ALT Lab

"But sometimes the reflexive impulse to map the data can make you forget that showing the data in another form might answer other - and sometimes more important - questions. So, when should you use a form other than than a map?"

This is actually an interesting historical account of how language evolves in the digital age.

Oh. My. (Palm to face.) A few weeks ago I gave the following in class assignment; take 5 minutes to interview your partner to find out what they did this weekend. Be specific. After the two minutes I said, "Ok - now you have 30-60 seconds to sell us their weekend. Pretend we are an audience of people looking for the perfect weekend. Sell us their weekend." Guess how many weekends were FILLED with 'Netflix and chill". Now guess how many times I nodded in agreement recalling documentary marathon after documentary marathon. One of these things is not like the other!

dope

Hardcore

"Defense lawyers of Reddit, what would your defense be for various Disney villains?"

"The Columbia Film Language Glossary is a teaching tool designed to enhance the study of film. The Glossary features key terms in film studies selected by Columbia faculty and illustrated with detailed explanations, film clips, and visual annotations. Browse Terms "

I/we need to consider this with our team and education more broadly. "Theory 1: Nothing we "know" about software development should be assumed to be true. Most of our tools, our mental models, and our practices are remnants of an era (possibly fictional) where software was written by solo practitioners, but modern software is a team sport. Theory 2: Technology is the product of the culture that builds it. Great technology is the product of a great culture. Culture gives us the ability to act in a loosely coupled way; it allows us to pursue a diversity of tactics. Uncertainty is the mind-killer and culture creates certainty in the face of the yawning shapeless void of possible solutions that is software engineering. Culture is what you do, not what you say. It starts at the top. It affects everything. You have a choice about the culture you promote, not about the culture you have. Theory 3: Software development should be thought of as a cycle of continual learning and improvement rather a progression from start to finish, or a search for correctness. If you aren't shipping, you aren't learning. If it slows down shipping, it probably isn't worth it. Maturity is knowing when to make the trade off and when not to. I had some experience with this at Flickr, and I wanted to see how far you could scale it. My private bet was that we'd make it to 50 engineers before things broke down. Theory 4: You build a culture of learning by optimizing globally not locally. Your improvement, over time, as a team, with shared tools, practices and beliefs is more important than individual pockets of brilliance. And more satisfying. Theory 5: If you want to build for the long term, the only guarantee is change. Invest in your people and your ability to ask questions, not your current answers. Your current answers are wrong, or they will be soon. "

The middle road . . . Comments are well worth reading.