Cody Django Redmond (Page 2)

Torch leadership coaching

This week I had my last session with my coach. A couple of months back A Thinking Ape [https://www.athinkingape.com/] announced that they would be doing another round with an executive coaching platform, Torch [https://torch.io/]. They'd run through it twice before, but as A Thinking Ape

learnings

Getting to yes

It's easy enough to come up with a rational argument and hope that others will see the light, but sometimes it feels more like the only way to find alignment is with witchcraft under a full moon. And if you're on a timeline, well, good luck. No one likes feeling

software development

Onboarding for legacy service rewrite

We have a new engineer joining our team next week, and they're fairly new to software testing. The existing codebase that she works in isn't exactly a beacon of shining perfection, so I don't presume she's ramped up on maintainable testing strategies. I'm gathering my notes and references here, so

engineering

A Thinking Ape Engineering FAQ

What kind of problems do you solve at ATA? Well, everyone knows we build mobile games. But sometimes folks are surprised to learn that our games are built against a shared backend composed of dozens of microservices. It's not just games that we build. We build platforms for games, too.

behaviour

My morning sidekick

I recently started Habit Nest's "Morning Sidekick Journal", to help me build a better morning routine. I'm generally happy with the routine I've been using for the past year, but I'd like to add meditation, reading, and exercise, and I'd like for this to be consistent – every single day. This

mindfulness

Practicing executive function

Two months back, my friend Natiea suggested that I check out a meditation app created by Sam Harris. I had tried apps for meditation before. She asserted that this one was unlike the rest, and gave me a promo code so I could try the first month free. Waking Up

teams

Achieving team cohesion

> I often work with my reports on an individual basis, but it's also possible to work with your team as a whole. I was wondering what methods you use to facilitate team cohesion/a sense of team identity or ownership? Some quick ideas based on a question I received from

communication

A pitfall of lateral thinking

Most people prefer Vulcan logic. It's easier when things are black and white. Logical thinking is based on reasoning from known first principles. All conclusions derived from the same axioms will be the same. This isn't exactly exciting, and doesn't leave much for interpretation or innovation. It's expected to solve

innovation

Ethereum

Because of all the excitement lately in the Blockchain space, I've been getting queried more frequently about Ethereum and how it differs from Bitcoin. Here's how I've been answering. Why is it not Bitcoin? Ethereum is more than just payments [https://ethereum.org/en/what-is-ethereum/]. It's a programmable blockchain. As

A new bible for engineering management?

Maybe not, but I'm convinced that Team Topologies [https://teamtopologies.com/] will eventually end up next to Domain-Driven Design [https://www.amazon.ca/Domain-Driven-Design-Tackling-Complexity-Software/dp/0321125215] , Accelerate [https://itrevolution.com/book/accelerate/], and even The Mythical Man Month [https://www.amazon.ca/Mythical-Man-Month-Software-Engineering-Anniversary/dp/0201835959] . Team Topologies is a practical,

health

Supplements I'm comfortable recommending to almost anybody

This has been coming up frequently in conversations lately, so it's about time I write a little post on it. For the past decade or so I've been monitoring my diet and energy and I've come across a few supplements that I can whole-heartedly recommend to almost anyone. Drink water

writing

On writing well

I've long been obsessed with the relationship that writers have with writing. This first came to bare reading Henry Miller, finding it curious that his memoirs were chock-full of stories and yet would rarely mention a practice of writing, surely an activity that consumed him during his twenties. Writing is

music

Weeklybeats wrap-up

In 2020, I took on the weeklybeats.com [https://weeklybeats.com/] challenge of producing a piece of music every week for entire year. Ambitious, especially for me, whose primary focus is growing as a software engineering manager. What a pleasure it was to meet all the fine folks in the

product

Engineering community

The first thing you'd see when walking into the ATA [https://athinkingape.com/] office, (back when this was a thing) is "WE BUILD COMMUNITIES". Our community managers and engineers work directly with our active player community. They have close relationships. When you spend years inhabiting a world you feel some

industry

A not so standard acquisition

A Thinking Ape has been acquired by Embracer Group, as well as 10 other game studios and a PR firm. Details still coming.

architecture

Writing "minimum viable" technical design documents

Technical design documents are great for raising confidence and ensuring a right-sized solution.

discourse

A quick reply to "post-truth society" question

Could be true? That everything is subjective, and that nothing can be trusted? That the media is all lies, and news is all fake? It's not true. Certain people benefit from muddying the waters, and that's what has happened. Of course there is still fact, and science, and objective reasoning

behaviour

The art of Missing

Had a great wellness session with Hamza Fasih [https://twitter.com/CuriousHamza] from Altius Fit [https://www.altiusfit.com/] today at A Thinking Ape [https://athinkingape.com/]. My favorite part was the techniques for getting back on track when establishing a new habit. Little tricks for staying in the saddle

management

Behaviors of a senior developer

What makes a senior developer? Certainly not seniority. So what are are the qualities and behaviours that earn the trust and respect from engineers across the floor? I might come back to this in a couple of years and laugh, but this is my criteria in 2020. 1. They live

writing

Good advice

I came across this poem in a subreddit today. I don't know much about Rudyard Kipling but I liked the stoicism. The person was referencing a difficult work environment. If— by Rudyard Kipling | Poetry FoundationIf you can keep your head when all about youPoetry FoundationRudyard Kipling [https://www.poetryfoundation.org/

leadership

Cassandrafreude

Been trying to remember this word for the last few weeks; finally popped back into my head today while reading "How to be an Antiracist [https://www.penguinrandomhouse.ca/books/564299/how-to-be-an-antiracist-by-ibram-x-kendi/9780525509288] ". > Cassandrafreude [https://osewalrus.livejournal.com/1079693.html]: the bitter pleasure of things going wrong in exactly the

architecture

History is a fiction

Diving into event-driven architecture; and specifically, how they can be applied to an existing monolith or microservice system. The first three videos are especially good introductions. The title comes from "Designing Events-First Microservices", in which Jonas advocates for a reimagining of what ought to be expected from software systems. Perhaps

video

Programming paradigms

Covering this one in our engineering discussion next week. Great overview for those who are unclear on what paradigm even means.

management

Write a cover letter, you lazy slob!

I've seen this come up a few times now in the CS subreddits. Some idea that a cover letter is a waste of time. That they aren't read, that they do more harm than good. > I've written one cover letter and it's because the company (a AAA game company) explicitly

agile

Are you dark agile?

Interesting new presentation on "dark agile". As someone who has seen truly agile teams thrive, yet also worked in "agile" environments that were offensively infuriating, I'm feeling vindicated to have this new label that seems so well-fitting for so many companies who claim to be agile but are nothing of