In 2019, I will write again regularly. I started this blog a couple years ago, but have never been able to sustain any momentum. There are some new things I can try, techniques to find space and inspiration to write something coherent and potentially interesting, but the overall goal is…
Maybe you care about politics; maybe you don't. But if you do care, you should vote. Every time. For every office on the ballot. Even if you think your vote won't matter. Because it does. When we vote for someone, our primary purpose is to elect a candidate to office.…
I've had several iPhones for years, but in all that time, I've never used Siri, and I think I may have used Alexa once. It's not that the software is bad, or doesn't work well (I honestly don't know!), but rather something more fundamental -- I don't want to talk…
In software product development, we have the concept of "failing fast". Basically, the idea is that we recognize that while failure is expensive, both in terms of development cost as well as time, failure is also inevitable with any kind of innovative venture. So, because we cannot avoid…
A couple weeks ago, I wrote a post on the delegation of management duties, and I got some interesting feedback, specifically regarding leadership. While I only tangentially touched on leadership directly, it's natural to bring it up in the context on management, as they are so closely intertwined that they…
I've been managing software engineering teams for a few years now, and one of the conversations that I keep having over and over with different people centers around delegation of responsibilities. Whether I'm trying to help someone grow into a management role themselves, or just trying to spread the load…
I've always liked the writing format of the essay, especially given the original meaning of the word "essay": to make an often tentative or experimental effort to perform: try When I write, it is an attempt to say something interesting, or worthwhile, or just in a different way…
The Electoral College, which I discussed yesterday, certainly isn't perfect. It has a number of problems, including the fact that we treat it as a ceremonial rubber stamp, and that the electors, whoever they are, were never on a ballot themselves and voters have literally no idea who they are.…
So, the Electoral College is a thing now. I mean, it's been a thing since the US Constitution was written, but for basically that entire time, it has been a ceremonial step, one whose outcome was predetermined, a ceremony so uninteresting that most of us probably forgot that it existed…
I’ve been thinking a lot about credibility lately, especially with regards to this past year’s election cycle. It seems like a concept that everyone understands, but I think we oversimplify its usage in how we assign credibility to people and institutions, with the result that it is difficult…