurity news and current events

Website: https://risky.biz/

Cybersecurity journalist Patrick Gray, along with Adam Boileau (a.k.a. Metlstorm), discuss the latest ransomware, break ins, and persistent threats plaguing the world of computer networks. Informative and very funny.

More or Less: Behind the Stats

Topics: Statistics, General News

Website: https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p02nrss1/episodes/downloads

OK, I listen to a show about statistics. It’s actually really good! Tim Harford and his team make it a really engaging topic as they rip apart inaccurate numbers reported in the news.

Bad Voltage

Topics: Technology, Open Source, Politics

Website: https://www.badvoltage.org/

Jono, Stuart and Jeremy talk about whatever interests them, which often involves technology, open source, Linux, politics, music or whatever else is on their mind. This podcast is the spiritual successor to LUG Radio, which I listened to religiously until it ended(ish) around 2008 (15 years ago!)

You Are Not So Smart

Topics: Psychology, Neuroscience

Website: https://youarenotsosmart.com/podcast/

Dave McRaney is awesome as he explores all the various quirks of our brain and psychology. I only started listening to this 6 months ago, and I had to spend the next 4 weeks going over the full back catalog.

Science Vs

Topics: Science!

Website: https://gimletmedia.com/shows/science-vs

Host Wendy Zuckerman and the team takes on fads, trends, and the opinionated mob to find out what’s fact, what’s not, and what’s somewhere in between.

Always funny, accurate and extremely well researched. Definitely worth a listen.

Hidden Brain

Topics: Psychology, Neuroscience

Website: https://hiddenbrain.org/

Host Shankar Vedantam explores the unconscious patterns that drive human behavior and questions that lie at the heart of our complex and changing world.

In many ways, Hidden Brain covers similar topics to You Are Not So Smart, but I find that there is enough of a different focus to be very interesting.

The Infinite Monkey Cage

Topics: Science, Brian Cox’s Hair

Website: https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b00snr0w/episodes/downloads

Brian Cox and Robin Ince host a science/comedy podcast that explores important questions such as “are strawberries alive?”.

Late Night Linux

Topics: Linux

Website: https://latenightlinux.com/

The podcast takes a look at what’s happening with Linux and the wider tech industry. Every week, producer @JoeRess sysadmin @felimwhiteley, technical writer @degville and engineering manager Will discuss the latest news and releases, and the broader issues and trends in the world of free and open source software. Expect drinking, swearing, strong opinions, and Félim being trolled about AI and the cloud.

I initially picked this up as a recommendation from Stuart Langridge on the Bad Voltage podcast, but it’s been a staple ever since.

Freakonomics Radio

Topics: Economics, psychology, general interest

Website: https://freakonomics.com/podcasts/

Freakonomics co-author Stephen J. Dubner uncovers the hidden side of everything. Why is it safer to fly in an airplane than drive a car? How do we decide whom to marry? Why is the media so full of bad news? Also: things you never knew you wanted to know about wolves, bananas, pollution, search engines, and the quirks of human behavior.

The History of England

Topics: History, England

Website: https://thehistoryofengland.co.uk/podcasts/

Picking up from History of Rome podcast, where the Roman legions pack up an leave, host David Crowther manages to share a very detailed, well researched and amusing tale of the goings on of the people inhabiting what is now England. As I write this in 2023, David is currently describing the events of the English civil war. It’s taken 385 episodes to get this far, and it’s still a fascinating story.

Data Stories

Topics: Data VIsualisation

Website: https://datastori.es/

Data visualisation is actually a pretty difficult topic to cover in an audio only podcast, but the team does a pretty decent job. The publishing frequency has dropped right off lately, but there’s still an episode appearing in my feed every now and then.

Feeling Good

Topics: Psychology, cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT), communication.

Website: https://feelinggood.com/category/podcast/

This podcast was initially recommended to my by Jeffrey Fredrick, on the basis of the 5 secrets of effective communication. Dr David Burns goes into a lot more detail than that. Some of the most interesting episodes are where Dr Burns records live therapy sessions, and demonstrates the effectiveness of his CBT/TEAM model in treating depression, anxiety, and other psychological problems.

If you’re interested, the 5 secrets is covered in detail from episode 66.

Screaming in the Cloud

Topics: Cloud computing

Website: https://www.lastweekinaws.com/podcast/screaming-in-the-cloud/

Every week, cloud economist and internet troll Corey Quinn interviews domain experts in the world of Cloud Computing to discuss AWS, GCP, Azure, Oracle Cloud, and how businesses are coming to think about the Cloud.

Informative and amusing.

Software Engineering Radio

Topics: Software Engineering

Website: https://www.se-radio.net/

Software Engineering Radio is a podcast targeted at the professional software developer. It features interviews with experts from the software engineering world about the full range of topics that matter to professional developers.

The Idealcast

Topics: Software engineering, teams, technology

Website: https://itrevolution.com/podcast/

I love the books by Gene Kim (The Pheonix Project, The Unicorn Project, and others), so I was excided to see that he had a podcast. Quoting from the website:

Multiple award-winning CTO, researcher, and bestselling author, Gene Kim hosts technology and business leaders to explore the dangerous, shifting digital landscape. Gain insights and solutions to help your enterprise thrive in an evolving business world.

The Knowledge Project

Topics: Psychology, general interest

Website: https://fs.blog/knowledge-project-podcast/

Hosted by Shane Parrish (a former spook turned wall street advisor), The Knowledge Project Podcast uncovers the best of what other people have already figured out so you can use their insights in your life.

I’m a bit ambivalent on this podcast. Some of the episodes are very interesting, but I also get a lot of episodes where Shane interviews some fortune 100 CEO to talk about why they were so successful (which usually doesn’t help with actionable insights, rather a lot of just so stories).

HTTP 203

Topics: Web technologies, Javascript

Website: https://developers.google.com/web/shows/http203/podcast/

The name of the podcast refers to the HTTP response indicating “Non-Authoritative Information”, which is pretty apt. It’s fun banter between Jake and Surma, two members of the Google Chrome development team.

Unfortunately, this podcast appears to have become defunct. I understand that both of the hosts have left Google, so we may not have another episode.

The Product Experience

Topics: Software Development, Product Management

Website: https://www.mindtheproduct.com/the-product-experience/

Hosts Lily and Randy inverview many of the luminaries in product management as it relates to software. Even if you don’t actually work as a product manager, it’s a really helpful perspective to get your head around for anyone who actually builds products.

The History of Rome

Topics: History, Roman Empire

Website: https://thehistoryofrome.typepad.com/

Unfortunately, there have been no new episodes since 2012, but I’m leaving this here as a really good resource to get a overview of all the various events that happened in the rise and fall of the Roman Empire. This podcast covers the period from the founding of Rome to the fall of the western empire. Even though the Byzantean Empire continues in the east for another 1000 years, it’s a pretty thorough and fascinating coverage of the very complex topic.