And suddenly, 300 podcast episodes later

Just 2100 days ago, together with Tobias Zimmergren, we published our very first podcast episode for the Ctrl+Alt+Azure show. Last week, we recorded the 300th episode. If you're keeping track, that adds up to about 5 years and 9 months of weekly episodes, starting from October 2019.

I've known Tobi for quite some years before we started publishing our show. We kept in touch, and somewhere around 2017..2018 we started chatting and doing virtual coffee calls more frequently. I was immensely busy with my previous company back then, my youngest son was born in 2017, and we shared a lot in common in life back then - like today.

We had very ad hoc weekly or so calls, I think it was over Skype back then. Work, family life, tech challenges, "have you tried this service.." kind of stuff. Nothing super secret, but also super free reflections when "nobody's judging you." At one point, I think Tobi casually mentioned, "you know what - we could record these discussions and just put them out." Fast forward a few months, and we started producing the show.

Topics and notes

We've never really struggled with coming up with episode topics or figuring out the themes. After a few years, we found an easy rhythm.

Notes for the shows used to be in OneNote, but after the third time OneNote destroyed our shared notebook, we decided it was time to look for something different. Many people whom I approached recommended Loop. At the time - and I guess still? - It won't support external guests. So that wasn't an option. And now we're back to a shared Word document.

Each episode is 1-3 pages of notes, and the current document is about 100 pages (we didn't bother migrating the old notes from the broken OneNotes). We don't type up what we're specifically going to say - that would be dull, boring, and would probably sound very AI-esque. Instead, we have the flow of the episode - main themes, and "how to move the episode forward." Usually, we agree on who will lead the discussion forward. If I've worked on something recently, it would be me, and the other way around as well.

Recording and logistics

All episodes are done in one go. Hit record, and let's go. Initially, we used Zoom for recording. Then, we moved on to Microsoft Teams once it matured enough for proper audio quality. A few months ago, we migrated back to Zoom. Teams messed up 2 or 3 of our episodes, which we then had to re-do completely. It isn't very reassuring - and usually it's the cloud recording that breaks up. As you cannot have local audio files, you also cannot salvage the recording.

We used to have an excellent buffer of episodes - sometimes up to 7 or 8 episodes. It's very relaxing when you know you're set for the next two months. These days, it's a little tighter - typically, we work with a buffer of two to three weeks. This year, I've been swamped - think "working 7 days a week because stuff happened" - and a few of our shows were recording 1 hour before going live.

We've always aimed to push out a new episode on Wednesday at 3:00 CET. Not once have we missed this schedule, for which I am immensely grateful, and a little bit relieved. I'm not sure if anyone would notice, but I would - and that's enough to make us push a bit harder to make it happen.

For logistics, I'd love to say we have an amazing Kanban board with AI agents taking care of everything. In reality, it's a never-ending group chat, and stuff we put in the calendar. "Hey, you good for recording Tuesday and Thursday next week?" Our weeks are so different, and mixed, that we've given up on having a fixed recording slot.

Since we live in different countries, with a one-hour time difference, it's relatively easy to figure out the slots for the next few weeks. Sometimes, it's tough - whoops, the kids are sick, I have to watch after them. Or one of us has a sore throat and fever. "Can you record? No? Okay, let's hope you'll recover in the next 36 hours. Then, no stress!" 😄 I had COVID a few times during the pandemic and just had to mute my mic when Tobi (or a guest) was talking and cough violently before piping up again.

The lesson here for me has been to stress less and go with the flow.

What next?

Well, with 300 episodes in our belt now, I think we've gotten the hang of it. I'd love to have more time to visit Tobi and record in person more often. Somehow, life has been so hectic that taking a 90-minute flight to each other has proven to be near impossible.

We've recently explored topics beyond Microsoft Azure, including other equally interesting and helpful subjects. This is not to say we don't focus on Azure, just that after a few hundred episodes, we figured "most stuff about Azure has been said once or twice by now."

The plan is to continue, and allow time for more guests in the future. And also to keep the core promise of the show intact: no bullshit, provide value, keep it interesting, and short enough to listen to when you're driving to the grocery store.

Thanks to everyone who has been part of our journey over the past six years. And if you haven't heard us before, give our show a listen: Ctrl+Alt+Azure.