Friday Links 22-10

I have to confess that I have been still doom-scrolling Ukraine news. 

I still have some interesting links and even some fun reads.

Leadership

The dreaded reorg - "draft your communication plan" is always a good start

Dimensions of Power - I didn't realise companies do private/secret levels. 

How We're Helping Our Remote Team Feel More Connected - a lot of common sense, but good summary

Engineering

An update on recent service disruptions - I love these posts, we should all learn from each others outages

Urbanism

Judicial ruling on the Low Emissions Ordinance (ZBE) of Barcelona - WTF!

Random Monsters

I Created An Account Where Professional Artists Recreate Children’s Monster Drawings Each Week - the Instagram account is the best way to follow it

The hunt for the horse-killer gang that never was - people always expect the worst from people

Over 14,000 Ukrainian refugees have already arrived in Catalonia - this is just the start, they can't all stay in Poland

Moving to Spain could be good for your mental health, new report suggests - I know! Just look how Spain compares to the UK. 

'Bizarro World' That's what my wife and I entered when we drove up to an arcade in Weirs Beach, New Hampshire, where she would attempt to break an official world record in the classic video game Tetris. - great story, sadly only this awkward archive version is available

Friday Links Disclaimer

Inclusion of links does not imply that I agree with the content of linked articles or podcasts. I am just interested in all kind of perspectives. If you follow the link posts over time you might notice common themes though.

More about the links in a separate post: About Friday Links.

Friday Links 22-9

Blue Lobster

Some longer reads and good podcasts about leading and structuring teams. 

And mostly amusing random links.

Leadership

The SPACE of Developer Productivity - framework for thinking about developer productivity

Refactor → Organisation - story of the reorganisation of BBC's website team

When There’s Doubt, There’s No Doubt: How to Protect Culture and Eliminate Hiring Biases (with Nick Dimitrov, Founder of Bar Raiser) [Podcast] - good strategies for hiring

Is there ever a good time for a code freeze? [Podcast] - not really

What Team Structure is Right for DevOps to Flourish? - like Team Topologies, but focused on DevOps 

How Engineering Managers Are Set Up To Fail - nothing especially new, but a good summary 

Hard to work with - how much of conflict should be resolved by the managers vs the team

Work

2022 Pay Analysis: Our Unadjusted Gender Pay Gap is Below 1% - Buffer is inspiring as always

Random Lobster

Leon VS The killifish [YouTube] - I still follow the adventures of Leon the rescued lobster

Learn Vim in Less than 2 Minutes [YouTube] - the guy is annoying, but this is quite funny

‘We’ll be back … stay tuned’: Kermode and Mayo’s BBC Radio 5 Live film show to end after 21 years - oh no! Also: have I been listening for 21 years now? 

Meta employees left to do their own laundry as perks get cut - poor guys!

Lunaz Design - Where Old World Charm Meets New World Technology [YouTube] - electric car conversions that are probably the only reason to be filthy rich

An OpenStreetMap viewer for Emacs - Emacs does everything 

Daylight Saving Time Gripe Assistant Tool - nobody wants shorter evenings! 

Sitcom 'Servant of the People' Back on the Streamer - I watched one episode on YouTube, it is quite funny

Friday Links Disclaimer

Inclusion of links does not imply that I agree with the content of linked articles or podcasts. I am just interested in all kind of perspectives. If you follow the link posts over time you might notice common themes though.

More about the links in a separate post: About Friday Links.

Friday Links 22-8

The war is on my mind, but not in my links. 

I enjoyed the podcast about bad bosses and the discussion about time in the last article.

Leadership

Bottlenecks of Scaleups - new blog series that looks very promising 

Applying Product Thinking to Slack’s Internal Compute Platform - that is probably one problem of some platform teams: they don't treat their internal users as customers and the platform as a product. 

Unlearning - what has worked before, doesn't have to work now. Situations and companies changes, you experience is mostly helpful in choosing what not to do

The Five Time Thieves - part the of "Making Work Visible". While I don't like to anthropomorphism used in this, the points are still valid.

495. Why Are There So Many Bad Bosses? [Podcast] - the Peter Principle & co

Engineering

The Waning of Ruby and Rails - I think this is pretty obvious and if you want to hire people in the future you shouldn't start a Rails project now. Which is a shame, because Ruby is quite a nice language. Rails is stuck in the past though. 

Urbanism

Suburbia is Subsidized: Here's the Math [ST07] [YouTube] - cities seem to completely ignore the numbers though

Barcelona begins phase one of connecting tram networks through Diagonal Avenue - about fricking time!

Bicibus, BikeBus, BikeTrains: Where are they going? - one of the best things coming from Barcelona

Random Vinyl

Analogue Hearts, Digital Minds [PDF] - study about how much of the quality of vinyl compared to digital is really just in your head (spoiler: most of it)

How Covid Stole Our Time and How We Can Get It Back - this goes very good with a book I am reading at the moment. "These two delusions — that we have countless time ahead of us and that we can’t change our course — are a recipe for complacency."

Friday Links Disclaimer

Inclusion of links does not imply that I agree with the content of linked articles or podcasts. I am just interested in all kind of perspectives. If you follow the link posts over time you might notice common themes though.

More about the links in a separate post: About Friday Links.

Friday Links 22-7

abandoned warehouse

Most of what I read this week was related to the ongoing war and humanitarian crisis in Ukraine. 

But I have nothing to add or to share about it. Lets hope that this gets resolved soon and Ukraine prevails.

Leadership

The State Of Burnout In Tech - results of surveying lots of tech professionals. As far as I am aware I suffered burnout three times in my career. They come in different severities and durations. I might have missed or ignored some of the smaller ones. The survey also comes with an risk assessment tool.

A playbook for managing & leading in difficult times & crises - I liked this very much and will keep it in my back pocket for the next difficult time. They seem to get more frequent.

Can You Take a Problem from Beginning to End? How to Read Signals and Manage “Synthesizers” (with Scott Williamson, Chief Product Officer at GitLab) [Podcast] - "Synthesizers" is an interesting framing. I think most introverts would fall into the category of "think first ... a lot ... and then speak"

Perverse Incentives of Retrospective Promotions - "As an employer. you got the performance, why wouldn't you pay for it?"

Redesigning work with Lynda Gratton [Podcast] - about hybrid work

Engineering

The Story Graph with Nadia Odunayo [Podcast] - great origin story. I wish I would like The Story Graph more, but my books are still on Goodreads. 

New – Customer Carbon Footprint Tool - this is pretty cool

Urbanism

Low traffic neighbourhoods encourage a quarter of Hackney’s residents to cycle more, poll finds - unsurprisingly they work, but the opponents are just too vocal

Killer Truck, Dude - I don't get the allure of monster pick up trucks. They seem so impractical compared to a van or a reasonable sized SUV.

Random warehouses

Inside the world's biggest humanitarian warehouse [Podcast] - a small look inside the logistics of humanitarian aid. You can also see it in a tour here: UNICEF global supply hub virtual tour [YouTube].

Voluntary UK ban on killing birds with lead shot has had ‘no detectable effect’ - what? Voluntary restrictions don't work? (see environment and urbanism)

Friday Links Disclaimer

Inclusion of links does not imply that I agree with the content of linked articles or podcasts. I am just interested in all kind of perspectives. If you follow the link posts over time you might notice common themes though.

More about the links in a separate post: About Friday Links.