Life
Leaving LaunchDarkly
Startup years are a little like dog years – 5 years at a startup is a lot of experience. When I started, I was employee 21, our office elevator was a bit dodgy, and we could all eat lunch together. Now LaunchDarkly is a globally-distributed organization with hundreds of employees. Over the years, I’ve gotten…
In which I am cranky about the urban/rural divide
I just came back from a weeks-long trip to the American West. It was amazing, gorgeous. You know what all this beauty has in common? Besides mostly being protected wild areas? Zero bars of cell phone signal. Or maybe like, two bars, depending on whether there was a mesa in the way. We drove almost…
Extremely Online People
I’m writing this the night of January 6, 2021. It won’t be posted tonight, because it’s not what anyone should be paying attention to. It’s useful to me to write something else, think about something other than a coup, a putsch. I am Extremely Online. If you follow me on Twitter, you are already aware…
The University of YouTube
This week, I learned how to roll out potica dough thin enough to see the flowers on your tablecloth through it. I went from knowing vaguely that engines have carburetors to disassembling my snowthrower and repairing it. Other things I’ve used it for are video game hints for when I’m stuck, adjusting bike disc brakes,…
Ergonomics in my middle ages
Why a lifetime of living in this body has made me so picky about keyboards, among other things.
Talking about my internalized ableism
What if I prioritize comfort and joy over pride? Why is that hard for me?
Location, location, location: A perennial discussion
Last night, part 87 of a perpetual discussion flared up again. The one about where you live and why it matters. It started with an article by Sean Blanda – Our Remote Work Future is Going to Suck. I encourage you to read the article, it’s not 100% right, but Blanda brings up excellent points…
Circles of Care in the workplace
I first learned about Circles of Care from my brother, I think, when he was going through his chaplaincy training. It goes like this: The patient is in the center of the circle. Surrounding them in a ring are their parents, partners, or closest loved ones. The next ring out is more extended family, less-intimate-but-still-close…
A Day in the Life of DevRel
This picture was taken on April 11, 2019, in Linz, Austria, at DevOne. I had left the first LaunchDarkly Trajectory conference in the last hour and flown to Austria overnight to speak here. That was The Before Times. This is a capture of my events calendar for last September. There’s a lattice of different-colored event…
That’s not funny
This is me and my sister with our half-yearly shipment of goods from South Africa. Until I was kindergarten-age, we lived in Zaire, now DR Congo. As you can see, stockpiling is nothing new to me. What you need to know about DR Congo is that it’s not an accident I’m afraid of snakes. There…
Upcoming appearances
Velocity Berlin
Minneapolis DevOps Meetup
DeliveryConf