Yelling with the Boss
The last clear memory I have of my school-year jobs was the VP yelling at my manager, red-faced, outside his office, right out in the middle of the hallway. The job, at this now-defunct manufacturer of centrifuges, for me started as a co-op job in college, while I was studying electrical engineering. They hired me […]
When You’ve Screwed Up
Some time ago, I was on the receiving end of a massive screw-up at one of my previously favorite restaurants and WiFi hotspots, Panera Bread in Chelmsford, MA. I have not been back. Ironically, the screw-up itself hasn’t kept me away, because we all screw up sometimes, because we’re all only human. I can’t hold […]
Quick and Dirty May Be Dirty, But Is It Quick?
I’ve been meaning for some time to write about how slow “quick and dirty” is, how misnamed the term is, how misguided are the hoards of managers (many of them former and current software developers) who embrace “quick and dirty” as a fast solution to pressing problems, as though it could ever deliver an actual […]
Dead Fish and Other Things People Wear
Lidor Wyssocky at The Mindset writes about “The Emperor’s New Clothes Syndrome.” This reminded me of a talk Tim Lister gave earlier this year at the Boston SPIN. “The problem is that although we know exactly what doesn’t work right and how it should be fixed, most of us will never say anything,” Lidor writes.
When the Best Tool Isn’t, and Why a Growing Team Doesn’t Care
Kathy Sierra excellent post on When the “best tool for the job”… isn’t misses an important point. It’s not that she missed the point so much as she just didn’t go into it. But I think it deserves going into. Many software developers become very attached to their favorite programming languages, methodologies, practices, and so […]
Why I Hate Microsoft
Back in the Windows 95 days, I was a huge Microsoft proponent. When Netscape sicked the U.S. DoJ on them, I was on their side. What happened since then? I’m a Linux user. That is to say, all of my home computers run Linux. The one at work doesn’t, but that’s a long story, which […]
The Thought-Work Uncertainty Principle
It’s like the Heisenberg Uncertainty Principle. You can’t see an electron, but you can measure it, to an extent. You can measure where the electron is or how fast it’s going, but not both. Because the act of measuring momentum throws off the position, and the act of measuring position throws off the momentum. (I […]
Professionals Should Make Mistakes
We usually think of professionals as being people who don’t make mistakes. Amateurs make mistakes, because they treat the work as a hobby, rather than as a profession. But ironically, professionals probably make more mistakes than amateurs do, and that’s how it should be, though different mistakes.