Emily Bache on software quality, technical excellence, and driving change
Distributed.29 Touko 2025

Emily Bache on software quality, technical excellence, and driving change

In this episode of Distributed, host Jack Hannah speaks with Emily Bache, a technical coach and the creator of Samman Coaching, about her work helping teams improve their development practices.


Emily shares her experiences with test-driven development and refactoring, and explains how these practices can transform both code quality and team dynamics.


Highlights:

  • The impact of test-driven development on software quality
  • How to introduce new practices in a resistant environment
  • Why collaborative coding, like ensemble programming, accelerates team growth
  • The role of leadership in creating a culture of continuous learning and quality


In this episode, we cover:

(00:00) – Kicking things off with Emily Bache

(01:25) – First experience with extreme programming in 2000

(02:28) – Struggling to get a new team on board with XP

(04:03) – Why TDD transformed Emily’s coding approach

(05:22) – Becoming a full-time technical coach and YouTuber

(06:48) – Defining what a technical coach actually does

(07:21) – Inside a high-performing architecture team’s microservices shift

(09:04) – Can siloed experts still outperform collaborative teams?

(14:42) – Simple tactics to nudge your team toward better practices

(20:57) – Ensemble programming explained: many minds, one keyboard

(24:45) – Why refactoring skills matter in the age of AI assistants


References

Approval Tests and the weekly Approval Tests Ensemble

ChatGPT & Copilot are NOT Refactoring Tools


Where to connect further:

Connect with Emily Bache on LinkedIn and Samman Technical Coaching Society

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Want to hear more? Check out distributed.fm

Connect with Jack Hannah

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