1051
The Tyranny of ‘The Plan' (2013)
A long, close reading of Poppendieck's talk on how plans quietly become the thing we manage instead of the outcome, from the Empire State Building up.
New
The latest blog posts to take off on Hacker News. 4,747 posts.
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There is no software maintenance
Every time I hear about software maintenance as a distinct activity, I cringe. That’s because it is based on the outdated notion that first software is developed, then it is maintained. But t…
1054
Things they didn’t teach you about software engineering
As a seasoned software engineer, I've discovered that there's so much more to the field than what's taught in school. From the importance of understanding business needs and the value of soft skills, to the necessity of continuous learning and the reality of dealing with legacy code, my journey has been filled with…
1055
Coaching engineering managers to take on organizational problems
In an organization with many teams, problems will arise that span across these teams and require solutions broader than an individual manager’s purview. These types of projects include things…
1056
Having friends in HR is fine, but HR is not your friend
After the wave of layoffs at Meta (previously known as Facebook) in November of 2022, I recall messages in the Facebook group for former employees discussing how to handle elements of the redundancy process, like if it was possible to max out retirement saving contributions, or spending gym benefits whilst
1057
Going full time on my SaaS after 13 years
In January 2010 I soft-launched launched Preceden, a web-based timeline maker tool, followed a few weeks later by a larger launch on HackerNews: Today – almost 13 years to the day since the i…
1058
Small Teams
Patrick Collison has a great list of people quickly accomplishing ambitious things. Inspired by that, I created a page of impressive things accomplished by small teams.
1059
Measuring an engineering organization
For the past several years, I’ve run a learning circle with engineering executives. The most frequent topic that comes up is career management–what should I do next? The second most frequent topic is measuring engineering teams and organizations–my CEO has asked me to report monthly engineering metrics, what should I…
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Lessons Learned from the Book “Effective Remote Work”
Lessons Learned from the Book Effective Remote Work by James Stanier
1061
To be productive, be prepared
Motivation by itself gives us the willingness to do something, but nothing more. Once we make a start, the game changes and it becomes about knowing how to make progress.
1062
I am not a supplier
For the past few years, we have seen a lot of discussions around the concept of the Software Supply Chain. These discussions started around the time of LeftPad and escalated with multiple incidents in the past few years. The problem of all the work in this domain is that it forgets a fundamental point.
1063
Hard truths I learned when I got laid off from my SWE job
I got laid off from a software engineering job in April of 2020.
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Why T-shaped people? (2018)
Read this story without a paywall
1065
General guidance when working as a cloud engineer
From the depths of the IT world, there are things that you only learn through experience.
1066
“Blue Light” creating capacity for nothing (2007)
This is one of my favorite stories from all of my years in applying TOC. I use it frequently in my consulting work and again it's totally tr...
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Deep work. Essentialism in asynchronous culture
Deep work Nowadays, we are getting accustomed to working in a continuously interrupting environment. Smartphone notifications, hundreds of e-mails, open spaces, and meetings slicing our workday. We are feeling busy, and overworked, but are we more productive? If I am a salesman or project coordinator that way of…
1068
“Laws” of software estimation for complex work (2021)
Wrong estimates aren’t your fault, but they are definitely your problem
1069
Writing good performance self reviews
It’s the end of the year, and you know what that means… performance review time!
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What I do when I feel like giving up (2015)
I am struggling today, and maybe you are too. Don't give up yet, though. Read this article to learn what I remind myself of when I want to give up...
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Scrum has failed the developers
But there’s a way out of the misery
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Every modeler is supposed to be a great Python programmer
This post is by Phil Price, not Andrew. I’ve had a run of luck ever since I left my staff scientist position at Lawrence Berkeley Laboratory to become a freelance consultant doing statistical modeling and forecasting, mostly related to electricity consumption and prices: just as I finished a contract, another one…
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Hi, hello, I’m back at it
*peeks hesitantly around the corner* Hey everyone. Tomorrow, after almost 7 months of a sabbatical break, I’m resuming regular publication of kottke.org. (Actua
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Company, Team, Self
Back when I was managing at Uber, I latched onto a thinking tool that I drilled into the teams I worked with: reach the right outcomes by prioritizing the company first, your team second, and yourself third. This company/team/self framework proved itself a helpful decision-making tool, and almost always led to the…
1078
Goodbye, data science
This is more of a personal post than something intended to be profound. If you are looking for a point, you will not find one here. Frankly I am not even sure who the target audience is for this (p…
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Open Source and Saying “No”
An Open Source project can balloon to extreme sizes and then lose purpose of why it started - a rant.
1080
Startup Restructuring 101
Because your lifeblood, Revenue and Funding, are drying up