Speaking

I love telling a story, whether about code or about life. I've spoken at conferences all over the world, from Barcelona to Paris to Boston and (usually virtually) to meetups from Guadalajara to Stockholm to Sydney.

As of 2025, I’ve cut waaaay down on my traveling and speaking, but there’s always a chance ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ that I can join you. Talk to me and let’s see how it goes!

Tell me about your event
“I saw your talk at RailsConf today, and I was very impressed. You are the most gifted, engaging speaker I have heard so far at this year’s conference. Thank you for sharing your knowledge and experiences! - ”
— Anthony C.
crankset-transparent.png
LFB19 DAY 1_0577.jpg

Past Speaking Engagements

2020

  • Birmingham on Rails, Birmingham, AL

2019

2018

2017

2016

2015

2014

2013

Technical Talks

https://www.hafentalks.de Dieses Video zeigt den Talk "Go Ahead, Make a Mess", den Sandi Metz am 11. Juli 2017 in der Reihe "hafentalks" im Medienhafen Düsseldorf gehalten hat. Die amerikanische Ruby-Entwicklerin und Autorin erklärt, wie Object-Oriented Design dabei helfen kann, gute Software mit hoher Code-Qualität zu entwickeln.

Go Ahead, Make a Mess

Software is always a mess, but the principles of object-oriented design allow you to manage your messes. 

OOD understands messes; it predicts their courses and foresees their outcomes. This talk shows you how to use OOD to create the best kinds of messes, those that let you get software out the door today without regretting your actions tomorrow.

Nothing is Something 

An exploration of the deep meaning of nothing, and an explanation of how to leverage it to find hidden concepts in OO.



By, Sandi Metz Our code is full of hidden assumptions, things that seem like nothing, secrets that we did not name and thus cannot see. These secrets represent missing concepts and this talk shows you how to expose those concepts with code that is easy to understand, change and extend.

Polly Want A Message

An explanation of what object-oriented programming wants, with straightforward examples to indoctrinate you into object-oriented thinking.

You’ll leave raring to write loosely-coupled, message-centric, small-object object-oriented code that isolates conditionals and leans on polymorphism. Once you understand object-oriented programming's natural affordances, everything becomes easy.

Sandi Metz explains what object-oriented programming wants, using straightforward examples to indoctrinate you into object-oriented thinking. You'll be raring to write loosely-coupled, message-centric, small-object object-oriented code that isolates conditionals and leans on polymorphism. Once you understand object-oriented programming's natural affordances, everything becomes easy.

all the little things 

Removing `if` statements from object-oriented code: The Gilded Rose Kata.

 

If you enjoyed this highlight and want to see more, you can watch the full video here. 

Uploaded by Sandi Metz on 2014-08-22.

Get a Whiff of This 

This talk shows how to take a pile of perplexing code, identify the "smells", and surgically apply the curative refactorings.

Get a Whiff of This by Sandi Metz Most code is a mess. Most new requirements change existing code. Ergo, much our work involves altering imperfect code. That's the bad news. The good news is that every big mess consists of many small ones.

Magic Tricks of Testing 

Make yourself happy; delete some tests!

 

If you enjoyed this highlight and want to see more, you can watch the full video here.

Uploaded by Sandi Metz on 2014-08-22.

Keynotes

Lucky You

Keynote: Lucky You by Sandi Metz #confreaks #rubyconf2019 #rubyconf

You’re Insufficiently Persuasive

How to convince others to behave the way you want them to behave while making your team (and the world) a better place.

Keynote - You're Insufficiently Persuasive by Sandi Metz

Grit

The writing of POODR, a heinous bike ride, and the research on how people use Grit to get things done.

 

If you enjoyed this highlight and want to see more, you can watch the full video here.

Practical Agile Development: A Challenge From the Trenches

Agile hasn't failed us, but we might be failing Agile. It's time to take an honest look at the current state of software development, and get serious about solutions.

(Video improves, hang in there!)

We want to do our best work, and yet often cannot manage to do so. Circumstances conspire to impede progress, impair communications, and prevent success. Organizations want to know how much software will cost, and when it will be delivered. Developers want to be proud their work, and they want it to have meaning. However, my view from the trenches indicates that many times these desires are not fulfilled. I teach classes in Object-Oriented Design, but the most common question I receive is not technical. Students want advice about how to do good work in organizations which profess to be Agile but seem to actively resist their efforts. Bright, committed, and highly motivated programmers feel prevented from acting in the best interests of their organizations. In the short-term they despair, and in the long, they depart. Agile hasn't failed them, but we might be failing Agile. It's time to take an honest look at the problem and get practical about solutions.

Rules 

Five 'little' rules for writing object-oriented code.

 

If you enjoyed this highlight and want to see more, you can watch the full video here. 

Uploaded by Sandi Metz on 2014-08-22.

Madame Sandi Tells Your Future

The history of printing as a predictor of your future. 

 

If you enjoyed this highlight and want to see more, you can watch the full video here. 

 
Uploaded by Sandi Metz on 2014-08-22.

Authority, Conformity, Community

This talk delves into famous (and frankly, horrifying) social science research for hints about how to intentionally create positive, collaborative, and effective teams.

 
Help us caption & translate this video! http://amara.org/v/HUGD/