health A little exercise goes a long way I've added a few items to my daily checklist: 20 push-ups (3 times), 20 squats (3 times), 1 minute plank (3 times) and drink water (3 times). Previously my checklist only included items I'm working on, so this is a little departure. I hoped I'd just see my fitness improve
books My favorite books on Engineering Leadership A few people have asked, so here it is. I haven't read every book out there, so please tweet at me if I'm missing good ones! 1. Peopleware [https://www.amazon.com/Peopleware-Productive-Projects-Tom-DeMarco/dp/0932633439] by Tom DeMarko and Timothy Lister. This is the classic. Originally published in 1987, the
employment Phone screen Michael Lopp's [http://randsinrepose.com/] favourite part of the phone screen is taking questions. The interviewee gets to show off their research skills and ask probing, insightful questions, and Michael gets to answer them. I'm not a fan of lazy questions. I can think of no better way to move
agile Faux-agile A few months back Martin Folwer put out a transcript of his 2018 keynote at Agile Australia. As usual, there were many snippets that jumped out at me, and many that hit close to home. Many of the "agile transformation" environments I've worked in over the past decade experienced dysfunction,
behaviour Transference When you encounter something for the first time, your brain tries to match it to something you've encountered before. When meeting a person, your brain might notice the particular way this person speaks, their shape, their point of view on a particular subject, and then short-cut to someone else you've
innovation Unconventional paths In the excellent series "Breaking Smart" I was introduced to the neat division of "promethean" and "pastoralist" thinking [https://breakingsmart.com/en/season-1/prometheans-and-pastoralists/]. The pastoral mindset is that of an individual tending an existing system, conservative and caring. The promethean mindset is that of the innovator, seeking new techniques
books So many books, so little time Wow, the last few months have been a wild ride. The switch to a new company has been challenging and exciting and rewarding and maybe some day I'll tell you about it. For now, things aren't looking to slow down. My posts are likely to take on more of a
deficit-driven development Are you familiar with the feeling of playing catch-up to an idealized vision of your company product that exists only in the mind of your product owner? It might play out like this: someone is not happy with how a feature was implemented -- it just doesn't fit their vision
behind closed doors This was an excellent read. Full of identifications, tricks and exercises to help level-up your value as a peer or lead. The intended audience is for those in a interpersonal managerial role, but so much here applies to anyone who works with other people. Really can't say enough about it,
agile new gig Three weeks ago I started at a new company: I've taken on the role of lead software engineer at a Vancouver startup focused on bringing to market virtual reality business solutions. Our first product bets target the AEC industry (architecture, engineering and construction), specifically architecture firms engaged in early-phase architecturural
books how f'd up is your management? Saw this one on amazon when perusing books on agile and team management, took a chance on the kindle version. Surprisingly relevant -- I seem to be on a very similar track as Johnathan Nightingale, although maybe five or ten years behind him. A lot of his startup experience resonated
books phoenix project I have a renewed interest in Agile. I suppose the last few years of "corporate" software projects have left a.. taste in my mouth. Agile at startups seemed much easier to implement, since the teams were smaller and had already bought in to the process. We shared the goal of
books mindset I just finished reading Carol S. Dweck's "mindset", and I wish I could have read it years ago! Does a wonderful job providing a mental model for wetware refactoring. I'm always looking for tricks to curb my reptile brain, and this book was full of them. Also, it was written
clean code * All developers should feel like they have agency to write code. * All developers should feel like they have agency to contribute code. * A pull-request (PR) is an opportunity to mentor or advise on code quality. History The term "Clean Code" comes from Robert Martin's seminal agile software development book, "Clean
crypto, eurorack and <3 It's been a zany year. Not this this is a year-in-review post! But the past four months have just zipped by, and I don't have much showing for it on blog here. So for posterity, here's a shortlist of things that have happened since August. I suppose top of the
twenty-twenty vision I still automatically reach for my cloth to clean glasses, which I no longer wear. I got my eyes lazered at Pacific Laser Eye Center in Vancouver. Dr David Lin came highly recommended, and after meeting him the first time it was clear why. A very considered and good-natured doctor,
leadership Open-source as health check An idea that Stephen and I have been bouncing around. Using an open-source methodology for internal software projects as a useful gauge on whether or not your software project can be considered "healthy". Even if there's no business interest in actually "open-sourcing" a codebase, adopting an open-source model can be
leadership Developers considered harmful? In the vein of Dijkstra's Go To Statement Considered Harmful, I'd like to rough out a new idea: "Developers considered harmful". Less experience, more risk Vancouver now has major offices for Microsoft, Mozilla, Slack, Kickstarter and HootSuite -- not to mention the hundreds of other companies going digital, digital agencies,
books The Peripheral Woah. William Gibson's newest does not disappoint. A hard-edge sci-fi premise told with his signature style and grit. As usual, it requires a very close read, but the dividends are worth it. There really are so few authors who can follow-through so masterfully on such cool ideas. The impression I
programming Mounting a shared volume on a docker image Yesterday I needed a php 5.6 environment. Locally I'm running 7.0. First thought was to brew install php56, unlink php7 and link php56, but this proved a bit more complex than expected. Attempting to install php56 through brew was resulting in: Error: /usr/local/opt/php56 is not
books Handmaid's Tale The first book I've read in 2017 is "The Handmaid's Tale" by Margaret Atwood. It's a work of speculative fiction set in the Republic of Gilead, a dystopic totalitarian theocracy which has taken control of a United States beset with environmental disasters and a plunging birthrate. Society has been restructured
development Updated my resume It's been about two years since I've updated my resume. Here's the new one [https://codydjango.com/static/CodyRedmond-0217.pdf].
books Blogging retrospective I started with the idea of using this blog to capture things I accomplish throughout the year. The idea was to simply and quickly capture them as they come up, so that by the end of the year I'd have a record of music tracks I released, books I read,
hobbies Street fighter In 2016 I bought a ps4 and street fighter 5 and worked my butt off learning the command normals and combos and reversals. I'm now ranked ultra bronze (somewhere in the 18000 - 10000 range). I will likely never see beyond silver... my reflexes aren't so great and I tend
music Holiday music A friend had the idea to ressurect our old Montreal music compilation project for another holiday special. We're pretty happy with the result! Get it here! [https://featsofstrength.bandcamp.com/album/feats-of-strength-holiday-compilation-2016] A strong showing of both Vancouver and Montreal creatives, full of neat/weird/beautiful audio tracks that demonstrate
