advocacy

Rookies in the bike shed

Rookies in the bike shed:

The ability to spot this is one of the most valuable skills a software developer can possess. There are endless features we could build and debates in which we could engage, but only a small subset are worth the effort.

The best developers aren’t the ones who can write the most code in the shortest amount of time or out-reason anyone on the internets. They are the ones that only write the code that’s most valuable to execute and only enter the debates of high substance.

[And that is what makes anyone good at what they do. It is about editing things down to the most important things and concentrating on those.]

Should you skip college?

Should you skip college?:

To me that was like playing video games. It was something else to get a degree in playing. I think for everyone who discovers something they love it’s like that.

[Yes! It is like that for me too, when I’m interested in what I’m learning about. The biggest problem I see, is that some crafts, trades, or skills are valued over others. It’s crazy. We need them all, and we need people who are good at them, who love them, who advance them to practice them. Don’t send your kids to liberal arts college just because, make sure there’s something there that they care about. If your little girl loves building cars, or welding, or swinging a hammer, if your boy loves to sew and design clothing, if your kid loves to build robots, or plant gardens. Make sure that there is time to indulge that desire. I assure you it’ll pay off for them in a happy life, and for all of us in that they’ll do what they love for living.]

Source: Scripting News

I’m not a “curator”

I’m not a “curator”:

And that’s how I feel about links in general: the source author creates something worth linking to, and the rest of us can link as we see fit, regardless of how we found it.

The proper place for ethics and codes is in ensuring that a reasonable number of people go to the source instead of just reading your rehash.

Codifying “via” links with confusing symbols is solving the wrong problem.

[True true. Which is why I try to rarely quote so much of an article that you’re not interested in reading the original.]

Source: Marco.org

Balance Life and Cycling Training for the Bone Ride | Bike in Balance

Balance Life and Cycling Training for the Bone Ride | Bike in Balance:

From my place, I can be on a country road in about 15 pedal strokes. And in a few thousand pedals strokes, I can be cruising on fantastic, hilly dairy roads along the east side of Lake Winnebago. Flanders comes to mind hereabouts: flat roads passing farm fields, abrupt hills with taverns at the top, lots of wind. In other words, the riding is great. All I have to do is point my front wheel toward happiness.

Is it not that simple?

[Yes. And No. Maybe. Balance is core skill for a cyclist. It’s surprising that so many fail at it, and so badly. Mike, I’m rooting for ya. And me. I’m trying to pull off the same thing. And I have a ride to prepare for as well. Allez!]

Learning from competition

Learning from competition:

That would have just made me look stubborn and out of touch, failing to understand (in fact, trying very hard not to understand) why newer fonts could be attractive to customers, and failing to admit that I should have done it first.

Instead, I’m taking this misstep as a wake-up call: I missed an important opportunity that’s necessary for the long-term competitiveness of my product. So I’ve spent most of the last week testing tons of reading fonts, getting feedback from designers I respect, narrowing it down to a handful of great choices, and negotiating with their foundries for inclusion into the next version of Instapaper.1 And the results in testing so far are awesome. I wish someone had kicked my complacent ass about fonts sooner.

Reacting well to competition requires critical analysis of your own product and its shortcomings, and a complete, open-minded understanding of why people might choose your competitors.

[Always hard. Really important.]

Source: Marco.org

If You’re Still Whining About AT&T’s 3G Data Throttling, You’re Part Of The Problem – SplatF

If You’re Still Whining About AT&T’s 3G Data Throttling, You’re Part Of The Problem – SplatF:

Here’s the big picture bottom line: If you use a lot of data, you are clearly getting some sort of value out of it. Value isn’t free. The world’s finite resources simply aren’t trending toward free. That isn’t logical. I predict most of you will be spending significantly more per month for wireless data in 5 and 10 years than you do today. You’ll be getting faster and better service, and more value out of it, but it won’t be cheaper.

Please get over your emotional battle — and extinguish any legal threats, that’s silly — and join us in reality. If you use a lot of mobile data, be happy about it, and be happy paying for it. It’s worth it. And consider trying the add-on tethering plan for the iPhone, it can be useful if you carry a laptop or iPad.

*Telecom joke, told to me by a big-company CEO: If you’re AT&T, how do you get to 80% market share? Start with 100%!

[This is the false promise and problem with free. This is why “free” doesn’t work. If something cost something to do, you have to pay for it. If it isn’t with money, ask how exactly you are… you might be surprised (see Facebook, Google, and your privacy)]

Earth to Cable: You don’t control us.

Earth to Cable: You don’t control us.:

Whether or not cable and phone companies succeed  in building out the fully licensed world (that is, sucking everywhere down under the lids of their closed systems), we will remain free. We can live without you if we have to. Always could, always will.

[Amazing how quickly Noah got used to not watching TV when he lost the privilege. It’ll never be back in its old form.]

Source: Doc Searls Weblog

Give it five minutes

Give it five minutes:

And what did I do? I pushed back at him about the talk he gave. While he was making his points on stage, I was taking an inventory of the things I didn’t agree with. And when presented with an opportunity to speak with him, I quickly pushed back at some of his ideas. I must have seemed like such an asshole.

[Been there. Trying to teach “give it five minutes” to my son. Might be one of the better things I can do for him.]

Is this the beginning of the “Success by UX” era?

Is this the beginning of the “Success by UX” era?:

At first read I agreed with Cross completely, but you know, there’s still a lot of successful products out there that don’t provide a good user experience. Apple is successful by (mostly) providing very good UX and that’s certainly influencing the current generation of designers, but it’s not the only path to success—and there’s an awful lot of work influenced only by Apple’s superficial aesthetics.

[In the end… it’s not about aesthetics. It’s about making tasks easier to accomplish. And about understanding what people were trying to do when they did something and being smart about how you react to it. the aesthetics are the final piece to a very complicated and difficult puzzle. ]

Source: Coyote Tracks