October 31, 2009
Development
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I went to one of the Stackoverflow DevDays the other day and I’m still not quite sure what to make of it.
It was fun, it was useful, I learnt stuff, but I just couldn’t help feeling a bit deflated when I left.
Not sure if this was due to the fact I felt like a couple of the seminars were thinly veiled sales pitches or if it was down to the fact that everyone else seemed to work for companies that care about their developers… I’d taken a days holiday and paid out of my own pocket to go!
July 31, 2008
Development, Random
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Google has been the big daddy of search for a long time, is it because it provides the best search or is it because it was in the right place at the right time. Now everyone has it as their homepage, and seeing results laid out differently is just odd. It may not be the best but why leave, there’s a mental overhead (no matter how small) which just keeps people doing the same thing.
I’ve tried, I used Exalead for quite a while but just found that google did give me the results I wanted, although I do still use it from time to time. Usually to give me a fresh perspective. It’s like asking different people for advice.
Cuil was launched this week, and sees to have had a good kicking in the press, again, it didn’t give me the results I wanted (is that my fault or theirs?)
After the news of Cuil I was True Knowledge which worried me as I’d been less than I’m pressed with Cuil, but then the purpose is different, it’s not trying to compete on search but on answering questions, and that sounds brilliant. This could be another leap in knowledge evolution.
As long as they have a way to update their facts, I mean when scientists realise that the earth isn’t flat, and the solar system doesn’t revolve around the earth, there will be some important facts to change- 13 things that don’t make sense.
May 12, 2008
Development, Strategy
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In my previous post I said (right down at the bottom) that the only thing I missed about home working was the social side of going to work. I’ve been thinking about this and I think it has more to do with removal of stimuli (yeah, bear with me).
Working from home is great, I get loads done and a lot of this work (despite being mostly programming work) requires communication. We mostly use chat (or email if anyone’s away from their machine) but there is a sterility in the chat conversations, most of them are one on one aimed at finding something out, and I think this along with familiarity, which may turn to cabin-fever, of spending more time than ever at home (yeah I do go out and I do have my ‘work room’ so I don’t feel like i should constantly be working) is leading to a state where there is no more stimulation.
How to overcome this…
- Meet up with work colleagues, try for once a week (it depends on how remote you are!)
- Have informal group chats on the go as well as the get to the point one to ones
- Don’t forget that the person hasn’t turned into a robot just because you talk to them by computer!
- Use Skype/ googleTalk etc to actually talk, even if it may take longer
- Get out! go see people, I do an art class, photography workshops and go down the pub, everyone needs people! It’s all things I did before I started Home Working but without them I think I’d go mad! make sure you leave the house every day even if it’s just to walk round the block.
- Keep learning, and keep sharing what you you learn.
It’s been nice having the chance to do some home working and I think there are loads of situation where it’s advantages are huge. One idea I had to encourage the social side of work yet keep the ‘home’ ease was to have local centres, you could have a community hall, or a purpose built one, but having a local hub where you can get a coffee, some technical help, access to some of the kit you may not have at home and… people. The hub could be a business centre with all the facilities like meeting rooms or it could just be a glorified network coffee shop or internet cafe. I know that there are some remote trading floors where the traders work from their towns trading floor instead of going in to the City, they still get the social, and the tips! but don’t have to commute (as far), so why not expand this for anyone who doesn’t need to be in the office.
Anyway I’m starting a new job in a few weeks, office based, but with developers working from two locations so the remote working skills and discipline will be handy.
May 6, 2008
Development, Strategy
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As I’ve said in previous posts we’ve been retooling so we can work remotely and more efficiently as a team.
So here’ a bit of feedback on how it’s all been going.
There have obviously been a few teething problems but in general its been great. We were lucky in that our team was all working centrally to start with so we have a good team bond and know each other well.
We’re using Google Apps for business and have transferred our e-mail over to them (after a bit of an MX record phaf) and now that is working nicely, once you get used to the way Google groups your e-mail (no problem to me as I’ve been on gmail for a while but some of the others did think they’d lost email). The Google Docs suite seems to be upgraded frequently and with Google Gears for offline sync is just totally awesome. We do still pull documents down and format them in Word to send out to clients but in Google apps we can all get stuck in and get the content right.
The problems we did have were that our source control was on a local server which we couldn’t make accessible to the whole world, and we didn’t realise that our RDP to our remote server and remote SQL access were locked to our old office IP address… good security not so good for remote working) all easily overcome though.
We’re using Clocking IT for time management and tracking projects which is also going really well, as long as everyone ensures the log their time and keeps their projects up to-date, and with a Google gadget in our Google Apps start page we can see what’s on at all times, great integration.
We have all now moved out of the office and productivity is still high, chat (with logging into gmail) is great just like in the office, but now I don’t have to commute!
What I do miss is the social side, whilst we do have offline chats, it’s not the same as going to make a brew and putting the world to rights, the range of music that people brought in to share (although I suppose we could still do that) and the people at our building who we didn’t actually work with… hmm yeah and sharing a building with a chiropractor was always handy!
April 24, 2008
Development
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Well guys, edition two of the podcast was much better.
I take it all back, now you’re in the flow i’ll be listening in.