Working with Scott? Here's what to expect!
Caveats:
- I'm pretty aware of my faults - this document isn't my attempt at excusing them.
- This document also isn't an attempt to build trust. That happens as we work together.
- Small-town raised, lived-all-over, Millennial-leaning Gen-Xer (Xennial?) who loves music, cooking, dad jokes, and technology
- I'm pretty much down the middle blue/green. (Supporting or Observing Coordinator)
- I'm ISTP-ish
- Keep things as simple as possible - for as long as possible. Optimize for simplicity over scale (simplicity will scale more than you think)
- Fight NIH Syndrome - what existing tools/products can we use?
- Use YAGNI to help you simplify.
- When it comes to technology boring is good. Create cool things with boring tech.
- "The problem with 'best tool for the job' thinking is that it takes a myopic view of the words 'best' and 'job.' Your job is keeping the company in business... and the 'best' tool is the one that occupies the 'least worst' position for as many of your problems as possible." - Dan McKinley
- Optimize for 2-way doors over 1-way doors Iterating is easier using 2-ways doors. Solutions for 1-way doors should generally be boring (see above).
- "A well-designed system makes it easy to do the right things and annoying (but not impossible) to do the wrong things." Dig yourself (and others) a pit of success.
- Data - How do we measure what we care about? "If you can't make engineering decisions based on data, then make engineering decisions that result in data." - Kent Beck
- We are not paid to write code. We are paid to solve problems and sometimes that means coding.
- Success really comes from consistantly avoiding dumb mistakes rather than trying to be amazing
- We don't want heroes - problem prevention > problem solving
- Turn things on their heads and run pre-Mortems
- If it matters enough to be careful, it matters enough to build a system around it.
- Continuous improvement - Little by little let's make things better - small improvements are ok if it's consistant.
- When it comes to human interaction, boring is bad. Emojis, gifs and cool project names plz. 😄
- I'm a huge fan of having a first team mindset.
- Be assertive - not passive aggressive or plain old aggressive. Tact and open communication go a long way.
- Know the “why” of what we are working on. We can all pass the elevator test.
- Pragmatist - What will work for our team right now? People > process - real agile.
- Written communication helps solidify your thoughts (see: https://basecamp.com/guides/how-we-communicate #6 and #7).
- No going dark.