Recently in rants Category
I'm fighting back against Whiteboard Terrorists.
Whiteboard Terrorists fill shared whiteboards with notes and diagrams, then write "DO NOT ERASE" somewhere conspicuous just before leaving conference room.
"Do Not Erase" is shorthand for "I'm too lazy to take notes and can't be bothered to stick around to write them down or take a picture so I'm going to neutralize this otherwise useful surface for everyone else in the universe until I feel like erasing it."
Sometimes the terrorists sign and date their message, possibly using the name of a high-ranking office member. This is to inspire fear, and fear is the fuel of terrorism.
I intend to fight this the only way possible, without reservation and without mercy. From now on, when I see "Do Not Erase" on a whiteboard, I'm going to erase the whole thing. I'll erase it even if I don't really need the space. We must set the precedent that we do not negotiate with workspace terrorists, and any attempt to take a whiteboard hostage will be met with swift, decisive action.
43Folders highlights a list of seven points from Kurt Vonnegut about how to improve writing. My Favorite is point #4:
- Have the guts to cut
Of all the features that were dreamed for your last project, how many were delivered on time? I'm guessing not many.
At the end of the day, a few features will probably drive the bulk of the benefit.
Why don't we save ourselves the trouble? Cut extra features early and not wait for the schedule to do it for us. Go on, be a ruthless killer.
IndianGeek.net has a ginormous competency matrix for programmers. It lists out four "levels", like "2^n" and "log(n)" (yes, that's math in the column headings), along with umpteen facets of programmer skills.
All I could think of when browsing this behemoth chart is the beginning of Dead Poets Society. The class reads a poetry introduction explaining that a poem's greatness is measured by finding the area within a chart plotted on perfection and importance.
I'm positive there's a log(n) programmer out there that nobody wants to work with. I'm also sure there's a dude or girl who knows a single language (kinda) but makes money for their business because of their passion and dedication.
We're people. Judging someone with even moderate input from a chart is chancy at best.
I humbly submit a few extra categories for consideration:
All I could think of when browsing this behemoth chart is the beginning of Dead Poets Society. The class reads a poetry introduction explaining that a poem's greatness is measured by finding the area within a chart plotted on perfection and importance.
I'm positive there's a log(n) programmer out there that nobody wants to work with. I'm also sure there's a dude or girl who knows a single language (kinda) but makes money for their business because of their passion and dedication.
We're people. Judging someone with even moderate input from a chart is chancy at best.
I humbly submit a few extra categories for consideration:
- Passion
- Getting Along With Others
- Telling Good Jokes
In my interweb ramblings, I came across this gem of an article that helps us male programmers bridge the gap to working with female developers.
Have we finally got the Time Machine working? Is it 1986 again?
Seriously, if you need a manual for working with the opposite sex beyond "Don't be a jerk. Be normal" you have bigger issues. We're all professionals here. If anything, building software lends itself to more gender equality than other jobs.
Results count in our business. We notice successful work before checking if it was a man or a woman who produced it.
My advice is that we all grow up, be normal, and do work.
[link] The Invasion of the Female Programmers (You Might Have to Work with One)
Have we finally got the Time Machine working? Is it 1986 again?
Seriously, if you need a manual for working with the opposite sex beyond "Don't be a jerk. Be normal" you have bigger issues. We're all professionals here. If anything, building software lends itself to more gender equality than other jobs.
Results count in our business. We notice successful work before checking if it was a man or a woman who produced it.
My advice is that we all grow up, be normal, and do work.
[link] The Invasion of the Female Programmers (You Might Have to Work with One)
There's been a bit of chatter over the recent NPR story about email overwhelming people's time in the workplace. The trendy news angle seems to be to convince us that email addiction and information overload is a serious problem, worthy of the attention of high-powered think tanks to help save us from drowning.
That's like saying there's a problem with people's bathtubs overflowing. The problem isn't too much water, its that they didn't turn off the tap!
I once worked with a guy in an email-intensive office who had an Outlook rule set to permanently delete any mail not directly addressed only to him. Amazingly, he didn't get fired, and was regarded as one of the most productive people on the team.
We are not the victims of information overload. We're victims of our own lack of discipline.
We're human beings. We run the world. We've split the atom. I think we can handle our own inboxes.
I know it can be hard to unplug from the stream of information. Lots of things are hard, but we still have to do them. It's sometimes referred to as being a professional.
That's like saying there's a problem with people's bathtubs overflowing. The problem isn't too much water, its that they didn't turn off the tap!
- If you feel like you spend too much time in email, turn off Outlook and Gmail for an hour.
- Getting pulled into thirteen different IM chats at a time? Close your messenger for a whole day.
- Keeping up with online news bogging you down? Unsubscribe or unclutter your feeds .
I once worked with a guy in an email-intensive office who had an Outlook rule set to permanently delete any mail not directly addressed only to him. Amazingly, he didn't get fired, and was regarded as one of the most productive people on the team.
We are not the victims of information overload. We're victims of our own lack of discipline.
We're human beings. We run the world. We've split the atom. I think we can handle our own inboxes.
I know it can be hard to unplug from the stream of information. Lots of things are hard, but we still have to do them. It's sometimes referred to as being a professional.
