A few days ago my family called to tell me there had been a fire at my parent’s house. Luckily, everyone got out OK. But they lost almost everything they owned.
It’s made me think a lot about what’s really important. When I leave this life, I won’t even get to take the clothes on my [...]
Archive for the ‘Essays’ Category
Gone in a Moment: What Really Matters
Posted in Essays on February 4, 2009 | Leave a Comment »
Cars, Compilers and Text Editors: The Illusion of Control
Posted in Essays, tagged linkedin, principles, process, programming on December 17, 2008 | 1 Comment »
You know that guy, the one that just passed you in the right lane during rush hour, then swerved back in front of you, as if to say, “hey idiot! Can’t you go any faster?” You then end up tailing him for the next 20 miles. Sometimes, if he’s especially clever, he’ll try to get around a few more cars before finally dive-bombing an exit ramp from three lanes over. W00t! Good job, dude! You just shaved 15.2 seconds off your commute!
Metrics, Dragons and Software Development
Posted in Essays, tagged linkedin on October 10, 2008 | Leave a Comment »
“Past experience is simply not a good measure of someone’s ability to meet present-day challenges. Someone can have 25 years of experience, and still be a terrible programmer.”
Read more at nerdfortress.com!
100% Is Not Efficient: Slack and Why You Need It
Posted in Essays, tagged business, linkedin, principles, slack on August 13, 2008 | Leave a Comment »
The System z10 Enterprise Class—equivalent to approximately 1500 Intel x86 servers
IT people like to hang out at Starbucks discussing things that really matter, such as what Russia is doing in Georgia, or what the utilization numbers look like for the company’s servers. The sad reality is that most servers are provisioned with way more hardware [...]
80-20: A Space Odyssey
Posted in Essays, tagged linkedin on June 23, 2008 | Leave a Comment »
A lot of well-known bloggers and pundits like to talk about the 80-20 rule. In relation to technology, the idea is this: the best way to create a Fast Company and get featured on Tech Crunch (preferably becoming rich and famous in the process) is to nail the 20% of features your customers want and [...]
