Posts
Dignity, Always Dignity
One of the interesting parts of being a semi-public figure by doing DevRel is that it makes you think a lot about how you look to other people, in a way I suspect is not a concern for the ordinary developer. It parallels the doubled perception that a lot of women already experience. In 1972,…
Construct, Capable, Confident
I can’t make it parallel. I tried. We just have to live with an imperfect world of non-parallel headline items. I was talking to another speaker the other day, and she asked me how I knew I was ready to give a talk. As with so many other things in my life, I have a…
Praise is a vitamin
I was thinking about how happy I am when I get the kind of praise I need. It doesn’t make me feel smug or complacent, it makes me feel strong and empowered and like what I’m doing matters and is seen. Which is kind of the opposite of burnout. I don’t think you can entirely…
Live-Tweeting for Fame and Fortune
That’s a joke. I have made $65 off 4 years of live-tweeting, and it’s more than I ever expected. As far as fame, the point is not for me to get famous, but to promote some amazing speakers as they do their thing. I don’t know about you, but I have about 20 tabs open…
Using Airtable to Manage Conference Submissions
I know, it’s not a very catchy title, but it is descriptive. A large part of my current job is speaking at conferences and talking about feature flags, systems resiliency, and whatever else I can talk people into. And part of speaking at conferences is applying to lots and lots of conferences. But how do…
Crosspost: The Recompiler Magazine, Issue 8: Build Your Interviewing Strategy
I’m a huge fan of The Recompiler, and not just because they sometimes publish my work. I support anyone who spends the time and effort to publish articles that are useful, thoughtful, and frequently action-oriented. Carol Smith (of OSI board fame) and I put together a workshop for people who are doing technical interviews for…
Documentation for DevOps: A DevOpsDays Open Space Writeup
I’m borrowing this image from my friends at Chef, because it’s really funny to pretend that it’s possible to just sprinkle on “devops”, something that is about cultural change at every level. At every DevOpsDays I go to (and that’s quite a few), I propose/wrangle/run two open spaces. One is about feature flags/canary launches/hypothesis-driven development,…
Upcoming appearances
DevOpsDays Seattle
DevNet Create
GOTO Chicago
Deliver:AgileAlliance
O'Reilly Software Architecture/Velocity
The Lead Developer London