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