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Finish your stuff

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151–160 of 177 posts

Re: Finish your stuff

#151

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I wish more software updated itself. I don't want to navigate to the download page and run the installer every time it updates. That's busywork.

This is already a solved problem with package managers. You shouldn't ever have to "run the installer" each time you need to update a program.

The software in my package managers' sources is outdated.

Re: Finish your stuff

#152

Am I the only one that really hates the carpenter analogy? As someone who does woodworking on the side of my programming, there's a million reasons why it's a terrible way to think about software development. The chair doesn't have supported platforms, new security issues, or the need to be updated so that people keep buying the same chair. Someone else isn't going to have to come along later to maintain the chair an…

I think something like an airplane is a much better analogy, as it is a complex system in a constant state of flux. It requires constant maintenance and has to comply with ever-changing FAA rules and regulations. It has to adapt to changing routes and distances -- it might be retrofitted to hold more fuel, or redesigned to burn less. During its lifetime, it will undergo several cabin reconfigurations, and will likely be completely rebranded more than once as it changes ownership. It will live through various versions of seat-back cell phones, overhead entertainment systems, seat-back entertainment systems, WiFi, foot rests, tray tables, and power outlets. And after decades of constant changes, it will be forcibly retired. Like software, it won't be retired because it no longer works -- it will just be EOLed because it's old, and something newer and shinier has come along.

Re: Finish your stuff

#153
post #39

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Nice idea. Call it a "FinishUp Weekend" as opposed to a "StartUp Weekend"?

I searched my old emails and indeed we called it "Finish Up Weekend." It was held May 10, 2013 at Work In Progress (in Las Vegas). I'll credit John Hawkins (9seeds.com) with the name.

I did something remotely similar with a guy online - we set a schedule to each launch a monetised microsite within five days and 'keep each other honest' (e.g., not get lazy and do nothing each night). The plan was that each morning we'd check in and show progress - only allocated an hour each night. The pressure would motivate us to see it through.

Even though we'd never met and did everything via email, I still found it effective and built a site that made several hundred dollars and then sold down the track. Nothing lucrative, more than my hourly rate by hours spent.

Re: Finish your stuff

#154
I currently approach it from the "cyclical" time-management model. I'll know that things are never finished, but what I can do is finish a sketch of a broad system, or a detailing of a smaller portion, and return to it later. Repeating that a few times gets very powerful results.

What never works is when I start building an eternal software edifice. My name is Ozymandias, king of kings...

Re: Finish your stuff

#157
post #10

There's a great list of project management advice by Jerry Madden of NASA that gets posted here occasionally[1]. One of the points is; "Rule #30: It is mainly the incompetent that don't like to show off their work." Madden's remark is based on the specific environment he was involved in (NASA engineering); if you're surrounded by people who are good at their jobs and who know how to criticise constructively then ther…

> "Rule #30: It is mainly the incompetent that don't like to show off their work."

Or, they don't show it off for fear of the ungrateful comments that projects tend to get because they don't implement some feature, or there's some obscure bug that the author doesn't consider important, or haven't updated it in a while, and so on.

Re: Finish your stuff

#158
post #10

There's a great list of project management advice by Jerry Madden of NASA that gets posted here occasionally[1]. One of the points is; "Rule #30: It is mainly the incompetent that don't like to show off their work." Madden's remark is based on the specific environment he was involved in (NASA engineering); if you're surrounded by people who are good at their jobs and who know how to criticise constructively then ther…

[deleted]

Re: Finish your stuff

#159
post #153

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I searched my old emails and indeed we called it "Finish Up Weekend." It was held May 10, 2013 at Work In Progress (in Las Vegas). I'll credit John Hawkins (9seeds.com) with the name.

I did something remotely similar with a guy online - we set a schedule to each launch a monetised microsite within five days and 'keep each other honest' (e.g., not get lazy and do nothing each night). The plan was that each morning we'd check in and show progress - only allocated an hour each night. The pressure would motivate us to see it through. Even though we'd never met and did everything via email, I still fou…

Curious what the site was

Re: Finish your stuff

#160
This is the sort of wisdom that's really hard to pass on. I've learnt this from experience, and many other have. But when we try to pass this on to new programmers, the message never quite reaches them until they've learnt in by experience.
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