{
  "author": {
    "name": "Dylan Fitzgerald",
    "url": "https://dylanfitzgerald.net/"
  },
  "blyg": "0.4",
  "changelog": [
    {
      "at": "2024-12-12T00:53:00Z",
      "note": "Imported from the Ctrl+Shift archive",
      "version": 1
    }
  ],
  "content_hash": "sha256:0351372f98cdd94104075efd5ca6f5d9d081b16a4f61559d7e9de1fe36beb6fc",
  "content_html": "\u003ch1\u003eMining memories for the future\u003c/h1\u003e\n\u003cfigure\u003e\u003cimg src=\"https://dylanfitzgerald.net/ox-hugo/daltoris_the_entrance_to_a_mine_dug_into_the_side_of_a_pile_o_91cb08bd-94bf-4c51-9ce8-b6c6796b51df_3.jpeg\"\n\t\t\talt=\"The entrance to a mind dug into a pile of books and clocks\" width=\"50%\"\u003e\n\u003c/figure\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eIf you\u0026rsquo;ve been in this industry for more than a couple of years, you\u0026rsquo;ve no doubt seen some trends come and go among your tools. If you\u0026rsquo;ve seen more than a couple of job titles over the years, you\u0026rsquo;ve seen the same in process, team organization, strategies, and all that. And if you\u0026rsquo;ve primarily worked with Javascript and the frontend, you\u0026rsquo;ve seen this whole cycle on technologies and frameworks play out over the length of a couple of podcasts (and, also, my condolences).\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eTools and techniques become passé and fall into disuse, then obscurity. Oftentimes this is for the best of reasons: we\u0026rsquo;ve discovered a better way to do things, or found that a conceptual pathway was a dead end. Sometimes, though, this fashion cycle masks the usefulness of both tools and ways of thought\u0026ndash;or even ways of being.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003ch2 id=\"tools\"\u003eTools\u003c/h2\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003ca href=\"https://github.com/guard/guard\"\u003eGuard\u003c/a\u003e is a test (and other command/event) auto-runner for Ruby. It watches your configured project and, when a file is changed, it runs only the related tests. If you were learning to use Rails 10-15 years ago, you probably learned about it in your first project. Now, you\u0026rsquo;ll be hard pressed to find it deployed anywhere. It still works just fine, and when I introduce folks to it, they typically love it.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eIt just fell out of fashion when we started containerizing everything. Now it\u0026rsquo;s forgotten.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003ch2 id=\"techniques\"\u003eTechniques\u003c/h2\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eI mean, \u003cstrong\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eI\u003c/strong\u003e\u003c/strong\u003e still think Test-Driven Development is great\u0026ndash;but in a much more nuanced sense than \u0026ldquo;you must test exactly every function every time before you implement it\u0026rdquo;. By and large, TDD, too, has fallen out of vogue\u0026ndash;in part due to oversimplification of its upsides, in part because the more popular ecosystems don\u0026rsquo;t have as wonderful tooling around them as some older ecosystems once did. This isn\u0026rsquo;t the place to sell you, dear reader, on a new worldview around TDD, but know that it can be a competitive advantage when other folks don\u0026rsquo;t think even to try it.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003ch2 id=\"product-concepts\"\u003eProduct Concepts\u003c/h2\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003ca href=\"https://adium.im/\"\u003eAdium\u003c/a\u003e hails from the Instant Messaging era: a single application that could pull together the diaspora of various accounts from AOL, Microsoft, ICQ, Jabber, and more. All that has fallen by the wayside\u0026ndash;but here we are again, spread across Slack, Mattermost, Microsoft Teams, Skype, Signal, Telegram, and so many more. And so along comes \u003ca href=\"https://www.beeper.com/\"\u003eBeeper\u003c/a\u003e, which does the same thing as Adium did, but for the current suite of messaging ecosystems. They\u0026rsquo;re young and already being acquired by Automattic.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003ch2 id=\"process-and-ritual\"\u003eProcess and Ritual\u003c/h2\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eIf all you\u0026rsquo;ve ever seen of Agile is the way most enterprises have rolled out their SCRUM-ish processes, \u003ca href=\"https://agilemanifesto.org/\"\u003ethe Agile Manifesto\u003c/a\u003e is downright revolutionary.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eAnd as always, Venkat\u0026rsquo;s there to comment as well:\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cblockquote\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eDo forgotten historical cheap tricks regain their vigor and leverage after a period of abandonment? Is it possible to systematically improve your sense of history, by approaching the subject in specific ways?\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cdiv class=\"CITE\"\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eVenkatesh Rao, \u003cem\u003eTempo\u003c/em\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003c/div\u003e\n\u003c/blockquote\u003e\n\u003ch2 id=\"you\"\u003eYou\u003c/h2\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eOver the years, you\u0026rsquo;ve tried on many ways of being. What pathways have you integrated? Which ones have you left by the wayside? And, of the latter, are there some that you might yet pull in to your life as it now stands, giving you a unique perspective among your colleagues and peers?\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe new and the fresh is exciting, and often for the best. But as you mature and get more experience, being able to mine your past for fully fleshed-out but forgotten concepts can turn into a superpower. Ignore it at your peril.\u003c/p\u003e\n",
  "content_md": "# Mining memories for the future\n\n{{\u003c figure src=\"/ox-hugo/daltoris_the_entrance_to_a_mine_dug_into_the_side_of_a_pile_o_91cb08bd-94bf-4c51-9ce8-b6c6796b51df_3.jpeg\" alt=\"The entrance to a mind dug into a pile of books and clocks\" width=\"50%\" \u003e}}\n\nIf you've been in this industry for more than a couple of years, you've no doubt seen some trends come and go among your tools. If you've seen more than a couple of job titles over the years, you've seen the same in process, team organization, strategies, and all that. And if you've primarily worked with Javascript and the frontend, you've seen this whole cycle on technologies and frameworks play out over the length of a couple of podcasts (and, also, my condolences).\n\nTools and techniques become passé and fall into disuse, then obscurity. Oftentimes this is for the best of reasons: we've discovered a better way to do things, or found that a conceptual pathway was a dead end. Sometimes, though, this fashion cycle masks the usefulness of both tools and ways of thought--or even ways of being.\n\n\n## Tools {#tools}\n\n[Guard](https://github.com/guard/guard) is a test (and other command/event) auto-runner for Ruby. It watches your configured project and, when a file is changed, it runs only the related tests. If you were learning to use Rails 10-15 years ago, you probably learned about it in your first project. Now, you'll be hard pressed to find it deployed anywhere. It still works just fine, and when I introduce folks to it, they typically love it.\n\nIt just fell out of fashion when we started containerizing everything. Now it's forgotten.\n\n\n## Techniques {#techniques}\n\nI mean, ****I**** still think Test-Driven Development is great--but in a much more nuanced sense than \"you must test exactly every function every time before you implement it\". By and large, TDD, too, has fallen out of vogue--in part due to oversimplification of its upsides, in part because the more popular ecosystems don't have as wonderful tooling around them as some older ecosystems once did. This isn't the place to sell you, dear reader, on a new worldview around TDD, but know that it can be a competitive advantage when other folks don't think even to try it.\n\n\n## Product Concepts {#product-concepts}\n\n[Adium](https://adium.im/) hails from the Instant Messaging era: a single application that could pull together the diaspora of various accounts from AOL, Microsoft, ICQ, Jabber, and more. All that has fallen by the wayside--but here we are again, spread across Slack, Mattermost, Microsoft Teams, Skype, Signal, Telegram, and so many more. And so along comes [Beeper](https://www.beeper.com/), which does the same thing as Adium did, but for the current suite of messaging ecosystems. They're young and already being acquired by Automattic.\n\n\n## Process and Ritual {#process-and-ritual}\n\nIf all you've ever seen of Agile is the way most enterprises have rolled out their SCRUM-ish processes, [the Agile Manifesto](https://agilemanifesto.org/) is downright revolutionary.\n\nAnd as always, Venkat's there to comment as well:\n\n\u003e Do forgotten historical cheap tricks regain their vigor and leverage after a period of abandonment? Is it possible to systematically improve your sense of history, by approaching the subject in specific ways?\n\u003e\n\u003e \u003cdiv class=\"CITE\"\u003e\n\u003e\n\u003e Venkatesh Rao, _Tempo_\n\u003e\n\u003e \u003c/div\u003e\n\n\n## You {#you}\n\nOver the years, you've tried on many ways of being. What pathways have you integrated? Which ones have you left by the wayside? And, of the latter, are there some that you might yet pull in to your life as it now stands, giving you a unique perspective among your colleagues and peers?\n\nThe new and the fresh is exciting, and often for the best. But as you mature and get more experience, being able to mine your past for fully fleshed-out but forgotten concepts can turn into a superpower. Ignore it at your peril.",
  "created": "2024-12-12T00:53:00Z",
  "id": "3mjnmdacey9e40110g766fs9yq",
  "kind": "thread",
  "media": [],
  "origin": "https://dylanfitzgerald.net/blyg/",
  "page": "https://dylanfitzgerald.net/blog/mining-memories-for-the-future/",
  "transclusions": [],
  "updated": "2024-12-12T00:53:00Z",
  "version": 1
}