ICYMI...
Teaser: “Errors are normal” https://twitter.com/mweagle/status/1553110486371053569
Replying to @geoff_baskwill
Glad you enjoyed it and I struggled to limit it to one quote tweet :)
The “I can just do this myself in a weekend” was a strong contender...
Replying to @geoff_baskwill
We should call those Othello-Services: “A weekend to develop, a lifetime to secure, optimize, iterate, support, scale, monitor, disaster-recover, ...”
As a powerwasher owner with lots of mildew and mold covered surfaces, this is no game.
https://store.steampowered.com/app/1290000/PowerWash_Simulator/
Replying to @mpchlets
The 3000 psi with a 0 degree nozzle is not to be trifled with.
Troubling sign when I miss the levelheadedness of GoodSpaceGuy.
Perhaps the best `go` feature is stability:
“We expect almost all Go programs to continue to compile and run as before.”
https://go.dev/doc/go1.19
“Working at or close to 100% utilization will slow to a crawl everything that depends on you.”
Applying the Universal Scalability Law to organisations | the morning paper https://blog.acolyer.org/2015/04/29/applying-the-universal-scalability-law-to-organisations/
Replying to @mweagle
Many information sources are autogenerated via OOB triggers & workflows. This is great!
Ensure automatically generated views have both a version & deep link to the source that generated them and if possible, the specific execution. Backpointers are everybody’s learning friend.
Replying to @mweagle
Create a mechanism (tags, folders, document header blocks, whatever works) that indicates the state of a document/design/implementation proposal.
A proposal is different than an already implemented decision. Help out your future teammates, including future you.
Replying to @mweagle
Use a text expander (I use @AlfredApp) with both local tz and UTC date/times to reduce friction populating those fields. This is also handy during incident management for timeline management.
🧵 Asynchronous communication tips I’ve found helpful…
Add a `LastUpdated` column/parenthetical to spreadsheet rows and document transient-content. Yes, many systems have audit logs. No, people will typically not bisect the history to find the one change of interest.
Replying to @RobotTaylor
Timely prediction
Replying to @ben11kehoe
RT @geoff_baskwill: Catching @colmmacc replaying his @AWSreInforce talk about a framework AWS uses for thinking about securing access to da…
“our ability to use limited information from a very narrow period of experience to come to a conclusion”
Curious if they are good conclusions.
Replying to @mweagle
The boxes are illusory:
“People cannot be thought about separately from the technological devices that are supposed to assist them.”
Agents of all types must work together to cooperatively create operational capacity.
🧵 How to Make Automated Systems Team Players - Christoffersen & Woods (2001)
“We seem to be locked into a mindset of thinking that technology and people are independent components – either this electronic box failed or that human box failed.”
Replying to @mweagle
Observability
1. What is the shared problem state? 2. What are the other agents doing?
Replying to @mweagle
This sounds troublesome. What to do?
Design for Coordination: Observability & Directability
Replying to @mweagle
Adding a OOB script or an automatically triggered behavior is like adding a team member. Every commit to those sources creates an entirely new team with radically new behavior. From “quick refactor” to “heap OOM OMG”. Every non-hermetically build does the same.
Replying to @mweagle
A contextless “Operation Failed” log statement doesn’t contribute to the joint representation.
Rule of thumb: show me your work. State if you have no strategy...and list what you tried. It’s ok, the people are here.
Replying to @mweagle
Automatic scripts should share their identity (commit), what data they’re using to evaluate, *why* certain actions were performed, what they expected to see, how long they expected that to take, etc. Please be a communicative teammate.
Replying to @mweagle
In the worst case, when things escalate, automated tooling/side effects create increased coordination and cognitive load. The understandable response is either to ignore them or turn them off.
Making automated agents that are tempo & situationally aware is hard.
Replying to @mweagle
Directability
Human agents are typically responsible for outcomes which means automated agents should be in a supporting role. And unpredictable things happen, can we all adapt together? Bimodal human/machine potentially loses out on delegation opportunities. Are they flexible?
Replying to @mweagle
“[T]hey find that the only reason many of these joint systems perform adequately at all is because of the resourcefulness and adaptability that the human agents display in the face of uncommunicative and uncooperative machine agents.”
Replying to @mweagle
Summary
People are actively creating stable system operation, often despite their lightning-quick-and-silent automated agent team members.
The resolution and shadowing on this AR game is incredible.
Please unroll @threadreaderapp https://twitter.com/rmurphey/status/1557045725447569411
“We’ve learned there’s enormous opportunity just in quantifying software engineers’ day-to-day experience writing software, and how it’s impacting the business.”
Thread by @rmurphey on Thread Reader App – Thread Reader App https://threadreaderapp.com/thread/1557045725447569411.html
Reminder to keep your code close and your dependencies even closer:
https://arstechnica.com/information-technology/2022/08/10-malicious-python-packages-exposed-in-latest-repository-attack/ https://twitter.com/mweagle/status/1504934454149537798
“Make Work Visible was our rallying cry to improve flow.” (via @Pocket) #longreads https://pocket.co/xppzkp
“The only way to deal with long-term overload is to reduce load, deferring load does not work.”
What is Backoff For? - Marc’s Blog https://brooker.co.za/blog/2022/08/11/backoff.html
💯 “What we have observed is that across every activity across every industry vertical, high performers have figured out how to vastly reduce the cost of coordination.“
On Coordination Costs: Moving A Couch, And Painting A Room - IT Revolution https://itrevolution.com/on-coordination-costs-moving-a-couch-and-painting-a-room/
RT @alexbdebrie: @mweagle True for computers and for humans
“Especially if they’re used to IT Services organizations that do exactly (and only) what’s been spec’d by business stakeholders, they interpret this as unwillingness: won’t rather than can’t.” https://www.mironov.com/pri-politics/
“The transition to an EM is a role change, not a promotion.”
(via @Pocket) https://pocket.co/xppzRz
“We have a different trinity of concerns: design, engineering, and product management. Here I’m sharing how each function fits into the puzzle.”
How engineering, design, and product form the ‘software trinity’ | LeadDev https://leaddev.com/cross-functional-collaboration/how-engineering-design-and-product-form-software-trinity
“I think that all of that, again intersectionally, is important to people who are aspiring to do those sorts of roles, executive leadership within tech.”
Being an Under-represented Voice in the CTO Chair https://suzansfieldnotes.substack.com/p/being-an-under-represented-voice
“This post shows you how concurrency and transactions per second work within the Lambda lifecycle. It also covers ways to measure, control, and optimize them.” https://aws.amazon.com/blogs/compute/understanding-aws-lambda-scaling-and-throughput/
“[A]n inclusive environment, one that attempts to correct for systematic bias and ensure that a broader range of humanity can be successful can be so impactful for improved DEI outcomes.” https://cate.blog/2022/07/18/from-visibility-to-representation-rethinking-dei/
“Ironically, toil eats up the time needed to do the engineering work that will prevent future toil.” https://leaddev.com/productivity-eng-velocity/what-toil-and-why-it-damaging-your-engineering-org
“People in management roles need to see the system and work on system, but receive little to no training in system seeing/thinking/acting.” https://www.estherderby.com/11-things-abt-managers/
“Later that week it was all working. But along the way I yelled at the computer more than I’d have expected.” https://www.tbray.org/ongoing/When/202x/2022/05/14/Golang-Generics
“The paper describes a very simple and intuitive property of a system — monotonicity — that determines whether coordination is needed or not. Let’s see what that means.” https://blog.techlanika.com/avoiding-coordination-cost-three-patterns-for-building-efficient-distributed-systems-b8aff9314e88
“This paper presents our experience operating DynamoDB at a massive scale and how the architecture continues to evolve to meet the ever-increasing demands of customer workloads.”
https://www.usenix.org/system/files/atc22-elhemali.pdf
Replying to @mweagle
Recurring theme: significant engineering to improve/extend the system in response to observed behaviors.
Replying to @alexbdebrie
My @Pocket read-behind log is looonnggg. 😀
Sus among us
I should not have read the press release.
“Exact details of the business plan could not be learned.”
https://www.nytimes.com/2022/08/15/business/dealbook/adam-neumann-flow-new-company-wework-real-estate.html https://twitter.com/mweagle/status/1559228681121214465
“Remember, this is a cultural change, and cultural changes that don’t involve changes to what is valued when it comes to recognition and rewards are destined to failure.” https://skamille.medium.com/the-product-culture-shift-441c31a3fdf1
“Research in high reliability teams has recognized that individual competence in clinical skills is not enough; team coordination, communication, and cooperation skills are essential to effective and safe performance.” https://www.rmf.harvard.edu/clinician-resources/article/2014/crico-operating-room-team-training-collaborative-closed-loop-communication
Replying to @RobotTaylor
You bet.
You’ve probably already read it and in case not, the importance of customer empathy is a strong theme in https://www.amazon.com/dp/0672326140/ref=cm_sw_r_tw_dp_VGTPKSZCDT7BPCZ764S5
Initial impression of @opalcamera is that it gets (too?) warm and does capture a better image than my Anker PowerConf C300.
Going to give it a few days before officially retiring the Anker.
Replying to @opalcamera
The magnetized lens cover is nice and would benefit from a second magnet on the case for storage when not in use.
Related: I’m fully expecting to lose the lens cover.
Replying to @richburroughs and @opalcamera
Good to hear & agree - I like the software. DYK how to activate “Draw on Video” mode?
Replying to @BBernays, @richburroughs and @opalcamera
Yeah, that is a nice feature.
Replying to @Jowanza and @opalcamera
Ugh...is it stable/frugal enough that you’re able to use it all the time?
Replying to @opalcamera
Day 2: * Failed to connect following sleep/wake cycle * Rebooted, camera now discoverable and unable to focus image (manual or auto).
Status: Back to Anker
This podcast is 👌
https://fallofcivilizationspodcast.com/
Nasty
Static stability is a valuable lens when thinking about system resiliency.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sKRdemSirDM&t=704s
Lucky to see this local on the trail.
Antemortem: process used to identify the causes of a project’s success and how to accentuate them.
Replying to @dpp
I like it!
How can we make the project more healthy?
“Whats happening when nothing bad is happening?” https://overcast.fm/+tF0Aj41ho
Replying to @kstewart
That…is a design.
Replying to @kstewart
I keep thinking the design team played too much of this….
Anyone have experiences using a Google Fi eSIM on an iPhone? WDYT?
“When people know what they are collectively trying to achieve they can determine the how themselves (or at least course correct the how because they know what success is supposed to be).” https://wioota.substack.com/p/walters-lever-of-improvement
Replying to @vladdy
Good to hear - thanks. Do you need/have a second carrier?
Replying to @vladdy
Cool - will give it a try...ty.
Quickly becoming “tall person with facefull of spiderwebs that were just above everyone else’s head” season.
New list idea: 8 over 80 https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2022/08/unix-legend-who-owes-us-nothing-keeps-fixing-foundational-awk-code/
Replying to @alexbdebrie
No. IAC
Ref: https://twitter.com/ben11kehoe/status/1561739261304606720
Naming things was a mistake.
This seems topical.
https://www.aei.org/carpe-diem/chart-of-the-day-or-century-8/
This doesn’t seem like what a friend would say tho.
Replying to @cmeik
Replying to @cmeik and @jhscott
He’s fired up for the 2023 NBA Play-In Tournament
Congrats again. 👏
‘Safety I can be considered an approach where we try to ensure that “as few things as possible go wrong”, whilst the Safety II perspective focuses on ensuring “as many things as possible go well”.’ https://psychsafety.co.uk/psychological-safety-73-safety-i-safety-ii/
“In this period, apart from database or application design, the technical success of a growing product benefited significantly from adopting a few characteristics. In this article, I’ll capture a few to highlight what helped us.” https://rakyll.medium.com/how-to-peacefully-grow-your-service-c40c25fe097f
“While I’m writing this post as a counterpoint to many conversations I’ve seen on social media about the changing nature of engineering management, all of these conversations also have made me feel genuinely hopeful.” https://www.honeycomb.io/blog/an-engineering-managers-bill-of-rights-and-responsibilities/
Danger lantern
Replying to @tmclaughbos, @beccaodelay and @rchrdbyd
Wicked awesome
Replying to @beccaodelay, @tmclaughbos, @rchrdbyd and @jeremy_daly
I am 👋 Putting out the call to all the wicked awesome builders back there to meet up with you all.
Some sources of context that I try to include in log output, visualizations, etc.
1. Source link. Bonus points: deep commit URL 2. When artifact was refreshed (UTC) 3. If CLI: command line used to create behavior/output/visualization 4. Inline/URL to “How can I use this” docs
Replying to @mweagle
TL;DR; Provide “cognitive fish ladders” to help the intrepid crew members looking to swim upstream and learn more.
Replying to @TimJohnsWA
Noice 👍
Replying to @tobyhede
Salmon Event Stream
Replying to @TimJohnsWA
Future Tim sends his thanks
Replying to @kstewart and @TheLeadDev
Hopefully there’s more after your writing break.
“Ideas don’t exist in a vacuum. The context surrounding those ideas plays a key role in their adoption. For ideas to take off, developers, customers, and business leaders need to be able to embrace them.” https://twitter.com/kstewart/status/1565066795991834624
RT @divinetechygirl: Don’t sleep on LinkedIn. Yes there’s lots of 🗑 but there’s also really great content.
For example, here’s a very rel…