Yeah, Java 8 is done for it, but not everywhere, some are still programming in it. In any case, I enjoy Venkat’s talks (even attended one many years ago) he never skips the beat.
Category: English language
Posts in English language
Ten Mistakes Team Leaders Make
Great talk about team leaders & dev. teams. If you liked the talk and need more insight, you can read Roy’s book: “Notes to software team leader”. I enjoyed the book greatly.
jUnit 5
If you haven’t migrated to jUnit 5, this talk will provide most important overview. Yes, it is dated, but I still found it to be valuable.
Decision making in software team
I don’t remember when or how I came across this talk, but I’m sure glad I did. I believe, the talk is a good starting point if your team is struggling in a decision making area.
The Economics of software design
Recently found, quite interesting and entertaining talk. I hope it will shed some perspective on the development process.
Introduction to NoSQL
Old but quite an interesting talk
Lunch & Learn
I’m a firm believer in continuous learning, especially when we are talking about IT field. Several years ago I attempted to bring lunch & learn mindset to my employer. After several implementational failures, the idea took root, with severely limited financial support. Being stuck with limited resources, I turned to YouTube. It is amazing, how many presentations, lectures and conferences are available. Unfortunately quantity doesn’t equal quality and it takes time to sort through a large amount of talks. I figured it might be worthwhile to publish the most interesting materials (subjectively speaking) on the site under “lunch & learn” category.
Hopefully it will be handy.
Cheers.
Managing Geeks
I have been in the IT industry for more than a few years now and switched a few managers (and work places). Out of all the managers this far, I only had one decent one. In general all the managers I came across seem to be fairly useless. They don’t seem to support the team and always take the most convenient position on matters – which translates to the usual see nothing, do nothing. From time to time I’ve been wondering: “what makes a management job anyways?” – because from my point of view, they don’t bring any value to the team. Perhaps in other industries or places managers are essential, but in development teams…
Today I came across a very interesting article and was somewhat surprised has been written 11 years back. After few moments my surprise turned into a few thoughts, one of which: if information on good management exists, why are there so many useless managers? Naive and rhetorical question, but I do keep asking it from time to time.
If anyone is interested in managing geeks or understanding IT mentality, please read the article and I attached PDF copy in case the article got lost.
Cheers.
Chain issue with Fiskars StaySharp Max Reel Mower
Preface:
About two and half years ago I purchased a used Fiskars StaySharp Max Reel Mower for $60. After an initial tune up I’ve been using it trouble free as the main (and only) mower for two and half seasons.
Getting saggy:
Recently I encountered an issue that I couldn’t imagine happening – saggy chain, manifested by chain falling off during use. In my infinite ignorance I believed that the chain is the ultimate power transferring mechanism which under normal loads would never fail. Unfortunately I was proven wrong suspiciously fast – about 2.5 years of use (without accounting for previous ownership).
After some quick research I figured only two things: there aren’t many people with the same issue and Fiskars does not sell replacement chains for their infamous StaySharp Max Reel Mower. Moreover, Fiskars doesn’t seem to sell any parts for the mower, in other words if anything wears out then you either buy a new mower or substitute with custom or “whatever fits” parts.
I decided to follow Scott Robinson’s path purchased bicycle chain and replaced it. The job is easy and straight forward, no issues there. However when I took apart the mover, I discovered worn teeth on both gears. In addition, new chain seemed to have similar amount of slack as old one. Honestly, I’m not sure how everything is going to work out, but for the time being, the new chain seems to do the trick.
Concluding rant:
This far I’m very happy with the mower. It is cheap, easy to use, easy to tune up and doesn’t require much attention. I adjust blade twice per season and mow grass once a week to keep it from overgrowing. However I’m fairly annoyed with the fact that Fiskars doesn’t sell replacement parts for StaySharp Max Reel Mower! Does it simply imply that the mower will never break? Or that the mower is disposable like a plastic bag? For me, neither is the case and so I’m ask: what the hell is Fiskars doing?
Download: StaySharp Max User Manual PDF
Is High Quality Software Worth the Cost? By Martin Fowler
I don’t like using term “fan”, however I do read Martin Fowler’s posts and tend to agree with him a lot. His recent post brought feeling of familiarity and a bit of pain. I would like to share it with anyone who is doing software development.
I hope you will find it useful.