@RuthMalan@mastodon.social avatar

RuthMalan

@RuthMalan@mastodon.social

Software And Systems Architecture, more or less
She/her

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RuthMalan, to random
@RuthMalan@mastodon.social avatar

We're headed into ever more impactful and more frequent climate related disruption.

While... some (many! too many...) turn to authoritarian means to attempt "order by order," or "command and control" ... that is futile ... Dominance and suppression serves privilege, but Nature is ungovernable!

To do what we need to do, we need co-operation, diversity of ideas and collective work, a sense of mutual dependence.

RuthMalan, to random
@RuthMalan@mastodon.social avatar

Domain driven design :)

https://meow.social/@odoben/112066227135324409

RuthMalan, to random
@RuthMalan@mastodon.social avatar

For International Women’s Day, we’re introducing awesome women?

@dahukanna — https://www.ibm.com/design/community/Dawn/ ; follow here, and live-post Dawn’s talks at a conference to send my unabashed envy level to 11!

@elizayer — read her blogs at https://medium.com/@ElizAyer ; so good!

@hazelweakly — she’s like raising us all up on a platform of insights — here, in talks, in posts here and at https://hazelweakly.me/blog/

@yvonnezlam — my go to whenever i’m like ok, i need a helping of insight and kindness

RuthMalan,
@RuthMalan@mastodon.social avatar

@hazelweakly @dahukanna @elizayer @yvonnezlam i have this “and” thing when I get to the end of the character count and … do i keep going or give everyone a break from ruth perpetually under- or over-doing… :)

RuthMalan,
@RuthMalan@mastodon.social avatar

@hazelweakly @dahukanna @elizayer @yvonnezlam

by which i mean… this lovely company also needs @ericastanley — amazing tech leader; I’ve learned so much from Erica!
@diana — writing books and giving talks and workshops on systems and writing
@PropCazhPM — her posts (here and 🦋) are so thoughtful and informed (not only tech/product, but art, music, food, culture, the state of things)

RuthMalan, to random
@RuthMalan@mastodon.social avatar

For those interested in discussing How Infrastructure Works by @debcha in the April 2 (probably, TBD) discussion:

Which chapter(s)? I was wondering if ch1 and 2 is too much for an hour? But Ch1 sets the scene and situates and already is posing so much to us! Or should we focus on ch 6? So many options!

Also, we need someone to lead the discussion.

RuthMalan, to random
@RuthMalan@mastodon.social avatar

If you have been laid off and want to be in a fun group while learning from and with them
If you are from an underestimated group in tech
If you have attended this workshop and would love to return to learn more
Lmk so I can get you a scholarship link

System Design and Software Architecture on March 18 - 20 and March 25-27, 2024 at 11 am - 3:30 pm Eastern Time (US/Canada) https://ti.to/bredemeyer/system-design-mar-2024

Preview material: https://ruthmalan.com/Leadership/20240220TechnicalDecisions.pdf

RuthMalan, to random
@RuthMalan@mastodon.social avatar

Read this* and was suddenly like… 25 years as an indie in tech is like multiple generations (of tech waves)! Yay me (and all the other indies who are still out here, doing high intensity care work :) )

RuthMalan, to random
@RuthMalan@mastodon.social avatar

What's your favorite quote in the Decisions chapbook (pdf:
https://ruthmalan.com/Leadership/20240220TechnicalDecisions.pdf)

and why is it:
“A lot of work is the work of
noticing what work needs
doing.”
— Elizabeth Zagroba

Or wait, is it:
“Listen to the wisdom of the
system.”
— Donella Meadows

No, no, it must be:
"You are your own stories and
therefore free to imagine and experience"
— Toni Morrison

And:
"We know from everyday experience
that a person is partly forged in the crucible of community.”
— Abeba Birhane

RuthMalan,
@RuthMalan@mastodon.social avatar

More seriously, looking at it through that lens, I notice how much I'm still missing! There's that fun quote from @diana that I use elsewhere, but it wants to be in the Decisions chapbook too:

"The value of every decision we make depends on the context in which we make it. In The Lord of the Rings, Frodo’s journey to destroy the ring is meaningful inside the context of Middle Earth. Otherwise, he’s a short, hairy guy with apocalyptic hallucinations."

(from https://mentrixgroup.com/articles/defining-strategic-thinking )

RuthMalan,
@RuthMalan@mastodon.social avatar

There's also fun things, like quoting Nivia Henry (her words were such A Moment for me!):
“The longer I’m a leader, the more
I realize that communicating
something once is the equivalent
of not communicating it at all."

Then repeating that Rechtin quote (“Don’t ever stop talking about the
system”) on multiple pages. :)

RuthMalan,
@RuthMalan@mastodon.social avatar

March is soon! Still space:

System Design and Software Architecture on March 18 - 20 and March 25-27, 2024 at 11 am - 3:30 pm Eastern Time (US/Canada) https://ti.to/bredemeyer/system-design-mar-2024

Preview material (share freely): chapbook on Decisions (pdf) — significant decisions are, after all, at the core of architecture (people are at the heart):
https://ruthmalan.com/Leadership/20240220TechnicalDecisions.pdf

KFosterMarks, to random
@KFosterMarks@mastodon.social avatar

Lit reviewing "developer experience" as a construct and earliest thing I found in initial search is from Fagerholm and Münch(2012):

F. Fagerholm and J. Münch, "Developer experience: Concept and definition," 2012 International Conference on Software and System Process (ICSSP), Zurich, Switzerland, 2012, pp. 73-77, doi: 10.1109/ICSSP.2012.6225984.

It doesn't reference any existing literature on developer experience. Google ngram also shows a HUGE spike in "developer experience" mentions in 2013.

RuthMalan,
@RuthMalan@mastodon.social avatar

@KFosterMarks in industry, the term does go back to before 2012 — DX (for developer experience) was even being used in 2010…

From twitter (sorry!):

Nov 11, 2010 @mahemoff
: DX===Developer Experience. Developers are Users too.

Via (so no later than Nov 11, 2010, but could be earlier)

RuthMalan,
@RuthMalan@mastodon.social avatar

@KFosterMarks worth checking in with @pamelafox because she was using the term before 2012 and likely would have more history to share :)

(So not necessarily way ahead of 2012, but does locate the term in industry at least around 2010… )

RuthMalan, to random
@RuthMalan@mastodon.social avatar

It's Friday, which means followfriday, which is exciting because I have such a wonderful follow to recommend this week!

@ericastanley is a wonderful community builder and leader -- she has done so much to build and foster various tech communities (Women Who Code Atlanta and REFACTR.TECH as well as working in senior engineering leadership).

I have learned so much from Erica's insight, wisdom, experience and kindness that I am thrilled to recommend:

Follow (and welcome!) @ericastanley

RuthMalan,
@RuthMalan@mastodon.social avatar

More follow recommends (some I have mentioned, but the timeline moves so fast, we miss a lot):

@PropCazhPM
@7grok
@missmythreyi
@cornazano
@jslr
@bracken
@yvonnezlam
@hazelweakly

I learn so much from everyone, I always fall into the "oh and of course," so my follow recommend lists just grow and grow.

But there will be other Fridays, so I'll try to relax on the "and also!"

RuthMalan,
@RuthMalan@mastodon.social avatar

I quote @ericastanley on the opening page of the systems and leadership section of the leadership book — it was one of those situations where i was wrestling and wrestling with positioning in the opening page, and Erica’s tweet arrived and just like that showed me not just what I wanted to say there, but importantly pulls together so much of the “why.”

RuthMalan, to random
@RuthMalan@mastodon.social avatar

“Dominator culture has tried to keep us all afraid, to make us choose safety instead of risk, sameness instead of diversity. Moving through that fear, finding out what connects us, reveling in our differences; this is the process that brings us closer, that gives us a world of shared values, of meaningful community.”

― bell hooks, Teaching Community: A Pedagogy of Hope

What a way to end a book!

RuthMalan, to random
@RuthMalan@mastodon.social avatar

David Troupes/Buttercup Festival hitting the feels…

Source here: https://www.buttercupfestival.com/3-264.htm

Unbelievably, there’s a $12/month postcard support slot still available. Real old school mail, in your actual mailbox, every month! https://www.patreon.com/buttercupfestival

RuthMalan,
@RuthMalan@mastodon.social avatar

One cool thing about posting about (under recognized) artists and musicians on here, when they’re not here: you can say warm positive things behind their back, and they don’t know :) (but hopefully turns into a little more support. Goodness knows their huge talent and years of hard work invested in developing technique and artistry deserves it!)

And oh my. Did i need some birds asking me if i was ok today!!

RuthMalan, to random
@RuthMalan@mastodon.social avatar

“Ford, whose electrical engineers couldn’t solve some problems they were having with a gigantic generator, called Steinmetz in to the plant. Upon arriving, Steinmetz rejected all assistance and asked only for a notebook, pencil and cot. [..] Then he told Ford’s skeptical engineers to remove a plate at the mark and replace sixteen windings from the field coil. They did, and the generator performed to perfection.“ ../

RuthMalan,
@RuthMalan@mastodon.social avatar

“Henry Ford was thrilled until he got an invoice from General Electric in the amount of $10,000. Ford acknowledged Steinmetz’s success but balked at the figure. He asked for an itemized bill.

Steinmetz, Scott wrote, responded personally to Ford’s request with the following:

Making chalk mark on generator $1.
Knowing where to make mark $9,999.

Ford paid the bill.“

Gilbert King, Charles Proteus Steinmetz, the Wizard of Schenectady

https://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/charles-proteus-steinmetz-the-wizard-of-schenectady-51912022/

RuthMalan, to random
@RuthMalan@mastodon.social avatar

We called tapping our network to find things out “lazy web”… but… the networking we do where we weave humans and their ideas together, is important work. It’s not just about “plagiarizing” but about those networks. I’ve joked about the “social lives of ideas” and “our thought children leave home and lead lives of their own”... But networking humans is important too. And Ai-gen washes us out.

18+ RuthMalan, to random
@RuthMalan@mastodon.social avatar

Has this made it here yet?

“Erm, how did Figure 1 get past a peer reviewer?! https://frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fcell.2023.1339390/full H/T
@aero_anna”

— Dr CJ Houldcroft

RuthMalan,
@RuthMalan@mastodon.social avatar

We can laugh at ourselves and the uncanny mirror that is Ai-gen … but our ready embrace (shiny new tool to give our work a glow-up or speed-up) is undermining so much, and creating more gunk work as humans have to pay more attention to catching fabrications… now not just of ill-meaning or fallible humans, but tap of button Ai …

RuthMalan,
@RuthMalan@mastodon.social avatar

Also, yes. Ai (big A little i) is my protest sign. :)

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