How to deal with a sad reality. — Everyone knows that debugging is twice as hard as writing a program in the first place. So if you’re as clever as you can be when you write it, how will you ever debug it? - Brian Kernighan It has always been easier to break things than to make things…

Have some one on ones, go to some meetings, lurk on slack. Day in and day out. Why keeping a culture healthy seems so *boring*. — As an engineer, my daily standup reports were boring. I fixed some bug. I released some API. I added some code, it’s still on track for the end of the month. As a manager, my daily standup reports are boring and shameful: A handful of 1:1s. Attending some meetings. Lurking…

Dad has good advice about irreversible actions, but software isn’t a birdhouse. — “Measure Twice, Cut Once” is one of the few bits of Dad Advice that actually makes sense. Passed from skilled carpenters to wannabe skilled carpenters to all manner of professions for generations, it embodies the mindset that thorough planning can prevent costly mistakes. …

Today we’re going to talk about a dysfunction I’ve seen a few times throughout my career: the company that is so busy trying to make the perfect product that they never get around to shipping a good one. The cause of these failures has varied. Sometimes the sales staff is…

Who is the best person to manage your time? Unless you have a great executive assistant or are a small child, the answer is the same: you are. This is particularly apparent when you realize that managing your day includes more than just managing your time. You also need to…

Every so often, I hear a cry. “These teams aren’t working well together! People don’t know what the others are doing!” and I groan (usually to myself), because I know what is coming. Some well-meaning person states the obvious solution: “we need more communication”. Most heads nod, while me and…

Setting people up for success means more than assessing their capability. How to pair programmers with the work they love. — I am fond of saying that software engineering is all about tradeoffs. You can’t make one program solve every problem, so much of the work is deciding which problems you are going to solve. But that isn’t entirely true. Software design is all about tradeoffs. …

This question comes from Emily and is one I get once or twice a year: Hi. I just got my CS degree, but can’t find a job. All of these places want programmers with min 2–3 years experience. People online say to apply anyway, but few companies reply. …

Ever feel like managers have nothing better to do than to make your life harder? The sad, unfortunate fact is that most do not. Think about it. How do managers get the job? Some are simply the most mature person in the room when a startup decides to promote someone…