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Software developers habitually use CRUD and collection terminology in designs/code. It's a knee-jerk decision because our programming facilities—frameworks and libraries—are chock-full of them and we want to go fast. Our brains become wired to that "language" and we start to think that every abstraction is just a variable, container, or disk/database.
Pro Tip: Challenge yourself and your team to reject CRUD and collection terminology and seek out more fitting words directly from the business.
I have a friend who decided to sell his portable air conditioner in the winter. He decided in the winter, but he waited until a day into the biggest heat wave of the summer before listing it for sale. Clever guy.
I try to do this with my change ideas. I'm in a team, and I see some pattern, friction, pain point, or opportunity... but if others don't see it, I keep the idea in storage until the "heat wave". Practically, that means I'm waiting to see if anyone brings it up in retro, or if folks resonate with the observation of the pain that I talk about in retro.
When (if) we agree it's a problem that's worth thinking about, then I bring my idea out of storage.
> The only person who likes change is a wet baby.” This change corrects a problem so I’m OK with it.
From @donaldegray's essay "This Title May Change at Any Time! (How Do You Feel About That?)"
When a change idea is tied to a problem we feel, we have a much bigger appetite for the change.
Sometimes, I've sat on an observation of a problem and proposed solution for as much as a year until something happens in the life of the team for the problem to be felt. Whereas they had no interest in my idea when I first pitched it, a year later when they were feeling the pain of it, they were open (and excited) about the idea!
I've found that often I have ideas for change before there is a broad appetite for the change.
Reading
“Teams building comprehension discipline now — treating genuine understanding, not just passing tests, as non-negotiable — will be better positioned when that reckoning arrives than teams that optimized purely for merge velocity”
and noticing… that this language puts the onus on teams with the word “discipline”… When it’s also much about the pressures and forces teams are under…
And I get that this is to inform management (too), but … it needs to be clear…
RE: https://mastodon.social/@Gargron/1
10 years today.
“If you ask people [whether they] want transparency on what’s behind your pricing strategy, people say ‘yes,'” he says. “But what we found in my research is a paradox, in the sense that people think that they want to know, but once they know, the reaction is worse than not knowing.”
via @NiceBastard
Many Washington Post readers have been notified via email that their subscription rates are set to increase. Nestled at the bottom of these emails, you’ll find an asterisk and the following: “This price was set by an algorithm using your personal data.” https://washingtonian.com/2026/03/12/the-washington-post-is-using-reader-data-to-set-subscription-prices-how-does-that-work/
The main reasons to use a fancy dependency-injection mechanic:
1) You have not learned how constructors work.
2) You have not learned how to break circular dependencies.
3) You really like global variables.
4) You are using a framework created by someone suffering from 1, 2, or 3 above.
‘Future wins will come not from having the most data, but from having the best model of reality. Two leaders can look at the same KPI and see two different futures because they hold different mental models. This is "Meta-Competence." ‘
Mariyka Byba has done such a wonderful job of conveying why systems understanding is so important!
Vaughn Vernon 🟦 🟨 🟧 🟪
Quotes by Superior Women
Alex Bird
Ruth — of systems & design
Eugen Rochko
Emily Bache
GeePawHill