/Career Advice

Getting Things Done In A Chaotic Environment

tl;dr: “One of the first things my CEO told me is that things move fast, so you have to get things done as completely as possible and move on to the next thing. I think about that advice a lot, and I find myself telling people that same thing again and again... I find people make four common mistakes when trying to get things done: (1) Having more than one main focus. (2) Ignoring things you can’t ignore. (3) Not completely finishing things. (4) Taking too long to do things.”

featured in #498

40 Years Of Programming

- Lars Wirzenius tl;dr: “My goal in this essay is to get the reader to think, to research, to learn, to ponder. My goal is not to tell the reader how to think, what to think, how things are, or to give the answer to every question about every aspect of the process of building software.” Lars covers topics such as productivity, questions about projects, planning, estimating, and more. 

featured in #497

Getting Things Done In A Chaotic Environment

tl;dr: “One of the first things my CEO told me is that things move fast, so you have to get things done as completely as possible and move on to the next thing. I think about that advice a lot, and I find myself telling people that same thing again and again... I find people make four common mistakes when trying to get things done: (1) Having more than one main focus. (2) Ignoring things you can’t ignore. (3) Not completely finishing things. (4) Taking too long to do things.”

featured in #497

The Most Important Goal In Designing Software Is Understandability

- Nicole Tietz-Sokolskaya tl;dr: Nicole advises on how to make our code inherently more understandable: (1) Remember your audience i.e. what will other maintainers be expected to know. (2) Isolate the highest complexity. If something is complicated, pulling it into its own unit, such as a module or function. (3) Read it with fresh eyes a few days later. (4) Integrate any code review comments by updating the code and comments. Nicole also discusses how to leverage documentation. 

featured in #495

68 Bits Of Unsolicited Advice

tl;dr: (1) Learn how to learn from those who disagree with you or even offend you. See if you can find truth in what they believe. (2). Being enthusiastic is worth 25 IQ points. (3). Always demand a deadline. A deadline weeds out the extraneous and the ordinary and it prevents you from trying to make it perfect so you have to make it different. Different is much better. (4). Don't be afraid to ask a question that may sound stupid because 99% of the time everyone else is thinking of that same question and is too embarrassed to ask it. (5). Being able to listen well is a superpower. While listening to someone you love, keep asking them “Is there more?” until there is no more.

featured in #495

"Help, I See A Problem And No One Is Prioritizing It!"

tl;dr: “It feels like I'm the only one with glasses on! Getting a handle on this situation is a really important skill and there are a few good techniques for it. There's also a meta-problem here which you need to learn to handle if you want to enter leadership roles.” Nicole discusses how to approach this situation with your manager, potentially reconcile perspectives with them, and lean on peers.  

featured in #495

68 Bits Of Unsolicited Advice

- Kevin Kelly tl;dr: (1) Learn how to learn from those who disagree with you or even offend you. See if you can find truth in what they believe. (2). Being enthusiastic is worth 25 IQ points. (3). Always demand a deadline. A deadline weeds out the extraneous and the ordinary and it prevents you from trying to make it perfect so you have to make it different. Different is much better. (4). Don't be afraid to ask a question that may sound stupid because 99% of the time everyone else is thinking of that same question and is too embarrassed to ask it. (5). Being able to listen well is a superpower. While listening to someone you love, keep asking them “Is there more?” until there is no more.

featured in #494

"Help, I See A Problem And No One Is Prioritizing It!"

- Nicole Tietz-Sokolskaya tl;dr: “It feels like I'm the only one with glasses on! Getting a handle on this situation is a really important skill and there are a few good techniques for it. There's also a meta-problem here which you need to learn to handle if you want to enter leadership roles.” Nicole discusses how to approach this situation with your manager, potentially reconcile perspectives with them, and lean on peers.  

featured in #494

Productive Compliments: Giving, Receiving, Connecting

- Kent Beck tl;dr: “At it’s best, a compliment is a warm fuzzy. Receiving or giving a compliment blesses the day. At it’s worst, a compliment is a naked power play, an assertion of dominance. Giving and receiving compliments are not natural skills. This article summarizes what I’ve learned about giving and receiving compliments so far.” Kent provides specific and actionable advice around the semantics of human connection.

featured in #493

Data Will Not Tell You What To Do

- Mikkel Dengsøe tl;dr: “Data may give you a conclusive answer that changing the color of a button from yellow to green increases the conversion rate by 0.15ppts but will tell you nothing about the other ideas that would have had ten times more impact.” Mikkel believes that the best ideas are often complex and require persistence, and that intuition is heavily underrated. 

featured in #493