Everything Is Broken, and It's OK

It's great when things break! It doesn't feel like it when it's happening to you, but those bugs that take you days to figure out are a goldmine of unintended learning.

Does programming ever get easier? No, and that would be boring. I'm going to talk about how we are all working on the hardest problem we've ever worked on. No matter where we are in our careers it always feels like an uphill battle.

I'll talk about ways to find value in that "wasted" time, to appreciate the hard bugs and daunting challenges, whether you're brand new to programming, or have been doing it for 20 years.

Transcript

1. @johnksawers
   Everything Is Broken, and It’s OK
   Why it’s good when things break
   

   View Slide

2. @johnksawers
   I’m John Sawers
   @johnksawers
   http:/
   /johnksawers.com
   http:/
   /emotionalapi.com
   

   View Slide

3. @johnksawers
   Part 1: Everything
   Is Broken
   The Life of a Developer
   3
   

   View Slide

4. @johnksawers
   Setbacks
   ● The most common event triggering a “worst day” was a
   setback.
   ● Significantly affect mood
   ● Dampen motivation
   4
   

   View Slide

5. @johnksawers
   The Daily Error
   5
   

   View Slide

6. @johnksawers
   Errors Are Everywhere
   ● Libraries
   ● Frameworks
   ● Operating Systems
   ● Servers
   ● 3rd Party Services
   ● The internet itself
   ● My code
   6
   

   View Slide

7. @johnksawers 7
   

   View Slide

8. @johnksawers 8
   

   View Slide

9. @johnksawers 9
   

   View Slide

10. @johnksawers10
    

    View Slide

11. @johnksawers11
    

    View Slide

12. @johnksawers12
    

    View Slide

13. @johnksawers13
    

    View Slide

14. @johnksawers14
    

    View Slide

15. @johnksawers
    The Bug Hunt
    15
    

    View Slide

16. @johnksawers16
    

    View Slide

17. @johnksawers
    Test Environment
    ● Add a new test environment for CI to the Rails config
    ● It should have taken half an hour
    ● It took 2 full days
    17
    

    View Slide

18. @johnksawers
    The Hard Problem
    18
    

    View Slide

19. @johnksawers19
    

    View Slide

20. @johnksawers
    Negativity Bias
    The Way Brains Work
    20
    

    View Slide

21. “
    …negative experiences tend to exert
    greater psychological impact on us
    than positive experiences of the
    same magnitude.[1]
    21
    

    View Slide

22. @johnksawers
    Climbing A Pyramid
    22
    Photo: https:/
    /thevelvetrocket.com/2010/03/11/jebel-barkal/
    

    View Slide

23. @johnksawers
    What You See At Every Step
    23
    

    View Slide

24. @johnksawers
    I’m Speaking To You
    ● This applies anywhere in your career
    ● Setbacks are normal
    ● It doesn’t get any easier
    ● You don’t want it to
    24
    

    View Slide

25. @johnksawers
    Part 2: It’s OK
    No, really
    

    View Slide

26. @johnksawers
    Change Our
    Thoughts
    The Easiest Things To Change
    26
    

    View Slide

27. @johnksawers
    Reframing
    27
    

    View Slide

28. @johnksawers
    Errors Are Everywhere Reframed
    ● We don’t notice the things that work
    ● We move immediately to the next broken thing
    ● Try to notice when this is happening
    28
    

    View Slide

29. @johnksawers
    Bug Hunt Reframed
    ● Google
    ● Stack Overflow
    ● Gem/Library READMEs
    ● Blogs
    ● Library Source Code
    ● App Modules
    29
    

    View Slide

30. @johnksawers
    Bug Hunt Reframed
    Keep An Eye Out For Direct Learning
    30
    

    View Slide

31. @johnksawers
    Bug Hunt Reframed
    Keep An Even Bigger Eye Out For
    Accidental Learning
    31
    

    View Slide

32. @johnksawers
    Bug Hunt Reframed
    Constant Rate Throughout Career
    32
    

    View Slide

33. @johnksawers
    My Bug Hunt Results
    33
    I Learned:
    ● Environment name is loaded in rails_helper.rb, not
    rspec_helper.rb
    ● Not a problem when they’re both ‘test’
    ● You can pass --env to rspec
    ● You can set system environment variable, but that’s loaded
    ● Lots of code will make assumptions that test env is called test
    

    View Slide

34. @johnksawers
    Hard Problems Reframed
    ● Notice what’s easy
    ● Especially if it used to be hard
    ● Realize this means progress
    ● It doesn’t get easier unless you pick trivial problems
    34
    

    View Slide

35. @johnksawers35
    

    View Slide

36. @johnksawers
    Change Our
    Actions
    This is Where It Gets Good
    36
    

    View Slide

37. @johnksawers
    Celebrate The Little Wins
    ● Not just the big ones
    ● They get celebrated anyway (most likely)
    ● Too infrequent
    ● Even progress counts as a win
    37
    

    View Slide

38. @johnksawers
    Acknowledge It
    38
    

    View Slide

39. @johnksawers
    Acknowledge It
    39
    

    View Slide

40. @johnksawers
    Power Poses[3]
    40
    

    View Slide

41. @johnksawers
    Do A Little
    Dance
    41
    

    View Slide

42. @johnksawers
    Victory Song
    42
    

    View Slide

43. @johnksawers43
    Photo: https:/
    /tyleredlinart.deviantart.com/art/comission-fur-on-fur-172151625
    

    View Slide

44. @johnksawers44
    

    View Slide

45. @johnksawers
    Spread The News
    ● Tell people about your wins
    ● Blogging
    ● Conference Talks
    ● Team Learning/Presentation
    45
    

    View Slide

46. @johnksawers
    Make Space
    ● Coffee break
    ● Quick walk
    ● Stretching
    ● A Few Deep Breaths
    46
    

    View Slide

47. @johnksawers
    Regular Reflection
    ● What went well?
    ● What did I complete or make progress on?
    ● What did I achieve?
    ● What went well?
    ● What brought me joy, fulfillment ?
    ● What steps did I take that got me closer to my goals?
    47
    

    View Slide

48. @johnksawers
    Tools
    48
    

    View Slide

49. @johnksawers
    Positivity
    Bias
    Let’s Create One
    49
    

    View Slide

50. “
    …people are more creative and
    productive when their inner work lives
    are positive…and have positive
    perceptions of their colleagues and the
    organization.[2]
    50
    

    View Slide

51. @johnksawers
    Feedback Loop
    51
    

    View Slide

52. @johnksawers
    You’re
    Responsible
    You May Not Want To Hear This
    52
    

    View Slide

53. @johnksawers
    Pyramid
    53
    

    View Slide

54. @johnksawers
    Stop. Turn Around. Take It In.
    54
    

    View Slide

55. @johnksawers
    So It Really Is OK
    55
    

    View Slide

56. @johnksawers
    It was OK all along.
    We just didn’t notice.
    56
    

    View Slide

57. Celebrate!
    

    View Slide

58. @johnksawers58
    Thanks!
    @johnksawers
    http:/
    /johnksawers.com
    http:/
    /emotionalapi.com
    

    View Slide

59. @johnksawers59
    References
    [1] - https:/
    /www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3652533/
    [2] - https:/
    /hbr.org/2011/05/the-power-of-small-wins & http:/
    /progressprinciple.com/
    [3] - https:/
    /ideas.ted.com/inside-the-debate-about-power-posing-a-q-a-with-amy-
    cuddy/
    Related Links
    • How It Goes: http:/
    /thedoghousediaries.com/5468
    • Finding Beauty in the Mundane: https:/
    /www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZRgiVRqPVL4
    • Burnout: https:/
    /www.kennethreitz.org/essays/the-reality-of-developer-burnout
    

    View Slide