๐ฅง Pie-Mail 53 - Slow down and don't break so many things
Hi all, welcome to another edition of pie-mail!
It's late (again), but I've been on holiday (I recommend visiting Noosa) - my apologies if you've been sitting by your inbox waiting for it to appear.
But here it is, enjoy, and as always, your feedback is welcome!
๐ Slow down and don't break so many things
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I spent a lot of my holiday playing on the beach my son and nephews, but I still managed to find some time to chill out and do some reading.
โNBA Jam: The Book has been on my to-read list for a while, and I churned through it over a couple of days.
It's a great read, especially for a 90's kid like me. If you have fond memories of arcade games such as NBA Jam or Mortal Kombat, or you recognise the name "Midway", it's particularly interesting.
The book itself is a deep dive into the development of one of the most popular arcade games of all time. But it's also the story of the rise and fall of a software company. There's a lot to learn from the book about the successes and mistakes they made.
If that sounds appealing to you, I strongly recommend reading it. It's a pretty easy read.
Early on in the book, they discuss the rise and fall of Atari, one of the pioneers of the home entertainment industry. Here's a quote:
(The context is, they're discussing the Atari 2600 - one of the first proper home video game consoles. Emphasis is mine.)
Yep, their lax attitude on product quality was the beginning of their downfall.
In other words, the Atari console got saturated with garbage software, and it led to their eventual demise.
The internet is also saturated with garbage software!
I had a great conversation with one of my colleagues recently about the move fast and break things approach to development.
Lots of SaaS companies have embraced this. Ship things quickly, we can fix any bugs that are important, and just leave the ones that aren't.
As a result, I think users have become accustomed to software being buggy. We've become trained to deal with crappy products.
I do it all the time. Website doesn't work? Refresh the page. Start the process again. Find a work around.
I've had it happen to me twice this week - trying to perform simple actions on websites, and finding myself having to find ways to circumvent problems with the software. It's become second nature.
Reading the story about Atari has really made me wonder.
We focus so much now on speed of delivery, and reducing cost to serve, that quality can end up taking a back seat. Perhaps quality will become a way to stand out from the crowd, in a sea of mediocre products?
I know it's more nuanced that I'm making out. There's a balance to be struck between speed and cost and quality. But I can't help but think that a strong focus on quality - building things that work without users having to intervene - is going to become a key differentiator.
Want to get a competitive advantage? Maybe all we need to do is build stuff that works!
๐ฅ Neat stuff from around the internet
๐ Read
- โThe coach and the fixer from Rands is a good read for managery people. I feel called out.
- Stay SaaSy writes a really interesting post on doing dirty work for career growth. The section on QA makes me both happy and sad.
- "In general, patching is destructive". Symptoms of a broken product culture from Miguel Carruego speaks to me.
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๐บ Watch
- โAnother episode of Tech Engineering Lounge! Camy and I talk to Aaron Hodder about talent retention and... a bunch of other stuff. It's a super interesting conversation that went in a lot of directions - do check it out!
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๐ฎ Play
- Honestly, I don't know what this is. Like a virtual, real time, tour across the USA? I'm strangely drawn to it. 4m3ric4.comโ
- Given Atari got a mention today, why not try Google's version of the old Atari game, breakout?
- โConnect Four using only CSS and HTML!
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๐๏ธ Events coming up
Looks like there's heaps happening - hopefully there's something here for you!
โEmbracing the discovery journey (Oct 26, Wellington)
This one from ProductTank Wellington. Andy Bowie (My Auto Shop), Jenny Atkins (TradeMe) and Emma Palmer (TradeMe) will be talking discovery, and product market fit.
โAll about AWS Connect (Oct 27, Christchurch)
Harshana Nanayakkara from AWS will give an intro session to AWS Connect, a cloud based contact center service.
โProduct Aotearoa Unconference (Oct 28, Remote)
A fully remote unconference. A great chance to network and learn from other product leaders, from the comfort of your own home (or office)
โAssociation for Software Testing Lean Coffee (Oct 28, Remote)
These seem like fun events - no agenda, just a lean coffee to talk testing stuff with like minded people. The timing isn't super great for me, but if you're in a suitable timezone I'd recommend heading along!
โCloudNative Auckland - Kubernetes and Azure (Nov 3, Auckland)
CloudNative Auckland are hosting two speakers. Andrew Martin from ControlPlane, all about Hacking Kubernetes. Then, Joerg MIcheel on Routing and Firewalls in Azure.
โA11y Camp 2022 (Nov 3 and Nov 10, Remote)
A two day event all about accessibility. It's free, and looks like there's some cool stuff - including a talk from one of my faves, Prae Songprasit!
โFrom Start up to Scale up (Nov 15, Auckland)
A panel discussion from some of my favourite software leaders. Audrey Cheng, Josh Robb, Molly Matthews, Natalie Burrows and Phil Howie on building and scaling software products.
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