5 ms·

Personally - I don't see a lot of value in this list (I read all 50 items and watched the video and I regret wasting the time). There are certainly some valuab

Personally - I don't see a lot of value in this list (I read all 50 items and watched the video and I regret wasting the time). There are certainly some valuable concepts - but the presentation is fairly incoherent (including the video of the talk he gives) and not particularly helpful. Many of these items are utterly unrelated: Some are fairly specific to gaming (profiling/memory layout/timing) some are basic professional expectations (I can schedule my time well). In neither case is there real advice for people who actually struggle with some of these areas. My item number 51 would be... "I can articulate my point in a more compelling manner than an incoherent collection of 50 things I don't like"

vubui 4y ago
I think it has a so what problem. It sounds nice but then so...? I failed to understand what exactly the author wanted to convince people to do. Expectations - for who? Let's say someone does exactly this, then failed to actually ship something that people want then it's as useless as not knowing the list at all.
- deleted 4y ago
  [deleted]
- isitmadeofglass 4y ago
  > I failed to understand what exactly the author wanted to convince people to do. He’s writing a list as part of his imaginary shower argument with his boss and coworkers as to why they are all inferior and he’s perfect and why all the problems they are facing are easily attributed to his list of 50 points of things he feels he does that they are failing to live up to. At least that’s my take away.
  - CoastalCoder 4y ago
    If he's arguing with his boss in the shower, that may indicate he's a bad communicator.
    - agentultra 4y ago
      If he’s arguing with his boss in the shower he’s probably going to be fired for inappropriate behaviour.
      - CoastalCoder 4y ago
        Or one of them is just bad at managing expectations.
  - Tao3300 4y ago
    Oh good. I had a feeling it was that and didn't bother reading it. Mind that this instinct was born from prior experience with my own imaginary shower arguments.
eschneider 4y ago
Most of the points seem to be 'Do I have situational awareness of how what I'm doing fits into the bigger picture.' Generally a good thing to have.
- kqr 4y ago
  Not just that, but also "am I in the habit of doing things that are conducive to situational awareness" which is perhaps the even more important bit! You can have all the situational awareness in the world now, but when it really matters is when the context changes.
  - eschneider 4y ago
    No disagreement, but I'd suggest that situational awareness is an ongoing thing, so if you don't notice when context changes, you never really had situational awareness.
    - kqr 4y ago
      One funny thing about situational awareness is that when you lose it, you don't always know, because, well, you've lost your SA. Put differently, something you consistently find when you postmortem incidents where people have lost their SA is that they thought at the time they had full SA. They only notice they've lost it when things are clearly going downhill. So it's important to regularly re-ground yourself with reality even if you think you don't need it. That's a critical component of maintaining SA.
throwaway292939 4y ago
I see it as a list of helpful reminders. It's hard to do everything on this list perfectly, for example I'd give myself a B average.
jvanderbot 4y ago
I loved the early and often emphasis on communication. That gets swept under the rug far too often. This list makes it clear that communication (of designs, of status, of workarounds, etc) is vital for the professional software engineer.
- BlargMcLarg 4y ago
  Does it? Almost every day we get articles on every existing medium regarding the importance of communication. Even the tech circles in 4chan parrot it. Yes, the place known for anti-social recluses parrots it, too. And it's showing. There is so much emphasis on communication, people started equating quantity to quality. "Just talk more, that's what great communication is about" wouldn't be an observation too far from the truth. Far too little is invested into researching what makes quality communication. It's just the same old rational arguments against rational arguments, day in, day out. For a field entirely about managing and sharing information, be it to machines or to people, that's pathetic.
  - jvanderbot 4y ago
    If you only compare the sermon to the hymns, it does seem a little redundant. But if I look around my workplace, clear, frequent communication is absolutely a huge need.
    - BlargMcLarg 4y ago
      Again, this is purely anecdotal and at best rational only. Our field is already loaded with rationality, and most of our "this is clearly better" cases fail to reveal any improvements in case studies. If people are so certain it is better and believe it is important, let them stake money on it and do research. Until then, the cat is both dead and alive.
      - jvanderbot 4y ago
        You're kidding, right? Nearly every book I've read on management emphasizes communication all the way down. It just comes in many forms. Clear lines of communication Culture of communication Strong vision and storytelling Open discussions and inclusive of disagreements Managing "up" etc
ySocMedia 4y ago
perrygeo 4y ago
I found some value in this list (read it, but didn't watch) but I agree that 50 unorganized bullet points is too much. I think they could break it down into 6 or 7 larger themes: communication, being a good citizen, using a systematic development process, investing in developer tools, understanding real world end-user requirements, technical requirements, and data flows. All good advice, maybe not the best delivery.
anikom15 4y ago
Profiling, memory layout, and timing is specific to gaming? That’s funny because I’ve had to do all three and I don’t make games for a living.
csomar 4y ago
I find it ironic that the lists focused so much in communication, and yet it had me confused and lost (ie: It failed to communicate to me what this list is about). Communication is hard.

vubui 4y ago

I think it has a so what problem. It sounds nice but then so...? I failed to understand what exactly the author wanted to convince people to do. Expectations - for who? Let's say someone does exactly this, then failed to actually ship something that people want then it's as useless as not knowing the list at all.

deleted 4y ago
[deleted]
isitmadeofglass 4y ago
> I failed to understand what exactly the author wanted to convince people to do. He’s writing a list as part of his imaginary shower argument with his boss and coworkers as to why they are all inferior and he’s perfect and why all the problems they are facing are easily attributed to his list of 50 points of things he feels he does that they are failing to live up to. At least that’s my take away.
- CoastalCoder 4y ago
  If he's arguing with his boss in the shower, that may indicate he's a bad communicator.
  - agentultra 4y ago
    If he’s arguing with his boss in the shower he’s probably going to be fired for inappropriate behaviour.
    - CoastalCoder 4y ago
      Or one of them is just bad at managing expectations.
- Tao3300 4y ago
  Oh good. I had a feeling it was that and didn't bother reading it. Mind that this instinct was born from prior experience with my own imaginary shower arguments.

eschneider 4y ago

Most of the points seem to be 'Do I have situational awareness of how what I'm doing fits into the bigger picture.' Generally a good thing to have.

kqr 4y ago
Not just that, but also "am I in the habit of doing things that are conducive to situational awareness" which is perhaps the even more important bit! You can have all the situational awareness in the world now, but when it really matters is when the context changes.
- eschneider 4y ago
  No disagreement, but I'd suggest that situational awareness is an ongoing thing, so if you don't notice when context changes, you never really had situational awareness.
  - kqr 4y ago
    One funny thing about situational awareness is that when you lose it, you don't always know, because, well, you've lost your SA. Put differently, something you consistently find when you postmortem incidents where people have lost their SA is that they thought at the time they had full SA. They only notice they've lost it when things are clearly going downhill. So it's important to regularly re-ground yourself with reality even if you think you don't need it. That's a critical component of maintaining SA.

throwaway292939 4y ago

I see it as a list of helpful reminders. It's hard to do everything on this list perfectly, for example I'd give myself a B average.

jvanderbot 4y ago

I loved the early and often emphasis on communication. That gets swept under the rug far too often. This list makes it clear that communication (of designs, of status, of workarounds, etc) is vital for the professional software engineer.

BlargMcLarg 4y ago
Does it? Almost every day we get articles on every existing medium regarding the importance of communication. Even the tech circles in 4chan parrot it. Yes, the place known for anti-social recluses parrots it, too. And it's showing. There is so much emphasis on communication, people started equating quantity to quality. "Just talk more, that's what great communication is about" wouldn't be an observation too far from the truth. Far too little is invested into researching what makes quality communication. It's just the same old rational arguments against rational arguments, day in, day out. For a field entirely about managing and sharing information, be it to machines or to people, that's pathetic.
- jvanderbot 4y ago
  If you only compare the sermon to the hymns, it does seem a little redundant. But if I look around my workplace, clear, frequent communication is absolutely a huge need.
  - BlargMcLarg 4y ago
    Again, this is purely anecdotal and at best rational only. Our field is already loaded with rationality, and most of our "this is clearly better" cases fail to reveal any improvements in case studies. If people are so certain it is better and believe it is important, let them stake money on it and do research. Until then, the cat is both dead and alive.
    - jvanderbot 4y ago
      You're kidding, right? Nearly every book I've read on management emphasizes communication all the way down. It just comes in many forms. Clear lines of communication Culture of communication Strong vision and storytelling Open discussions and inclusive of disagreements Managing "up" etc

ySocMedia 4y ago

perrygeo 4y ago

I found some value in this list (read it, but didn't watch) but I agree that 50 unorganized bullet points is too much. I think they could break it down into 6 or 7 larger themes: communication, being a good citizen, using a systematic development process, investing in developer tools, understanding real world end-user requirements, technical requirements, and data flows. All good advice, maybe not the best delivery.

anikom15 4y ago

Profiling, memory layout, and timing is specific to gaming? That’s funny because I’ve had to do all three and I don’t make games for a living.

csomar 4y ago

I find it ironic that the lists focused so much in communication, and yet it had me confused and lost (ie: It failed to communicate to me what this list is about). Communication is hard.