I don’t “do politics” and I apologise that this is political – but not in the sense that I am interested in promoting the interests of any particular political party. I just want to highlight the flavour of democracy in the UK. Did you ever wonder how important the boundaries are in a general election […]
Choosing tools and technology can be a formal process that locks you into your choices, or a chaotic process where nobody knows what the choices are. The correct way to document a decision is to supply just enough information to explain why the choice was made at this point in time, what alternatives were considered, […]
When you have a tough design choice to make, it is common for the ideas to be bounced around within an informal committee. This causes a premature convergent stage in the design, where each committee member adds to the shopping list of requirements, or to the banned list of what cannot be done. Good user […]
Frameworks and toolkits are great, because you get to do something complex in a very simple way – and that saves time. I use them – a lot. But I also understand the cost. Let’s approach it from the stock answer everyone gets when they say “I’m trying to write something that does x but […]
You may recognise the scenario. A team that seems lethargic, low-energy, lacking communication, and delivering poor quality work can suddenly ignite into a high-energy team of awesomeness… all they need is for the boss to be on holiday, or at a conference, or in an off-site meetings – just generally not around. This is the […]
There is a big difference between interviewing for a Theory-X company and a Theory-Y company. The good news is that when you are looking for a Theory-Y company; you don’t need to worry about adjusting your style based on the organisation. Let’s look at the traditional Theory-X interview first. This is the one they trained […]
We all care quite a lot for the people we are close to. We also care about the grand collection of humanity. But we only really care about humanity if we can fill in the gap between these two circles. When you rage somebody off of the road, or are rude to a stranger, or […]
Firstly, when you need a type definition for a JavaScript library that you want full type information for, there is Definitely Typed. But before you grab a type definition, let’s stop and think for a minute. TypeScript does indeed bring you lots of benefits in terms of type checking, and editor features such as auto-completion […]
I really enjoy watching the ITV television series “Agatha Christie’s Poirot”, starring David Suchet as Poirot and with enjoyable regular performances from Hugh Fraser, Philip Jackson, and Pauling Moran. The shows themselves are great fun, especially the lighter episodes; but that isn’t what makes this show such compelling viewing. The part of this show I […]
The mainstream effect describes a level of popularity that a given technique may gain, which causes the general knowledge of it to become dangerously superficial. When it exists in a small niche, amongst a dedicated community of practitioners, the technique proves to be highly effective. The technique is passed on from person to person in […]