Retweet July 2009

From time to time I just blast tweets about software development, project planning, team dynamics, or whatever else comes to mind. Here is a synopsis of recent tweets and rants. If you want to follow the conversation follow me at techknow and I’ll be sure to follow back.

Software Development

  • Refactoring documentation.
  • The longest possible method name I have seen: getCorrespondingRowIndexInWisePickPopupListForCombobox
  • Why did programmers ever put version/revision control ids in their code? Was that a best practice at that time?
  • I know there is writer’s block, is there such thing as coder’s block? How do you break out of coder’s block?
  • Debug your thinking process. You can remote debug your thinking process, so it is like a outer body hacking.
  • Is your application user friendly or developer friend or management friendly?
  • Reframe the problem instead of trying hacks that break the current mental frame for the problem.
  • Half thought out features, means half thought out specs, means half thought out implementations, means 12.5% of what the end user wants!
  • Most rehash it up, some mash it up, a few smash it up, I fresh it up!
  • Own the source and distribution of the platform you use, don’t let the platform own your data or users!
  • Have you ever had to reverse engineer your own code, your own application?
  • Anyone using MonoDevelop on the Mac?

Product Placement

  • I wish GVoice allowed me to get a phone number in another country. I need a London number.
  • Can you get GVoice to forward to another GVoice number, which forwards the call to the original GVoice number? Will it break the internet?
  • Did Google jump the shark with their announcement of the Chrome OS? Why would they duplicate their efforts between two different OS?
  • Just got a Mac Mini to replace my old HP desktop. They are so small, I want on for my home, office, and car.
  • The new Mac Mini is the size of some old 360GB Western Digital My Book external drives.
  • Why is Go Daddy pimping Twitter with a popup dialog from their Domain Manager?
  • You know what would be nice? If @wefollow had an open API! Also, wefollow is an oxymoron, they don’t follow anybody.
  • Why doesn’t the phone company make it easy for you to give them a phone call? I can’t find their customer service phone number!
  • The worst part is that when you finally get a number, you get several extensions/options except the one you are calling for.
  • When calling the phone company, and finally reach a real person, the first thing they want to do is transfer you to another department.

Business Planning

  • You know how they say that dog owners often resemble their dogs, I think this also applies to business owners.
  • Many small businesses resemble their business owners, especially in terms of organization, quality, and planning.
  • Since when did ‘Don’t worry, be crappy.’ become standard operating procedure for startups? I see entrepreneurs advocating for crappyness.
  • Common advice is to make something people like. I say, instead of making a product/service make demand for that product/service.
  • First earn while you learn, then earn while you sleep!
  • Web 2.0 Distribution of Work: Let end users create the hard stuff.
  • Free is the ultimate bait and switch.
  • Never substitute value with volume.
  • Sometimes the easiest thing to do is to give it a try.
  • The probability of success increases with each time you try…
  • No matter what business you are in, your are in the customer service business.
  • If you shoot for the moon and fail, you get nothing but air. If you shoot for the stars and fail, you might get the moon.

Team Leadership

  • The easiest way to see team dynamics at play is when the team is ordering food.
  • I would rather have other people be pissed at me than me be pissed at myself…
  • You can compromise on schedules and deliverables, but never compromise on happiness.
  • Just like Hollywood people name drop celebrities, techies name drop three-letter acronym and buzzword technology sounding terms.
  • A good leader will ask more questions than he can answer.