notes

2024 Reading

Links to articles I read in 2024 with a few notes to remind me of the topic.

Customer research is often seen as a waste of developers’ time, with the belief that their main job is to write code. However, delivering code does not necessarily mean delivering value to customers.
Developers who talk to customers understand their problems and gain insights that help them write better code. This leads to higher success rates, less waste, and more meaningful features.
Customer insight is crucial for creating valuable software and minimizing waste. A shift in mindset is needed to prioritize customer value in development processes.

“Advancing from junior to senior engineer requires technical expertise, leadership, project ownership, effective communication, collaboration, business domain comprehension, high performance, and innovative thinking.”
Create a brag document to showcase achievements, technical skills, professional development, and feedback received.

“It turns out, the “One Weird Trick” to faster software delivery was not “fire your testers”.”

Blogging helps clarify and articulate your thinking. Writing forces you to organize and make sense of your thoughts.
It’s a platform for sharing knowledge and ideas, as well as for practicing writing.
“Almost every blog post I write teaches me something new, even if the detail doesn’t end up making it into the published post.”

There will always be bugs, have systems in place to quickly identify and fix them.
Start small and gradually extend by adding one change at a time.
Understand existing code before making changes.

“Many coders build their systems backwards. They become enamored with the latest whizz-bang framework or charmed by the reportedly speedy performance of the newest database. And they lead their thinking with those choices as they build new features, whether those technologies are appropriate or not.”
“Using a technology-first design typically means that the user experience (UX) will be left until last. And if you put your users last in your order of priorities, it will unfortunately be very evident in your system’s lack of usability.”

“Although Scrum may have made more sense when it was being developed in the early ’90s, much has changed over the years. … As our workforce world evolves, our software development methods should evolve, too.”
“When you write code in a such a way that another developer half a world away can sit down and start working on it immediately, without needing to ask any questions, you’re helping improve your team’s efficiency.”

Interviews should not ask “nano-questions” which are not important for a human to memorize answers for.

“Static site generators like Eleventy offer numerous advantages that cater to the ever-changing demands of modern web development. From enhanced performance and scalability to simplified maintenance and bolstered security, the benefits of SSGs are undeniable.”

YAGNI (You Aren’t Gonna Need It) - “Don’t add features or functionality to our software that we currently don’t need.”
KISS (Keep It Simple, Stupid) - “Don’t add unnecessary complexity to our software.”
- Even though adding layers of abstraction seems to contradict this, it helps hide complexity.
DRY (Don’t Repeat Yourself) - “Don’t duplicate code or data in our software.”

Tiger Woods rebuilt his swing multiple times throughout his career, despite being at the top of his game. This illustrates the importance of change, adaptation, and continuous improvement.
Performance will initially be reduced, but this prepares for future successes.

“It can’t be eternal sunshine in the productive mind. You need to let weather pass. The grey, wet days of today soak the soil for the sun of tomorrow.”

“Programming would be an awful endeavor if we were all confined to the same paradigm. Human nature is much too varied to accept such constraint on its creativity.”

It’s more probably that you are burnt out or tired of corporate bureaucracy than that you’ve completely lost passion for programming itself.

“As coding evolves, ChatGPT has not been exposed yet to new problems and solutions. It lacks the critical thinking skills of a human and can only address problems it has previously encountered.”

Estimates are needed for resource allocation, collaboration, and prioritization.
The accuracy of estimations can be influenced significantly by the work culture, with supportive environments that encourage continuous learning and teamwork often leading to more accurate predictions.
Estimation should include: breaking tasks into manageable units, drawing on past experience and data, employing established estimation techniques, and factoring in uncertainty.
Estimation should not be based on: wishful thinking, assumptions of uniformity, ignoring external factors, or fixating on initial estimates. Instead, estimates should always be revisited and refined as projects progress and new information comes to light.

“Don’t get trapped by the sunk cost fallacy. If you find yourself passing parameters and adding conditional paths through shared code, the abstraction is incorrect.”

“Applying DRY principles too rigidly leads to premature abstractions that make future changes more complex than necessary.”
“When in doubt, keep behaviors separate until enough common patterns emerge over time that justify the coupling.”