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

@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

With a system composed of fewer, more legible parts, you'll have fewer runtime surprises, and you can more easily:

- See and fix any remaining ones
- Recompose parts to add functionality
- Adjust to meet people's real needs

Messy code is a competitive disadvantage. #refactoring

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original post: https://octodon.social/@schmonz/112968140781269140

OH: "It's a chicken-and-egg-and-ostrich-and-sand problem"

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original post: https://octodon.social/@schmonz/112951186553704006

@tottinge my skin is technically being washed with water. Sweatiest kind of correct.

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original post: https://octodon.social/@schmonz/112920611716464242

Current status: sitting sweatily on the plane, doing my daily ablutions before takeoff, abluting this rather apropos aphorism.

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original post: https://octodon.social/@schmonz/112920585180090669

With #TestDrivenDevelopment, we can know in moments whether our code does everything we’ve ever asked it to do.

If not, oops, we fix it.

If yes, we can ask more of it.

#BoundedPerfection

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original post: https://octodon.social/@schmonz/112846051153299670

#ExtremeProgramming attracts people for different reasons. It can produce alignment of individual proclivities and team goals.

I hadn't been aiming that far ahead; I'd been looking for a foothold to climb out of a persistent hole.

A bit more about that: https://www.linkedin.com/posts/jack-hannah_by-default-i-wasnt-effective-in-a-business-activity-7221620343000477696-3jI8

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original post: https://octodon.social/@schmonz/112840072859789219

@kevinrutherford Yes, email for a long time (haven't bothered with calendar yet). The initial setup might be less than you'd think, and the ongoing maintenance definitely less than you'd think, with a good book like this one from @mwl: https://mwl.io/nonfiction/tools#ryoms . And then your stuff is yours, and one less part of your digital life is mystical. I've found it worthwhile.

(For long-winded personal reasons I run and develop @notqmail instead of using Postfix. https://schmonz.com/2017/03/27/automation-for-mail-hosting/ says more in terms that might appeal to your XP feelings, but I cannot yet honestly recommend notqmail to folks who aren't already running qmail. Someday.)

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original post: https://octodon.social/@schmonz/112824548955327294

Conjecture: Given developers of sufficient seasoning, #refactoring “when it feels good” is effectively equivalent to refactoring “to invest company money wisely”.

(Developers at every level can be thinking about how well the two are correlated. A good way to acquire seasoning.)

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original post: https://octodon.social/@schmonz/112823231934165926

When I refactor, it’s mostly because both of these are expected true:

1. It feels good

2. It invests company money wisely

When I get carried away with #refactoring, they both turn false. Same when I haven’t been doing nearly enough of it.

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original post: https://octodon.social/@schmonz/112820851096100456

For at least a year, our medium* child upon seeing my desktop background has proclaimed “sahn-da-WEECH”. Sometimes even “sahn-da-WEECH-a”.

Upon our return there today I made sure to say it.

*by age, size, and frequency and obviousness of communications with other dimensions

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original post: https://octodon.social/@schmonz/112809415944602274

Vacation always serves to remind me: if it's annoying, don't defer making a small investment.

Now, instead of

$ nb boot ubuntu 24 arm64

I can just type

$ nb boot ubuntu

to bring up the latest version matching the host's arch.

https://github.com/schmonz/nbvm/commit/a1a3a363552f24549e458ecad203d40af75cb4b1

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original post: https://octodon.social/@schmonz/112807535615506371

Schäuferla #FacesInThings #GesichterInDingen

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original post: https://octodon.social/@schmonz/112789973804717932

@notqmail

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original post: https://octodon.social/@schmonz/112779873214902745

#notnotqmail

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original post: https://octodon.social/@schmonz/112772741125065268

Travel router in the overhead bin gatewaying to captive portal. Have a T-Mobile “phone number” with my grandfathered free iPad 200MB data plan that qualifies for free WiFi on this flight. So all our devices are online. Feeling clever.

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original post: https://octodon.social/@schmonz/112770189793180225

@antoinealberti Thanks! When you try it, let us know how you get on. @rayckeith

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original post: https://octodon.social/@schmonz/112762362464420795

@deborahh also yes, new job is great and also also yes, hoping to have a little more time here soon 🙂

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original post: https://octodon.social/@schmonz/112758009299360099

@deborahh Cool to see that one making the rounds again. Thanks for pointing it out and passing it along @rayckeith

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original post: https://octodon.social/@schmonz/112758006706887461

When we test-drive, we can trust ourselves later.

When we trust ourselves later, we can do less now.

When we do less now, later gets easier.

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original post: https://octodon.social/@schmonz/112757885278922902