Defining policy, process and programs.
December 30, 2018 I'm working on a presentation for the SFELC Summit 2019 on the topic of designing effective process. There is so much worth saying here that I initially had some trouble narrowing it down. I think the best piece I've written on this topic is "Work the policy, not the exception", but hey, that's about policy not process.
Notes on Structure and Interpretation of Computer Programs.
December 29, 2018 Almost a decade ago, I bought a copy of Structure and Interpretation of Computer Programs. My purchase was inspired by folks calling it a great work, and I wanted to love it. In the decade since, I've started working through the book probably a dozen times, but never got too far. The early content was too easy to hold my attention, and the later content was inscrutable because I hadn't done the earlier content to learn Scheme. I finally got around to working through SICP, and here are my notes.
2018 in review.
December 27, 2018 By far the most rewarding thing I did this year was marrying a wonderful person. My sister also married, and my sister-in-law is getting married in the spring of next year. In such a sea of marriages, it feels a bit trite to write a year review on my writing hobby, but what's a hobby good for if not enabling trite behavior?
Paying Technical Debt at Scale - Migrations @ QCon SF 2018
December 13, 2018 Video of my QCon SF talk is up! The talk was about migrations and how they define company velocity over time: Paying Technical Debt at Scale - Migrations.
Infrastructure planning: users, baselines and timeframes.
December 9, 2018 Technical infrastructure is never complete. System processes can always run with less overhead or be bin-packed onto fewer machines. Data can be retrieved more quickly and stored at a cheaper cost per terabyte. System design can broaden the gap between failure and user impact. Transport layers can be more secure.