OKRs (Objectives & Key Results) are a framework for validating alignment through the organization. As a company, as a department, as a team: what are we focused on this quarter? What are we trying to make true? Alignment looks nice when the team OKRs roll up to the department OKRs, and those add up to …
In Engineering, quarterly OKRs (Objectives & Key Results) can feel like a duplication of product planning. Basically, they say “Ship the Roadmap.” What new information are they communicating in that case? And if the OKRs say anything else, they’re in conflict the roadmap! An example (that I made up): In Marketing, quarterly OKRs express our …
I don’t think I’ve worked at a company whose website satisfied me. It never gives me a clear explanation of what our product does. After a few years working closely with Marketing, I finally understand why. As a developer, my goal is to provide useful capabilities to people through the software I work on. To …
Last year I got my first experience of implementing software internally. My team found a SaaS (software as a service) product they wanted to use, so we bought it and used it. Sort of. It was NOT SO EASY. There’s money to pay, and that has to get through several rounds of budget approvals, and …
Today, I’m working on our new deck. It’s a little uncomfortable, because there’s no furniture. I’m sitting on a blanket. The furniture is in the yard, being spray-painted. Before my husband left for the day, he said “If you have time, you could spray some more paint on the chairs.” Seems like I could contribute …
I want to create value in the world. That’s why this blog is public, my code is open-source, my newsletter is free. This means almost none of the value I create returns to me. It’s a tradeoff — the cheaper it is, the more value the world gets, and the less money I get. That’s …
Sometimes my calendar looks like an LA freeway: 100% utilization, ultimate deadlock. This is not one of those times. November through January are quiet at my current job, no big launches or deadlines. I can take a breath. My instinct is to fill it. Sign up for more! Commitments! Deadlines! Quick, pull in the next …
I often say that software these days is complex. But is it? In Cynefin terms, it’s more like an airplane than a family: it’s complicated. Given enough expertise, all the code, lots of data, and enough time, we could analyze the causal structure of any particular system behavior. We can reason about complicated systems. When …
Here’s what I know so far, from a lay-developer’s perspective (no AI or ML experience). So you’re a coder, and you’ve been asked to integrate with ChatGPT. What do you need to know? ChatGPT is an example of a Large Language Model (LLM). LLMs are a kind of machine learning (call it AI if you …
Read moreA Developer’s Starting Point for Integrating with LLMs
Resilience is coping with unexpected events and environmental change. To have resilience, you need slack. Slack in software development lets people do the little tasks that keep the work moving smoothly. That helps with everything you didn’t know you needed the software to do.