---
aliases: ["Podcast Season 4"]
Is A: Project
Belongs to: "[[25q3]]"
Advances: "[[responsibility-podcast]]"
Status: Open
Owner: "[[person-luca-rossi]]"
---
# Podcast Season 4

## Overview

Season 4 tackles the most urgent topic in the engineering world right now: how AI is changing software engineering. With 8 planned episodes, the season explores the practical impact of AI on engineering teams — from coding assistants and AI-augmented code review to the shifting role of senior engineers and the organizational implications of dramatically increased developer productivity. The theme was selected during the [[25q2-team-retreat]] strategy session and reflects the audience's most-requested topic in community polls.

Production is following the established workflows from [[procedure-podcast-recording]] and [[procedure-podcast-editing]], with [[person-sara-ricci]] on post-production and [[person-paco-furiani]] on guest logistics. Three guests were recruited during [[25q3-leaddev-london]], and the remaining slots are being filled through network outreach. The season is currently in production with recording underway.

## Goals

- Record and publish 8 episodes on AI and its impact on software engineering
- Secure guests who are actively building or deploying AI tools in engineering orgs (not just commentators)
- Continue video production for select episodes (target: 4 out of 8 with video, up from 3 in Season 3)
- Grow average episode downloads to 4,000 (up from Season 3's ~3,400)
- Generate sponsor revenue of at least $3,000/month from podcast placements

## Key decisions

- **Practitioners over pundits.** The AI space is full of hot takes and hype. This season deliberately focuses on guests who are hands-on — CTOs implementing AI coding tools, engineers who have integrated AI into their workflows, and founders building AI developer tools. The practical angle differentiates from the noise.
- **Expanded video to 4 episodes.** Season 3's video experiment showed promising YouTube numbers. Expanding to 4 video episodes (every other episode) increases YouTube content cadence without committing to full video production for every episode. The video episodes are selected based on guest visual engagement and topic appeal.
- **AI tools as sponsors.** The season theme creates a natural alignment with AI tool sponsors. Actively targeting AI coding assistants and developer productivity tools for the podcast sponsorship slots. The topical alignment between content and sponsor should improve click-through rates.

## Notes

- Guest recruitment has been the strongest of any season. The AI topic is so timely that response rates on outreach are approximately 45% — nearly double Season 3. The challenge is now selecting the best guests rather than finding enough willing guests.
- The first two recorded episodes are highly engaging. The opening episode, an interview with a CTO who replaced their entire QA team with AI-augmented testing, generated strong early reactions from the team during review. This kind of provocative-but-substantive content is what the season needs.
- [[person-david-kim]] is returning as a guest for an episode on building AI developer tools — his perspective as both a builder and user of these tools bridges the practitioner-founder divide nicely.
- Sponsor interest for the AI-themed season is strong. Two AI tool companies have committed to the full season (all 8 episodes), which secures the $3,000/month target. The thematic alignment between content and sponsor has made the pitch very natural.
- The biggest production challenge is that AI topics evolve extremely fast. Episodes recorded in August may feel slightly dated by the time they air in October. Mitigating this by focusing conversations on principles and organizational dynamics rather than specific tool features.
- This season, combined with the community discussions in [[25q3-community-launch]], is positioning Refactoring as a thought leader on AI's impact on engineering teams — a valuable positioning for both audience growth and sponsor value.
