From the Schmarchives, a conversation with Ryan Ripley and @johncutlefish on what it's like…

- in a “Feature Factory” (and alternatives to that)
- when teams are aligned toward outcomes
- when cross-disciplinary product people find community (and where)

https://youtu.be/vxF8hvfgGxc?si=nl-dzD_cwx58IWmX

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original post: https://octodon.social/@schmonz/111455539393468646

Drop by anytime before it’s over. If there’s a conversation in progress, you’re in the right place, come on in. Add your thoughts or bring your own topic. Leave with an idea or three, not only from me. I only regret I can’t make you a coffee or cook you something.

Starts in 30.

https://octodon.social/@schmonz/111449439975705684

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original post: https://octodon.social/@schmonz/111449555053848192

“Every org needs an Amitai; sadly, for most of you, only one can have him at a time. Hurry up and be that lucky one.” — Adam Yuret

Really? Hmm. Swing by my office hours today, 12:15-12:45pm US/Eastern (an hour from now) and see for yourself.

To join: https://us02web.zoom.us/j/85664294053?pwd=bGd2ODErbDVINSs3SGg1UUZRUm15dz09

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original post: https://octodon.social/@schmonz/111449439975705684

Given
these people,
these needs,
these skills,
this much time,
these constraints,
how much cost and risk can we accept?

https://octodon.social/@schmonz/111443631868790177

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original post: https://octodon.social/@schmonz/111444241712820663

@Patricia https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4PNZSgVVgJo

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original post: https://octodon.social/@schmonz/111443645218023458

Season 2 of Agile in 3 Minutes begins thus:

How long will it take to get where we need to go?

Engage your human intelligence (still relevant!) in exploring the parameters of this space: https://agilein3minut.es/18

#SoftwareEstimation #NoEstimates #YesEstimates #SoftwareForecasting

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original post: https://octodon.social/@schmonz/111443631868790177

@deborahh yeahhhh get after it Rolf! never not good.

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original post: https://octodon.social/@schmonz/111427226139444311

“Your time, intelligence, and humanity are precious to me. I hope that comes through and you can feel it.”

— @schmonz

https://octodon.social/@schmonz/111426389276548223

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original post: https://octodon.social/@schmonz/111427217481374901

“Often, the team is given the result of thinking that has already occurred and is asked to carry it out. Given such work, the team might acquire limiting preconceptions of its own.”

How can you get more of what's most important to you?

https://agilein3minut.es/17

#BusinessValue

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original post: https://octodon.social/@schmonz/111426389276548223

Been forgetting to share my Twitch streams here. Sorry! Subscribe to be notified whenever I'm at it: https://www.twitch.tv/schmonzie

In today's stream, I think through many open questions while preparing to update #pkgsrc bincimap to a new upstream. https://youtu.be/5Fq9XjvHVqE

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original post: https://octodon.social/@schmonz/111421975939716005

9 years ago, @timothep had an idea, and I got in on the ground floor. (Well, I was recording from the second floor at my in-laws, but actually it was the first floor, because Germany.)

Tim has recorded 278 more interviews since then. So far.

Here's mine: https://devjourney.info/Guests/5-AmitaiSchleier.html

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original post: https://octodon.social/@schmonz/111417582082891788

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original post: https://octodon.social/@schmonz/111411879489555718

This week's office hours have concluded. A few of us discussed some specific challenges with #Agile #Retrospectives and with making small change happen. #Obliquity

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original post: https://octodon.social/@schmonz/111410338116197560

This is today, as usual. One half hour only. Drop in whenever. Talk about whatever. Music, management, programming together, portmanteaux, career advice, puns…

“One of the most talented people I’ve met in my Agile journey. He’d be great for your company.”
— Colleen Esposito

https://octodon.social/@schmonz/111405396998541237

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original post: https://octodon.social/@schmonz/111409431070768406

Tomorrow's Tuesday. That means my office is open from 12:15-12:45pm (US/Eastern). New Zoom link: https://us02web.zoom.us/j/85664294053?pwd=bGd2ODErbDVINSs3SGg1UUZRUm15dz09

HOW TO USE:

1. Arrive promptly at 12:15, ask a Q, leave immediately
2. Drop in any time, ask nothing, observe
3. Eat food
4. Bring friend
5. Any combo

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original post: https://octodon.social/@schmonz/111405396998541237

“When we connect with each other, we increase throughput and decrease latency in the network of feedback from people who matter. So we can better connect causes to effects, behaviors to values, abstractions to details, questions to answers, and actions to outcomes.”
— @schmonz

https://octodon.social/@schmonz/111403767918529051

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original post: https://octodon.social/@schmonz/111404733007249626

In today's stream, I finally came back to the task of updating #pkgsrc's package of #Python #ApprovalTests.

It pretty quickly became apparent I would not succeed today. I got frustrated, took a break, adjusted my goal for the session, and reached it.

https://youtu.be/p-HUQ8mDCX4?si=Yq3LV4l0LK3JuaGX

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original post: https://octodon.social/@schmonz/111404374808155267

It’s Monday. You’re gonna need some ideas this week. How do you think of the right ideas at the right times?

https://agilein3minut.es/16

#VUCA #Leadership #EngineeringManagement

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original post: https://octodon.social/@schmonz/111403767918529051

@senzilla looks quite good -- do you happen to know whether they offer some free level of VPS? (This would be for notqmail to get built on a variety of non-Linux systems, ideally automated so failures would block PRs from being merged.)

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original post: https://octodon.social/@schmonz/111393632602008956

@ska de facto have done so

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original post: https://octodon.social/@schmonz/111387868923197095

“I may prefer interactions that don't involve power, but that doesn't mean everyone else does.
If I'm not trying to play power games, but others are, then too bad, I'm playing — and probably losing.”
— @schmonz

https://octodon.social/@schmonz/111386938537451037

#EngineeringLeadership #PowerDynamics

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original post: https://octodon.social/@schmonz/111387399233124905

Happy Friday!

Reflecting on your work week, were you able to have the influence you wanted to? What were some ways that others influenced you?

How often do people do as you suggest?

https://agilein3minut.es/15

#Power #Influence #Leadership

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original post: https://octodon.social/@schmonz/111386938537451037

Doing this music-making, and sharing it with you, has been one of my better life decisions. It’ll be sweet when I can get back to sharing it with you. Thanks for lending your ears. 🎵🎹💕

https://octodon.social/@schmonz/111381673968397356

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original post: https://octodon.social/@schmonz/111384035294484409

Weekly Piano Miniatures, complete playlist: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLkuryjnRFclTzNyap3TRgLtWxgQmbu5Am

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original post: https://octodon.social/@schmonz/111382933024571872

Daily Piano Miniatures, complete playlist: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLkuryjnRFclQJqoIVpk9W9-eIRswejo-R

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original post: https://octodon.social/@schmonz/111382932131263457

@Profpatsch when I can do that, I’ll spend the money on big iron instead.

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original post: https://octodon.social/@schmonz/111382549141860383

@Profpatsch thank you for the thought. I'm lucky to already have a merely 25-year-old Roland RD-600 to tide me over 💜

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original post: https://octodon.social/@schmonz/111381710846026724

I'm pressing Pause on continuous delivery of music. When conditions change, I'll resume shipping to prod. https://schmonz.com/2023/11/09/intermission

In the meantime, please find and share your favorites from the last 1.5 years!

#PianoMiniature #PianoMiniatures #DailyPiano #WeeklyPiano

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original post: https://octodon.social/@schmonz/111381673968397356

Some of you are too young to remember a time before Agile for Humans. In one of the very first episodes, Ryan Ripley, Bob Galen, and I talked about simplicity, risk, leadership, and how they're interconnected. https://overcast.fm/+EkqYFJpYg

(Hire me: https://schmonz.com/2023/08/05/who-needs-an-amitai)

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original post: https://octodon.social/@schmonz/111376126482193318

@ptribble and I should say, Tribblix (hey thanks!) and Solaris are some of the OSes we'd want. This is for notqmail.

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original post: https://octodon.social/@schmonz/111371723580650074

@ptribble "Arbitrary" is more important than ".iso", so Digital Ocean's program looks promising, maybe even straightforward. (I've liked Vultr for one-offs in the past.) Thank you!

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original post: https://octodon.social/@schmonz/111371719591751513

https://github.com/notqmail/notqmail/issues/250 says more about our needs (pretty basic, really) for a matrix of multi-platform builds.

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original post: https://octodon.social/@schmonz/111371376830695520

Dear #lazyweb,

Are there any VPS hosting providers that

(1) Allow arbitrary OSes to be installed from .iso

and

(2) Offer free-tier service to #OpenSource projects

?

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original post: https://octodon.social/@schmonz/111369990655215663

No school today, so no office hours today. But don't wait till next week to ask me something! Set up a quick call for us via the link at https://latentagility.com.

(Pssst... I can still be hired for engineering leadership or senior engineering: https://schmonz.com/2023/08/05/who-needs-an-amitai)

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original post: https://octodon.social/@schmonz/111369584161288348

“In environments that mandate 40 hours, it feels like I have to manage my time and energy against value delivered, so I alternate between erring one way and the other.”

— @schmonz

#DeveloperProductivity #KnowledgeWork #CognitiveLoad #EngineeringLeadership

https://octodon.social/@schmonz/111364027973088537

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original post: https://octodon.social/@schmonz/111365231197376028

“Developing valuable software that meets customers' needs is intellectually, emotionally, socially, and creatively taxing. If the development team's needs aren't being met, we can't expect them to succeed for long.”

— @schmonz

https://agilein3minut.es/14

#EngineeringManagement

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original post: https://octodon.social/@schmonz/111364027973088537

@deborahh feels like it. And that’s how you know people put all their empathy and technical skill and many frequent little bits of care into it.

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original post: https://octodon.social/@schmonz/111360063857102148

The technical documentation I treasure most has at least these tendencies:

1. To stay accurate over time
2. To defer learning we don't yet want
3. To clarify when a decision ought to be revisited
4. To appear in our moments of need

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original post: https://octodon.social/@schmonz/111359436138818206

@deborahh fun to watch him figuring stuff out. I've got one kid taking lessons to add to what he's figuring out on his own, another who plays neighboring tones and sings along, and another who's still mostly observing. All three like to match the pitch of birdsong, lawnmower, church bells, ambulance, etc.

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original post: https://octodon.social/@schmonz/111347348078410763

@deborahh beautiful!

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original post: https://octodon.social/@schmonz/111347305237554945

“I take greatest delight in my work when I'm being asked to solve problems whose challenges I can likely rise to meet, for people whose needs our solutions are likely to meet, with people whose generosity and skill bring out the best I have to offer.”

— @schmonz

https://octodon.social/@schmonz/111346917623766682

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original post: https://octodon.social/@schmonz/111347304692134508

How often is it fun to do your job?

https://agilein3minut.es/13

#EngineeringLeadership #StrategicAndIntentional #Perfectionism #Joy

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original post: https://octodon.social/@schmonz/111346917623766682

On #notqmail's origin story:

“Who do I invite, and how do I invite them?”

“This kind of collaboration is possible because of the properties of the code.”

“What are some implementations we wouldn't want to merge? Give a picture of what we'd say no to.”

https://marcusblankenship.com/collaboration-and-notqmail-with-amitai-schleier/

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original post: https://octodon.social/@schmonz/111336251644933021

Where: https://us02web.zoom.us/j/89405675221?pwd=WHRueXFFbzZoaUsyTkxFV3hrOWpvQT09

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original post: https://octodon.social/@schmonz/111329955678933334

“I’m gonna be so jealous of whoever gets to hire Amitai, that’s all I’ll say.”
— @d_stepanovic

I’m holding office hours today, 3 hours from now (that’ll be 12:15pm US/Eastern).

Bring your puns, dad jokes, code conundra, management challenges, anything else. See you there!

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original post: https://octodon.social/@schmonz/111329861677665312

Regularly scheduled ways to hear/see/talk-with me: https://octodon.social/@schmonz/111138474078663222

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original post: https://octodon.social/@schmonz/111326039891323070

Hi. Does your org need an Amitai?

"Opportunity!! An awesome engineering leader!"
— @RuthMalan

I've got success stories from managing products, projects, and people.

I understand the challenges of delivering effective software as well as anyone.

https://schmonz.com/2023/08/05/who-needs-an-amitai

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original post: https://octodon.social/@schmonz/111326032917622008

@RuthMalan 💜

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original post: https://octodon.social/@schmonz/111325934740499097

"Being free means recognizing not only that choices are ours to make, but also that consequences are ours to incur. Effective use of being free means learning how to make choices that take consequences into account."
— @schmonz

https://octodon.social/@schmonz/111324614548209393

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original post: https://octodon.social/@schmonz/111325864309685496