kbuchanan

8 ms·

31.
by kbuchanan 5y ago
Learn Clojure. Then you can spend the rest of your life building with hand tools, lol: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ShEez0JkOFw (Seriously, though, Clojure is awesome—but occasionally I miss the guardrails of a framework
32.
by kbuchanan 5y ago
Wholeheartedly agree. I can't help but feel with each new article like this that many journalists are watching _their own WFH opportunities_ slip from their fingers. (FWIW, I'm a fan of fully remote companies; this article just do
33.
by kbuchanan 5y ago
I just wanna give a shoutout to Facebook for finding a balance between rapid, innovative development on a major library without constantly introducing breaking changes. On the backend I'm a Clojure dev, and this approach has long been
34.
by kbuchanan 5y ago
Yeah, it’s a lightbulb moving through a snake.
35.
by kbuchanan 5y ago
> The real problem is that they’ve spent years hiring for a type of person where this sort of thing is anathema. This is dead on: the real issue here is not politics vs. not-politics at work—Basecamp is having a crisis because expectatio
36.
by kbuchanan 6y ago
I'm reading this claim every day across so many subjects now—that the goal was racist in origin. Not knowing anything about SF myself, I am however tempted to ask if __classism__ is the better culprit. Classism can masquerade as racism
37.
by kbuchanan 6y ago
To me, the distinction here is not "user-centric" vs. "business centric"—ease of install is also a user-centric value. I think you hit the nail on the head by suggesting it's about power user vs. basic user.
38.
by kbuchanan 6y ago
You may be right about funding, but it can also be attributed to incentives: has our desire to eradicate a disease ever been expressed in such an intense way, with the benefits being so enormous?
39.
by kbuchanan 6y ago
Agreed. Some don't care for his sharp style, but Nicholas Taleb puts it like this: https://twitter.com/nntaleb/status/950037120030306305?lang=e...
40.
by kbuchanan 6y ago
As an avid reader of history, I tried hard to understand the points the points these academics made, however, it's difficult for me to come to any other conclusion that their position is rooted in elitism—that "true history"
41.
by kbuchanan 6y ago
To me it’s more evidence that increased speed and reduced latency is not where our real preferences lie: we may be more interested in the capabilities of the technology, which have undoubtedly improved.
42.
by kbuchanan 6y ago
He makes mention of 2,300 Datomic databases. Can anyone shed some light on how a company maintains (or requires?)... 2,300 databases? What business needs lead to something like this? What kind of reporting pipeline possibly could pull so m
43.
by kbuchanan 6y ago
Friend of mine also pointed out that luxury cars are produced in much lower volumes, and thus their production processes are never as fully fine-tuned as a Camry, for example.
44.
by kbuchanan 6y ago
And notice that all the "worst performers" are luxury brands. Is this not simply a matter of those who spend a lot also expect a lot?
45.
by kbuchanan 6y ago
I pay for the Post. Love their reporting. But man! I've never seen so much fear mongering as they've peddled in the last month. News is a product—I get that. But they're straining to wring every last drop out of COVID.
46.
by kbuchanan 7y ago
This may strike some as silly, but before the iPhone was invented, there were ZERO searches for the term "iPhone". (I assume, ha!) By all means, do market analysis, but remember that demand is not static—it can be shaped by what y
47.
by kbuchanan 7y ago
Although I don’t fully agree with that implication, the statistics in the article seem to support it: a very small number of people actually took such dramatic preventative steps over a 22 year period.
48.
by kbuchanan 7y ago
I assumed he was talking about components.
49.
by kbuchanan 7y ago
Couldn't agree more! ... I just had to laugh to myself at how this, THIS is why functional programming is so... rarely adopted. Like, "referentially transparent functions"?! What happened to `website.run.now!`?!
50.
by kbuchanan 7y ago
Adding to this, in the same way that privacy specialists struggle to convince the public of the supreme importance of security and privacy, it's difficult for superusers to appreciate the general public's feelings about the trade-
51.
by kbuchanan 7y ago
The article touts transparency as being the virtue that led them to a flat organization. I'd argue that _it's within an explicit hierarchy where transparency (e.g. who makes decision, who earns more, who gets promoted) actually fl
52.
by kbuchanan 7y ago
Reading his list of development tools—Emacs, make, bash—reminded me of this talk by Tim Ewald [Programming with Hand Tools]: https://www.programmingtalks.org/talk/tim-ewald-clojure-prog... Took me years to appreciate t
53.
by kbuchanan 8y ago
Lots of comments quibbling about whether he understands the word atheism. His central point—despite the interview title, which he didn't write—is: humility. He argues that to practice science is to avoid adopting a position of certaint
54.
by kbuchanan 8y ago
This is an extraordinarily myopic view of business. Most firms do not create new tech; all firms (including tech startups) need individuals capable of selling, winning over the faith of others (recruiting), and who have an eye for creating
55.
by kbuchanan 8y ago
Another possibility is that diversity is simply represented by extremes; that individuals sitting on the polar sides of issues are shaping the conversation. In other words, it's the boring, moderate, stable, center who remains silent.
56.
by kbuchanan 8y ago
For anyone who loves Dostoyevsky, I’d recommend Alexander Solzhenitsyn too. His writings have a stronger political bent, but his style is firmly in the Russian tradition, with a mastery of the polyphonic voice—the ability to bring life to m
57.
by kbuchanan 8y ago
See Nassim Taleb's minority rule: https://medium.com/incerto/the-most-intolerant-wins-the-dict...
58.
by kbuchanan 8y ago
Don't forget that the sales narrative can also be _true_. In other words, giving context, perspective, and a vision is a necessary part of understanding the solution you're providing. How many companies have been bought and sold t
59.
by kbuchanan 8y ago
No, in many companies, different sales people thrive on different sales strategies. Good sales decks are not feature reviews; like the article says-a deck is a launchpad for discussing a compelling narrative, which is why they’re only reall
60.
by kbuchanan 8y ago
It's useful to step back and realize that some of the things Basecamp advocates are privileges, not strategies. In other words, they've been blessed with enough success that they can choose the path they're on. OF COURSE ther

More ›