How time flies? Another fortnightly newsletter is upon us.
One demo day down, one to go. Then I’m off in SF next week taking Hecate on the road.
If you’re in the bay area and want an in-person demo or just want to talk shop about engineering leadership hit me up - replying to this email is probably easiest. It’d be a huge favour to me to learn about how you’re running your teach team and see if Hecate can help (now or in the future).
Tech
How Etsy Localizes Addresses
I love posts like this - mostly so I can share the with people who ask “why are the developers taking so long?”. The devil is always in the details.
The Codification of Design
I am 100% here for this take. A huge percentage of my career frustration can be attributed to the disconnect between design practices and the technology that’s being designed for.
SRE: The Biggest Lie Since Kanban
SRE has been one of the most interesting ideas in tech management and cross-functional contracts between teams… and the title being used to rebadge classic ops teams makes me sad.
3 facts about time series forecasting that surprise experienced machine learning practitioners.
Maths!
Business & Management
Unsolicited Career Advice For Tech Marketers
Seems like pretty robust career advice for marketers. Hard to know, being such an awkward marketer myself.
Unit of Value: A Framework for Scaling
One of my all time favourites for pricing and marketing strategy. No one has any beef with a pricing model that grows with the benefit your product delivers. See also: why I hate per seat pricing half of the time I run into it.
What it’s like buying a $128k side project
I’ve been spending a bit of time thinking about “micro-aquisitions” and this old post sprung to mind. It’s really easy to think that buying other companies only happens at the top end of town but it’s also viable at the lower end.
Culture
video games skies
Get your real fake skies. We have fake skies like you wouldn’t believe! What are you worried about? Come get fake skies. Call us up, and order some fake skies today.
How to read Kafka: part I
Really looking forward to part two. A straightforward guide to the themes in Kafka’s work (one of my favourite authors) in plain english. Fun fact: Josef, one of my fellow Startmate cohort companies is named for a character in one of Kafka’s stories.
Beneath a Starless Sky: Pillars of Eternity and the Infinity Engine Era of RPGs
True confession, I have been too busy to read all of this. First couple of chapters are good. All the stories behind the resurgence of classic computer RPGs.
Contractually Obligated Nautical Fact
Wind-powered ships are making a comeback
Interesting technical developments in the realm of wind powered ships. Big twirly sticks!
Thaks for reading. You can find this issue online here.If you know anyone who might enjoy these emails, feel free to send them to the subscription form