I was first put onto this book by Fabiola. She mentioned the Inception Deck in one of her presentations. That caused me to do some research and stumble upon the book. If you haven’t heard about the inception deck, you can check it out here as well as in the book. The inception...

Another topic that came up in “Ego is the Enemy” is the Latin phrase “Memento Mori”. Translated literally it means “Remember you will die.” I kind of view it as the adult version of the millenial’s YOLO – “You only live once”....

I saw Rebecca Geier talk at NI Week a few years ago. She was promoting her new book Smart Marketing to Engineers. I picked up a copy but didn’t get around to reading it until last year. I found it very insightful.

The book starts off with some typical marketing talk. It talks about...

This is a continuation of my thoughts about philosophy and coding. It is an exploration of how the way we think about coding impacts the coding process and the code that we produce. This particular article is reflection upon a book i read a year or two ago called “Ego is the...

This is a book I read a few years ago. It is a very useful book. It’s considered a classic in software engineering literature because it introduced the idea of code smells and because it gave names to a bunch of common refactorings.

Code smells are things that indicate that there might...

In this continuation of my philosophy in coding series, I want to talk about planning and the way we think about planning.

Start with the end in mind

Many of you probably recognize this phrase from the 7 Habits of Highly Effective People. In it, Steven Covey does an exercise where you imagine...

Mock Objects

February 26, 11:00am MT

I want to verify that my code uses some other object correctly.

Sometimes the code you are testing interacts with some other component.  Maybe it’s a database, a network connection, or a piece of hardware. This type of code can be really hard to...

In a previous post, I mentioned how our mindset influences how we write code. Here an example of a mantra in this case from pop (or sci-fi) culture and how it can influence the way we think about designing software.

Fear is the Mind Killer

“I must not fear.
Fear is the mind-killer.
Fear...

The Alchemist by Paul Cuehlo is a great book that I highly recommend. It is a great reminder to chase your dreams and ignore the naysayers. It also reminds us that having a dream is not the same as chasing it. If you have a dream get up and follow it! Don’t worry if your not sure exactly...

There is a group of us LabVIEW enthusiasts that get together in Boulder every couple of weeks for coffee. It’s pretty informal. It’s a chance for us to talk shop and catch up. Often someone will have some problem and together we will all brainstorm a solution.

Recently at office...

As I wrote in a previous post about philosophy and coding I was not always a big fan of philosophy. I viewed it as an academic pursuit, a bunch of eggheads sitting around thinking about thinking. I never saw the practical value. That is until a read a pair of books by Ryan Holiday.

I...

Mark Lund introduced me to a concept he called P.I.E. It was something he taught to all his team members. It was an acronym he used to remind them of what it takes to be successful. It has stuck with me because it is simple, easy to remember and so far in my experience has been very accurate....