ceej's how to solve it

Transcript

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   ceej's how to solve it

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   ceej's how to solve it, or engineering at npm

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   a series of maxims & their application to problem-solving of

   diverse kinds
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   None
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   dedicated to David Zink with whom I have spent 20

   happy years arguing about all this
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   it takes decades to get good at writing software

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   most human beings learn complex skills through mentorship

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   most programmers learn by working with more experienced programmers

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   our industry's booms have caused shortages of experienced mentors

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    exacerbated by a modern contempt for anybody over 40

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    too often programmers come of age without experienced people around

    them
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    we keep re-inventing core tenets of our profession

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    npm's engineering staff meeting me attempting to share what I

    know and let you share what you know
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    lift each other up

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    therefore... this talk

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    None
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    systems are how things work together

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    the npm's registry is a system

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    npm itself is a system!

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    systems analyst once the title for people who do what

    programmers do now
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    systems exist in a constant state of failure The Systems

    Bible by John Gall
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    "Every complex working system can be shown to have evolved

    from a simple working system"
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    from this we extract a maxim...

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    write the simplest thing you can, every time

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    evolve your simple systems to do more keep them working

    the whole time
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    this is true for people systems as well as for

    computers & code
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    Simplicity is prerequisite for reliability. —Edsger W. Dijkstra

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    simple is not the same as easy Rich Hickey: Simple

    Made Easy
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    Do the simplest thing that moves you toward your goal

    while preserving your flexibility. —ceej
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    None
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    modularity

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    modularity is one of the big secrets

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    modularity is hiding the details of an implementation

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    if you hide the details you can change it later

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    the other secret is that change is guaranteed so prepare

    for it
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    the easy connection is with what npm does: we manage

    a javascript modules
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    modularity's more important applications are at a systems level

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    we hide our data storage implementations behind microservices

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    nobody knows if we're using mysql, postgres, or mongodb we

    can change it without other services caring
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    just did this to the downloads API mysql ➜ redis

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    None
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    always pronounce the names of things in the funniest possible

    way
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    don't let the perfect be the enemy of the better

    than what we have now
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    continuous improvement our products, our processes, our systems

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    iterate toward victory!

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    don't be clever

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    don't be clever “Debugging is twice as hard as writing

    the code in the first place. Therefore, if you write the code as cleverly as possible, you are, by definition, not smart enough to debug it. ” —Brian Kernighan
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    None
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    think

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    the RFC process is about stopping to think

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    what problem are you solving?

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    Defining the problem clearly helps you understand what a solution

    looks like.
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    RFC stands for request for comment

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    seek feedback

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    None
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    people make the best decisions they can given their information

    & abilities
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    improving the quality of your information will improve your decisions

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    give good feedback in return

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    your colleagues rely on you just as you rely on

    them
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    tie your ego to being right in the end not

    to being right from the start
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    None
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    you can't fool me, young man. it's tradeoffs all the

    way down
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    what's a tradeoff?

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    you accept something that's meh in one way but that's

    great in a way that matters more
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    every solution to a problem requires tradeoffs

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    make tradeoffs with your eyes open

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    None
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    I'll phrase that more positively

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    be kind be courageous

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    be kind to each other

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    kindness doesn't mean never saying hard things

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    kindness shapes how you say them

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    what does courage have to do with problem-solving?

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    be bold about tackling hard problems

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    be bold about re-examining what we do now

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    sometimes you need to blow everything up

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    None
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    the companies that survive are phoenixes

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    all code has a lifespan

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    code is originally written to solve a specific problem

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    our understanding of the problem changes the context around it

    changes the code itself changes
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    plan to replace all solutions to problems

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    feel good about how long your solution lasted!

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    None
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    how we deal with mistakes is important

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    because mistakes are inevitable

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    we try for blameless postmortems

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    we redesign processes when things go wrong

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    the right thing to do should be the easiest thing

    to do
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    work hard to make the right thing easy

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    do small things daily to tidy up

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    None
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    all code is communication

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    all of our work requires communication

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    learning our professions requires communication

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    how much time in each day do you spend talking

    to your colleagues?
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    do the work to get better at communicating

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    find where you can get better & do it! writing?

    chatting in slack? listening to feedback? giving feedback?
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     communication skills always pay off

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     never be cruel or cowardly if you are always make

     amends -- The Twelfth Doctor
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     None