People can “learn to code” on so many websites, in little in-browser environments. Sites instruct on the basics of ‘for’ loops and ‘if’ statements. In advanced courses, learn algorithms and data structures. Writing toy programs is eminently teachable. Writing useful programs is something else. And writing them well is a mysterious art. Greg Wilson‘s new … Read moreBook Review: Software Design By Example
Why dig into problems that you could work around? Three reasons: one about my work, one about the team, and one about me.
When explaining your favorite tool, ya wanna say “just install this!” “Simply change the configuration.” “Customizing it is easy.” Don’t! Steps that feel easy, simple, trivial to you are that way because of the experience you have in the tool. You understand how it works, you know what it’s like to install it, you understand … Read more“Just” don’t
Useful terminology: my tools are either ready-to-hand, unready-to-hand, or present-at-hand. I can notice the switch and deal with it consciously.
Today I brought up a load of laundry. When doing chores, I practice keeping WIP (work in progress) to a minimum. Finish each thing, then do another one. This is good training for code. For instance, on the way up the stairs with the basket, I saw a tumbleweed of cat hair. I didn’t pick … Read moreReducing WIP in laundry and code
Today in a keynote at Spring One, Tom Gianos from Netflix talked about their internal data platform. He listed several components, ending with quick mention of the “Insights Services” team, which studies how the platform is used inside Netflix. A team of people that learns about how internal teams use an internal platform to learn … Read moreNested learning loops at Netflix
businesses… need a new worldview… that shifts the emphasis… from success as accomplishment to success as learning. Jeff Sussna, in Designing Delivery “Success as learning” doesn’t mean learning lessons. This is not learning as facts. This is learning as becoming. It is learning that bakes into who we are and how we do things, bakes … Read moreLearning as becoming
There’s a story about some brilliant design that made carrots more accessible to everyone, and the man who made it happen: Sam [Farber], a delightful person to work with. He understood the business, but what was important was, he understood design. If he could have been a designer himself he would have been, but he … Read moreskills and/or understanding
Back in the day, artists mixed their own paints. They bought minerals, ground them up, and mixed them with binder. Then in the 1800s, metal paint tubes became a thing, and people bought smooth, bright paint in tubes. Do they still teach mixing your own pigments in art school? Maybe, in one class. I took … Read moreProgress in Learning
Gregory Bateson talks about distinct levels of learning. From behavior to enlightenment, each level represents change in the previous level. Zero Learning: this is behavior, responding in the way you always do. The bell rings, oh it’s lunchtime, eat. This does not surprise you, so you just do the usual thing. Learning I: this is … Read moreFive levels of learning