Nat Bennett

@[email protected]
676 Followers
443 Following
3.2K Posts

I make computers do things & also jokes & pictures

Professionally, I'm a sort of wandering TDD-and-good-infrastructure ronin. I show up, fight the bandits in your CI, and leave town before anyone can force duty & honor into a conflict that will inevitably destroy me.

Personally, I'm a katamari damacy ball of hobbies but current interests include #StarTrek #Torchbearer #Photography #Knitting #Cooking #Baking #Lifting #Walking #MarvelSnap #Plants #Geology #California #Tea

Newsletterhttps://www.simplermachines.com
Job Boardhttps://www.simplermachines.com/jobs/
Nat BennettJun 29, 2024
sanae   (SF)Jun 28, 2024
I think it's really helpful to think of the things that you personally can do and have control over. Especially on social media it can be easy to think of alternately worrying about the state of the world, and imagining solutions that you hope other people implement, as being things that can influence the real world. But they don't.
Nat BennettJun 28, 2024
Lorin Hochstein Jun 25, 2024

Good post by @nat. The term I’ve heard for this is “outcome bias” (judging decisions based on knowing the outcome instead of judging them based on the information people had at the time).

https://www.simplermachines.com/dont-be-results-oriented/

Don't be results-oriented

The alternative to results-oriented thinking is process-oriented thinking. With process-oriented thinking, your focus is on the quality of the decisions that produce the result – the part of the process that you can control, instead of the random variables that you don't control.

Simpler Machines
Nat BennettApr 26, 2024
CobyApr 26, 2024

I’ve been told I should write more. So, I am.

Join me over at https://www.fullstacksyntax.com

I’m focusing on building fluency in people+tech, sharing what I know about that, and exploring what I don’t.

Full Stack Syntax

Writings on how teams build cross-functional fluency.

Full Stack Syntax
Nat BennettApr 23, 2024
Show threadPat CastaldoApr 23, 2024
Definitely miss and love the Adobe that made this installer splash screen.
Nat BennettApr 23, 2024
Dan PortsApr 23, 2023
Happy International Pallas Cat Day to all who celebrate!
Nat BennettApr 23, 2024
kottke.orgApr 23, 2024
Fascinated by this “WTF Notebook” post because 1) it’s a really good listening/note-taking idea for new team members 2) applied for weirdly Machiavellian ends, e.g. wanting ppl to think they're helpful rather than wanting to be helpful. https://www.simplermachines.com/why-you-need-a-wtf-notebook/
Why you need a "WTF Notebook"

There's a very specific reputation I want to have on a team: "Nat helps me solve my problems. Nat get things I care about done."

Simpler Machines
Nat BennettApr 23, 2024
Jacques ChesterApr 23, 2024
There need to be criminal sanctions a la SOx for failing at cybersecurity and privacy protection. Fines just punish the shareholders, not the negligent executives.
Nat BennettApr 23, 2024

Got invited to a Seder, making Persian Charoset.

I have been told that I should double the pistachios in this recipe.

https://cooking.nytimes.com/recipes/1013090-persian-haroseth-hallaq

Persian Haroseth (Hallaq) Recipe

This recipe is by Joan Nathan and takes 5 minutes. Tell us what you think of it at The New York Times - Dining - Food.

NYT Cooking
Nat BennettApr 18, 2024
Drew McManusApr 17, 2024

Also: If you lack integrity, it will often be the main thing people remember about you.

#Honesty #Interviewing #Values #Integrity

Read what @nat has to say about this:
https://www.simplermachines.com/dont-lie-in-interviews/

Don't lie in interviews

If your model is "it's okay to lie if I've been lied to" then we're all knee deep in bullshit forever and can never escape Transaction Cost Hell.

Simpler Machines
Nat BennettApr 16, 2024
Show threadmhoyeApr 16, 2024
When he later announcing his resignation as Firefox module owner and mentioning Brave, he sent mozilla.governance email about how he'd compared other engines to Gecko on all sorts of axes and how Electron/Chromium was superior on all of them, and I can still remember staring at my reply, at the words "if only we'd had somebody at Mozilla for the last fifteen years, in some sort of technical leadership capacity, who might have been able to do something about that. Too much to wish for, I guess".