Teammate on most recent team gave me this parting feedback: “I learned a ton, we got lots done, our team dynamics were awesome, and I’ve never felt this kind of team feeling before.”

If your business makes software, I might be good for your business.

https://schmonz.com/snac/schmonz/p/1750949585.435936

Unfortunately, as I probably already know, not self-hosting always ends up costing more.

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original post: https://octodon.social/@schmonz/114124384254419752

@GeePawHill THANK you.

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original post: https://octodon.social/@schmonz/114124326669664526

In private mail today: "Thank you very much for creating https://schmonz.com/software/acceptutils/, it really is the most elegant solution to modernize #qmail."

In the same message: "Is this a bug in acceptutils or did I make a configuration mistake?" A bug, and now I'm freshly motivated to fix!

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original post: https://octodon.social/@schmonz/114118440301846001

@jlink Yes! This is my XP as well: we talk out loud about risks and decide together how to manage them.

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original post: https://octodon.social/@schmonz/114105346014181834

@billseitz Agreed -- is there any kind of payoff/traction/insight we can start reaping? Let's be reaping it.

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original post: https://octodon.social/@schmonz/114104981594522610

@RonJeffries @jchyip Yes

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original post: https://octodon.social/@schmonz/114104976760083343

@RonJeffries That's a good reminder. I remember a project where we spent the first few weeks dealing with our worry that our persistence layer would prevent us from meeting the given deadline. Instead we found that it might be fine, and if it did get in the way we'd have some likely cheap-enough and effective-enough mitigation steps.

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original post: https://octodon.social/@schmonz/114104974620486416

For my XP peeps:

When designing a project, do you always prioritize closing the feedback loop of ROI (or lack thereof) as early as possible?

Might you ever choose to defer closing that loop because you need something else sooner? If so, what kind of something could that be?

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original post: https://octodon.social/@schmonz/114101416122410103

@RonJeffries That’s how I see it (and myself) too. To have a chance of choosing different behaviors I’d have to have different goals. But I’ve got the ones I’ve got, via some combination of “that’s what I understand XP to mean” + “that’s how I can act congruently” + “that’s what has delivered my best business results”. So it’s hard to imagine other goals being worthwhile in comparison.

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original post: https://octodon.social/@schmonz/114038460459018396

@JayBazuzi yes, yes, a thousand times yes.

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original post: https://octodon.social/@schmonz/114038430195049232

@JayBazuzi more often than not, in a group context, when some of us think we’re ready to set a task down, at least one of us feels strongly that it’s not okay yet the way it is. When I’m coaching I figure (1) there’s always more to improve later no matter what we do now, (2) I trust us to notice what’s bothering is later, and (3) we all have limited daily learning budgets so I try to pick my spots.

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original post: https://octodon.social/@schmonz/114037887871867855

@RonJeffries well I certainly think so. But I try to remain interested in reasoning to the contrary, and at times like these my motivation for trying is a little stronger.

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original post: https://octodon.social/@schmonz/114037797296851769

@qcoding @davenicolette@mastodon.social me too. Of the priorities being traded off, only one of them can be a means to the other, so for me that means it’s it likely strategically advantageous. And it’s a means to other desirable ends as well. And (for me this is the kicker) it’s a desirable end in itself. Anyway, I’m strenuously agreeing with you.

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original post: https://octodon.social/@schmonz/114037776949305826

For my XP peeps: do you usually prioritize…

(1) Collective ownership and incremental shared learning over the absolute quality of today’s code

or

(2) The other way around

or

(3) Both, somehow

?

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original post: https://octodon.social/@schmonz/114033512703982938

Geek's night out with several of my XP mentors and past teammates, reviewing our various approaches to a programming exercise. Just the kind of recharging I'm needing.

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original post: https://octodon.social/@schmonz/114028249972263916

Something that’s mine to keep: “I learned a ton, we got lots done, our team dynamics were awesome, and I’ve never felt this kind of team feeling before.”

I imagine there are workplaces wishing for this. But first, more time for more reflection.

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original post: https://octodon.social/@schmonz/114022190959851912

@DianaOfPortland if just one person avoids faching it ab...

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original post: https://octodon.social/@schmonz/113827970062821449

Last time I attended a whole-company internal conference was 2017 (https://schmonz.com/2017/02/18/pillarcon-2017-fundamentals-of-c-and-embedded).

Last time I saw @Soulcraftswoman was only slightly less long ago. Any minute now!

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original post: https://octodon.social/@schmonz/113827941900302662

Incorrect Generalizations with Amitai:

einfach = simple
vielfach = complicated
nullfach = impossible

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original post: https://octodon.social/@schmonz/113810905667268443

@JayBazuzi mmm yes. When that’s happening, things are going really well.

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original post: https://octodon.social/@schmonz/113527112203370675

@davenicolette@mastodon.social heh. Strong agreement. It’s sometimes convenient to have expertise in some area or other, as a means to some end, but is very much not the job.

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original post: https://octodon.social/@schmonz/113527109226564979

In today’s retro we observed and appreciated how expertise is located not primarily in one of us, but in each of us, and how this aids cohesion, well-feeling, and performance.

(It’s foundational to my coaching practice that I not be the expert. As usual, working as intended.)

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original post: https://octodon.social/@schmonz/113524000073224319

On one hand (the hand I always start with), I did not accomplish all I intended for this trip.

On the other hand (the hand I often manage to continue on to), I was able to make the trip, am already booked for the next one, and can easily imagine it’ll go better.

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original post: https://octodon.social/@schmonz/113487468540209682

@GeePawHill going for “more than linear”, like it doesn’t just get more risky the more you defer, it gets more more risky

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original post: https://octodon.social/@schmonz/113487402840222763

"Dependency", n.

1. Not your code, but can break your code

2. Will one day dictate your schedule

3. Will own you more superlinearly the more you defer dealing with it

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original post: https://octodon.social/@schmonz/113483922176430700

Sitting together in a room programming for the first time in years. Running mobster.cc, even, to help us take turns. Happy memories from a very different time in my life. #MobProgramming #EnsembleProgramming

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original post: https://octodon.social/@schmonz/113477105547170370

First work trip in nearly five years.

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original post: https://octodon.social/@schmonz/113471419164554465

@deborahh @gdinwiddie knew we’d eventually find something in common

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original post: https://octodon.social/@schmonz/113442005147421459

Days like these I turn to Mompou. His music sounds like another world, but so close we could almost reach it. It could be ours. https://youtu.be/iQBkcG0CNjU

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original post: https://octodon.social/@schmonz/113442001941754316

@cazabon to my ears, a very sensible first-order weighing of costs and risks. And probably similar to how I decide.

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original post: https://octodon.social/@schmonz/113427714614081928

@grantlemons yes, important for me too. All code is a liability, all dependencies doubly so, but this sounds like a case where that’s less costly/risky than what I’d come up with on my own.

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original post: https://octodon.social/@schmonz/113427705518558228

@JayBazuzi these are real good, and probably close to the ones I’d have managed to come up with.

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original post: https://octodon.social/@schmonz/113427694766075530

Coaches, is it like this for you too?

I’m almost never sure of any specific next move.

AND

I’m almost always sure of my general skill at coming up with next moves.

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original post: https://octodon.social/@schmonz/113427648390731270

The choice: either take a library dependency, or solve the problem another way.

When would you? When wouldn’t you? Either way, how do you mitigate the risk of your choice?

What are some of the key factors that go into each such decision?

All else equal, what’s your preference?

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original post: https://octodon.social/@schmonz/113410458716569826

@mamash shell be the first to say she globbed me the best she could, but she’s a bit of a wildcard. (Sorry this took so long to process. I’m a child of my environment.)

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original post: https://octodon.social/@schmonz/113399200550780644

A fall morning in the neighborhood.

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original post: https://octodon.social/@schmonz/113399137728390774

[1] 26583
command not found: ba
[1] + exit 127 ba
sh$ _

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original post: https://octodon.social/@schmonz/113341760734326211

Software coaches:

What do your teams think you’re more expert at?
What do they think they’re more expert at?

Where do you mean to position yourself in relation to them?
Where do they perceive you?

What else have you tried? On what grounds do you prefer your current approach?

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original post: https://octodon.social/@schmonz/113331236603982199

Software development coaches who value code that acts more like a liquid than a solid:

Sometimes we’re pouring code into different containers.

Sometimes we’re optimizing the shape of the current container.

When do you focus on which, and why?

#Refactoring #XP #XPLives

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original post: https://octodon.social/@schmonz/113325508001965386

If your code’s not getting better, it’s getting worse.

How to work the Campsite Rule to your advantage?

🧵 https://octodon.social/@schmonz/111162007959878626

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original post: https://octodon.social/@schmonz/113235011419428567

@ska wasn’t even thinking of that but now can’t unsee

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original post: https://octodon.social/@schmonz/113233748824503298

Mutually exclusive properties of a desirable build process:

a. Be quiet
b. Stop

#SoftwareEngineering #CognitiveLoad

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original post: https://octodon.social/@schmonz/113229335374395214

@ska de facto what I do as well

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original post: https://octodon.social/@schmonz/113226470953417727

Got some slack time? Pick a risk to reduce.

Got no slack time? Defer something, then pick a cost to reduce.

#ContinuousImprovement

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original post: https://octodon.social/@schmonz/113223786289121647

@jchyip sounds like there’s a story here

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original post: https://octodon.social/@schmonz/113156666556033503

@gdinwiddie I like this reading

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original post: https://octodon.social/@schmonz/113155739766187479

@ska not this time, it was a different smartass who made the twitter owl comment

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original post: https://octodon.social/@schmonz/113155735820251178

@ska second rest-of-the-owl comment (first was on ex-Twitter). It’s a fair cop, much is omitted, and I admit as much. But also I’m conveying an ordering of my priorities: if anything competes with our being able to push to main, then we have work to do about that.

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original post: https://octodon.social/@schmonz/113155529292767490

My acquired preference:

1. Push straight to main
2. If that doesn't feel like a good idea, change everything about how we work until it does

(To be clear, implementing this takes more than two steps.)

#ContinuousDelivery #ContinuousImprovement

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original post: https://octodon.social/@schmonz/113154576665353151

It's unmanaged risk that creates surprises.

It's unmanaged duplication that creates risk.

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original post: https://octodon.social/@schmonz/113154489912583968