Something that a co-worker pointed out to me today which I thought was really cool is the visual hint of html cursors. It's got lots of different properties like , , , , , , (mouse over the words to see what I am talking about).
Using the "pointer" cursor on a html label lets you know that it's clickable. As people know, I love html labels for widgets like radio buttons that can be difficult to target. I just love little helpful tips that add polish to an application. ;-)
Monday, 12 June 2006
Wednesday, 7 June 2006
My God, it's full of <del>stars</del> crap!
Checking some of the (video) content over on myspace and one thing that strikes me: it's all garbage. I thought that blogging was pretty bad (on average) where people dump the random things that happened to them that day, but to allow video? Oie.
The more access people have to publishing content, the more content, but the ratio of quality content can't seem to keep up. It's really quite amazing really.
I'm pretty lazy. My time is important to me. I love content that's been filtered by others like comments on /.. Places that don't have filtered content like the dilbert blog, I don't even bother to skim. I wonder how long till everything is connected, everything is rated. Instead of "street cred", people will have "web cred". Maybe it will be relative web cred so that my friends opinions will be worth more to me (as web cred) than similar people have half way around the world... oie. I am sure that someone else has thought long and hard about this and have written sci-fi stories or a thesis about it. Either way, it's time for me to stop my current brain dump.
The more access people have to publishing content, the more content, but the ratio of quality content can't seem to keep up. It's really quite amazing really.
I'm pretty lazy. My time is important to me. I love content that's been filtered by others like comments on /.. Places that don't have filtered content like the dilbert blog, I don't even bother to skim. I wonder how long till everything is connected, everything is rated. Instead of "street cred", people will have "web cred". Maybe it will be relative web cred so that my friends opinions will be worth more to me (as web cred) than similar people have half way around the world... oie. I am sure that someone else has thought long and hard about this and have written sci-fi stories or a thesis about it. Either way, it's time for me to stop my current brain dump.
Tuesday, 6 June 2006
Lip service has negative value
I feel that lip service has negative impact on all the things that you do. It's worse than not saying anything at all. Specifically I am talking about processes at your job.
Let's make up an example. Let's say you have 2 processes, people have to: 1) check tests in with their code and 2) write their name on the whiteboard as the last person that checked code in.
Arguably process #2 might not be as useful. So people stop doing it consistently. Then it stops being done at all. New people come join the group and have to learn what processes are done, which ones are bent, and which ones are ignored. I think that this leads to a thought process of "well, if process #2 is optional, maybe #1 is as well". Ignoring one process is a broken window and will quickly lead to more being ignored.
If you have a process, there has to be some kind of audit or automated check. If there isn't, that means it has to really make sense why you are doing it so that it's not really a process, it's just "the way things are done". For processes without audits or 100% buy in, you have to question why you actually have it if it's not important enough to check that it is being followed.
I think that for all processes, every once and a while you should be asking yourself:
If you have a process that is almost universally ignored, all that you are doing is weakening the other processes. It's a strange case where the whole is less than the sum of the parts. Back to our example, rather than having said anything about process #2, it's better to not have said anything at all rather than risk that people start to not check in tests with the code. But with that process, if there is no audit, no enforcement, that too will soon be an "optional" process. No matter how strong the process, there must be someone around to check for cracks starting before you have a flood on your hands.
Let's make up an example. Let's say you have 2 processes, people have to: 1) check tests in with their code and 2) write their name on the whiteboard as the last person that checked code in.
Arguably process #2 might not be as useful. So people stop doing it consistently. Then it stops being done at all. New people come join the group and have to learn what processes are done, which ones are bent, and which ones are ignored. I think that this leads to a thought process of "well, if process #2 is optional, maybe #1 is as well". Ignoring one process is a broken window and will quickly lead to more being ignored.
If you have a process, there has to be some kind of audit or automated check. If there isn't, that means it has to really make sense why you are doing it so that it's not really a process, it's just "the way things are done". For processes without audits or 100% buy in, you have to question why you actually have it if it's not important enough to check that it is being followed.
I think that for all processes, every once and a while you should be asking yourself:
- does this process still make sense in our current env
- how much value does it bring
- how much does it cost
- could we be doing a different process for a greater ROI
If you have a process that is almost universally ignored, all that you are doing is weakening the other processes. It's a strange case where the whole is less than the sum of the parts. Back to our example, rather than having said anything about process #2, it's better to not have said anything at all rather than risk that people start to not check in tests with the code. But with that process, if there is no audit, no enforcement, that too will soon be an "optional" process. No matter how strong the process, there must be someone around to check for cracks starting before you have a flood on your hands.
Monday, 5 June 2006
Faster, Stronger, Better...
When someone tells me that I am the resident expert of anything, I laugh. Not because of the explanation of what an expert is (an "ex" is a has-been and a 'spert is a drip under pressure), but because I can't seriously see me in any kind of role like that right now.
Don't get me wrong, I like being able to share my knowledge with other people. But to look at the stuff I have done as a shinning example? hahah... No. I can't believe that for the simple fact that I would no longer try and do a better job. I have to believe that I can do my job better. To make my apps faster, stronger, more robust, better tested, easier to maintain.
I can't let my skills stay where they currently are. I have to read more, learn more, do more. There isn't an option.
Don't get me wrong, I like being able to share my knowledge with other people. But to look at the stuff I have done as a shinning example? hahah... No. I can't believe that for the simple fact that I would no longer try and do a better job. I have to believe that I can do my job better. To make my apps faster, stronger, more robust, better tested, easier to maintain.
I can't let my skills stay where they currently are. I have to read more, learn more, do more. There isn't an option.
Saturday, 3 June 2006
My Cubicle
If you work in a cube, you would probably like the song this guy linked to. Pretty funny.
In other news, I'm going to stop using trackback. No one ever tracks back to me (other than Ryan or myself), so I don't seem much point.
In other news, I'm going to stop using trackback. No one ever tracks back to me (other than Ryan or myself), so I don't seem much point.
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