Hardware Podcasts

RFDs: The Backbone of Oxide

Oxide and Friends · 30 Aug 2024 · 1h 42m · Episode 23

What this episode covers

Bryan Cantrill, Adam Leventhal, Robert Mustacchi, Ben Leonard, David Crespo, and Augustus Mayo of Oxide Computer Company discuss the evolution of their Requests for Discussion (RFD) system, which serves as the backbone for technical and cultural decision-making. They trace the process from its origins in Sun's PSARC and Joyent's early experiments to Oxide's custom-built RFD site and API, highlighting the shift from Markdown to AsciiDoc and the importance of full-text search and fine-grained permissions. The group explains how this open-sourced system facilitates deep technical documentation, public transparency, and onboarding, while managing the challenges of scaling a writing-intensive engineering culture.

Most relevant to

companies scaling up

Topics

Mentioned

Companies
Oxide Computer Company, Sun, Joyent
Products
Gimlet, Cosmo
Tools
AsciiDoc, GitHub
Also
RFD 1, RFC 3

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The summary, chapters and topics are generated from the episode’s audio by this directory, not written by Oxide and Friends. The episode itself belongs to its publisher.