Random Interesting Things From Around the Development Community

Over the last week several things have caught my interest and I wanted to share them with folks who might not look in the same nooks and crannies that I do for technical information.

First up is the .NET Automation with Rake and Albacore video up on TekPub by my friend Liam McLennan. Liam is one of the people I keep an eye on because he is doing things I wish I had the talent and resources to do myself. I had the pleasure of meeting him last year at ALT.NET Seattle and Seattle Code Camp. You might remember his Craftsmanship Tour videos from around that time where he broke out of his comfort zone and visited Obtiva and 8th Light as a journeyman. Liam is also from Australia, which means he speaks better English than I and can prolly drink me under the table. That makes him an alright guy in my book.

Next, comes a really thought provoking blog post by Clay Shirky titled The Collapse of Complex Business Models. I caught this post via a tweet from @cbilson. I have never read Clay before, but added him to my RSS feed after reading this post. It is a practical explanation that validates something that has been a gut feeling of mine for a very long time. The more complex a system becomes the more resistant to change it becomes as well. This applies to code, processes, business models and civilizations. Clay breaks the concept down really well. It is worth a read.

Finally, I want to give a nod to Zed Shaw for the excellent essay titled Products For People Who Make Products For People. Zed is not a .NET developer, in fact he might even sneer at us a bit for proclaiming we are. But that sneer isn’t really about you or I, it is more about the punk rock aesthetic of the developer community Zed runs with. He has an interesting perspective on value, quality and productivity that our community does not hear enough. Take a few minutes and read the post, you might learn something about yourself.

One final thought, what friction do you have in your development environment right now? What are you doing to resolve it? Where are you looking for technical solutions? Does what you are working on right now leave you feeling fulfilled? Are you happy? What are you going to do about it?