https://pyvideo.org/2026-03-22T00:00:00+00:002026-03-22T00:00:00+00:002026-03-22T00:00:00+00:00Laura Mengtag:pyvideo.org,2026-03-22:/pycascades-2026/when-the-baby-app-crashed-coding-for-chaos-and-parenthood.html

<h3>Description</h3><p>As a first-time parent and a developer, I relied on an app to log sleep and feedings. If I was going to lose sleep, at least I’d have data. But one night, the app crashed right when I needed it most. Half-awake and fully frustrated, I decided to …</p>

<h3>Description</h3><p>As a first-time parent and a developer, I relied on an app to log sleep and feedings. If I was going to lose sleep, at least I’d have data. But one night, the app crashed right when I needed it most. Half-awake and fully frustrated, I decided to build my own version: one that could survive offline and my occasional parental meltdowns.</p> <p>This talk explores how everyday chaos (<em>whether in parenting or in production</em>) can inspire better engineering. I’ll share how concepts like caching and feature flags turned a midnight side project into a small, reliable system.</p> <p>Attendees will walk away with practical ideas for making their own applications more dependable under real-world conditions. Basic programming experience is helpful, but the talk is accessible to anyone interested in software reliability, distributed systems, or stories from the trenches of sleepless nights.</p>