Reflection week 7
15 Feb 2019What happened to week 6 notes? A long weekend away with my best friend exploring Brighton, that’s what happened.
This week: experimenting with the Google Calendar API, colouring outside the traditional pairing lines, and what I cant’ let go of tech or otherwise.
Update on semantic meeting names
A few weeks ago I suggested my team experiment with a variation the Conventional Commits for our meeting names (like karma commits). Using the Google Calendar API I wanted to see what I could learn about how we spent our collaboration time.
I’ll write a longer post about this soon.
I got a github project going and on my 20% time this week I started working on a python script to retrieve data about events. It was a neat experience.
I followed a quick start tutorial provided by Google which only required a one line change to finally get it off the ground.
The whole thing is still very much a work in progress but I want to get in the habit of showing off work that’s not “done” let alone “perfect”.
There was a thought-provoking article in the New York Times about how girls learn to believe they need something to be “perfect” before it’s “done”:
…girls don’t stop until they’ve polished each assignment to a high shine and rewritten their notes with color-coded precision.
One of the reasons I’ve avoided working on my own projects in the open or contributing to OSS is the belief that it has to be as close to perfect as I can make it before it goes on Github.
Colouring outside the traditional pairing lines
We pair a lot at work and for the most part I’m used to the traditional Driver/Navigator dynamic. Recently however, I’ve been thinking more critically about this approach.
I work with a number of developers who prefer to dive in to code, experiment, try and fail. I also enjoy this but I lean towards drawing diagrams, reading or thinking about the problem, and I love refactoring.
This can lead to some friction when pairing.
While I’m at the keyboard pondering, my partner is itching to get things going and experiment. When we switch, I find my partner moves fast and my cerebrality is left coughing in the dust of each new experiment.
Brandon Hays mentioned in a talk how developers can fall in three segments: Pioneers, Settlers, and Town Planners (I first read about this here and here).
While I find this idea intriguing, I wince a bit at the language (too many years studying Foucault, Spivak, discourses of power, and post-colonialism). I’m mulling over alternatives: planters and gardeners?
In any case, it’s made me think about colouring outside the traditional pairing lines.
I now try to sit back and watch as my partner experiments their heart out. Once we figure out what works we take a break to talk about designs and ways to refactor.
There are still some kinks to iron out. I notice I’m not on the keyboard on days like these which means I’m compromising on my own learning/improvement.
Can’t let it go
I’ve started reading Thanks for the Feedback and it’s really good.
It’s so good I can’t put it down.
I’m itching to do a tech talk or series of posts on the book.