Taylor Otwell, creator of Laravel and CEO of Laravel LLC, joins Robby to reflect on his 14-year journey building and maintaining one of the most popular web frameworks in the world. From its PHP 5.3 origins to a full-time business with a 70-person team, Taylor shares what he's learned about code maintainability, developer experience, and what it means to evolve without overcomplicating things.
He discusses the importance of simplicity in software design, why sticking to framework conventions leads to better long-term outcomes, and how his minimalist mindset continues to shape Laravel today. Taylor also opens up about the moment he felt out of ideas, how Laravel’s 2024 funding round marked a new chapter, and what it’s like to hand off more responsibility while staying involved in the open source core.
Episode Highlights
[00:01:07] Taylor’s Definition of Maintainable Software
Simplicity, understandability, and confidence in making changes are key themes in Taylor's approach to longevity in software.
[00:02:13] Kenny vs. the Terminator: A Metaphor for Code
Why Taylor believes software should be disposable and adaptable, not rigid and overbuilt.
[00:05:39] Laravel’s Unexpected Traction
Taylor shares the early days of Laravel and the moment he realized the project had legs.
[00:10:30] Who Laravel Is Built For
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