Hey Mastodon - I'm doing a little "research" for my upcoming talk with @DeepDishSwift.
What's some "one line" advice you that resonates with you? Stuff like "do what you love" or "hustle!" or "don't love a your job; it won't love you back" -- what are the one liners that have really suck with you when it comes to work, life, love etc?
@sommer I’m not usually one to give much stock to one-liners - but I do remember asking an old, good, manager for his advice when I was moving into management. He answered very quickly with a short ‘just be kind’. Not what I was expecting, but it resonated with me, and it’s the only piece of advice I remember so starkly. And, though I’d rather everyone lived by it anyway, for something so seemingly emotional it is, maybe unintuitively, pretty pragmatic too.
This is a concept in the design community. Instead of asking people if they like a design, they instead use meaningful criteria. Are these colors and fonts easier to read than the current design? Is the workflow intuitive? How can you measure the difference, for better or worse?
Saying you like something is very overloaded and not bound to meaningful criteria. I’ve found it applies well to code.
@sommer@DeepDishSwift "Don't surprise your boss" - sage advice received from a boss once, and I realized gradually that it's useful guidance with both negative and positive surprises.
@sommer “Small steps” from the film “Contact” always stuck with me. Have the big problem in mind as the strategic goal but don’t let it overwhelm you. Small steps will get you there.
@sommer some life ones: Life: life is short; we are all in this together; be excellent to each other; be kind; trust but verify; trust is very hard to earn, easy to lose;
Some work ones: The perfect is the enemy of the good; better be safe than sorry; you can lead from any chair; Everything is invented; don’t sweat the small stuff; be kind; fix bugs before implementing new features; make it work before you make it fast; you don’t get what you deserve, you get what you negotiate; corporate form Microsoft but great: Create clarity, generate energy, deliver results; learn the cost of moving data from different parts of the system;
@MuseumShuffle@sommer@DeepDishSwift related to this one: assume people have the best intentions. Even if they didn’t, if you act like they did it gives them an opportunity to change their mind without arguments or embarrassment.
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