best practices

Propaganda and Marketing – Are we still persuading? Copywriting by Copy Hackers Moral of the story: You can create powerful messages using the words your prospects use to complete these phrases: I want ________ I wish someone could ________ If only there was ________ And be careful not to veer into “Don’t you want…?” territory. … because being only plausible and not really truthful means you’re defrauding your audience. [call to

Uncle Bob Martin walks through the “Prime Factors” kata in Java (29m06s) to illustrate the concept of Transformation Priority Premise as a way to address the common complaint about TDD: the brainlessness “As the tests get more specific, the code gets more generic.” … and “here’s the list of transformations” (47m53s): So what are these transformations? Perhaps we can make a list of them: ({}–>nil) no code at all->code that employs nil (nil->constant) (constant->constant+) a simple constant to a more complex constant (constant->scalar) replacing a constant with a variable or an argument (statement->statements) adding more unconditional statements. (unconditional->if) splitting the execution path (scalar->array) (array->container) (statement->recursion) (if->while) (expression->function) replacing an expression with a function or algorithm (variable->assignment) replacing the value of a variable. There are likely others. ...

How to craft your Elevator Pitch: So, what do you do? [WOW] What do you mean?!? [HOW] [NOW] , for example… Verbal Ping Pong video (by Brian Walter (Extreme Meetings) ) ( Source: https://www.youtube.com/ )

Favicon Generator – Generate favicon pictures and HTML Generate the favicon pictures and HTML code that work on all major browsers and platforms.

The number of patterns available to communicate information between objects can be overwhelming at first. The choice of which pattern to use often feels ambiguous. But once we investigate each pattern more closely, they all have very unique requirements and capabilities. (via Communication Patterns – Foundation – objc.io issue #7 )

How to Create a Business that Prints Money | Forever Jobless Step 1: How can you create something of value in a market better than what’s out there? Step 2: When you do that, how can you reach your potential audience? If you can answer “yes” to both, do you have something you think you’ll enjoy, and can make an amount of money that may be interesting to you? Cool. Jump in. ...

Starter’s Guide to iOS Design In this guide I’ll describe the deliverables you’ll be expected to produce, outline the constraints of the medium and introduce fundamental iOS and UI design concepts .

Richard Feynman, the Challenger Disaster, and Software Engineering : Gustavo Duarte With respect to software, I take out four main points: Engineering can only be as good as its relationship with management Big design up front is foolish Software has much in common with other engineering disciplines Reliable systems are built by rigorously tested , incremental bottom-up engineering with an ‘attitude of highest quality’

Type-System Criteria · ongoing by Tim Bray Cri­te­ria Let’s call them the Bánffy-Bray cri­te­ria for se­lect­ing be­tween sta­tic and dy­namic type sys­tems. Sta­tic typ­ing’s at­trac­tive­ness is a di­rect func­tion (and dy­namic typ­ing’s an in­verse func­tion) of API sur­face size. Dy­namic typ­ing’s at­trac­tive­ness is a di­rect func­tion (and sta­tic typ­ing’s an in­verse func­tion) of unit test­ing work­a­bil­ity.

How to Change the World: Guy’s Golden Touch “How can I get people to evangelize my product?” The short answer is called “Guy’s Golden Touch.” You might think this means, “Whatever Guy touches turns to gold.” If only this were true. The actual definition is, “Whatever is gold, Guy touches.” “What are the characteristics of a great product?” Think: DICEE Deep . A great product is deep. It doesn’t run out of features and functionality after a few weeks of use. (…) As your demands get more sophisticated, you discover that you don’t need a different product. Indulgent . A great product is a luxury. It makes you feel special when you buy it. (…) deep down inside you know you’ve rewarded yourself when you buy a great product. Complete . A great product is more than a physical thing. Documentation counts. Customer service counts. Tech support counts. Consultants, OEMS, third-party developers, and VARS count. Blogs about it counts. A great product has a great total user experience—sometimes despite the company that produces it. Elegant . A great product has an elegant user interface. Things work the way you’d think they would. A great product doesn’t fight you—it enhances you. (…) Emotive . A great product incites you to action. It is so deep, indulgent, complete, and elegant that it compels you to tell other people about it. (…) You’re bringing the good news to help others, not yourself.

How to Steal Killer Sales Copy Straight from Your Prospects' Mouths What’s in these 2 warehouses? Pure copywriting gold. … Also known as “customer reviews”. Warehouse #1: Amazon Reviews Most services are tied, in some way, to products. So if you offer a service, read the related product reviews, and steal from there. For example: If you offer a project management service, mine reviews for books about how to manage projects If you offer a directory of professionals – like AnyFu or Sortfolio – pull from reviews of biographies of the legends in those professions If you have a deal-of-the-day site, spend a little time on Amazon reviews for every product you host every day If you’re an unknown fashion designer on Etsy, pull from clothing reviews that highlight the things people want when they don’t care about big brands and labels If you’re a freelance graphic designer, find new ways to express your value by reading the reviews for Adobe Photoshop and for books on DIY design Warehouse #2: AppStore Reviews If you’re in the mobile app, digital product or game business, the AppStore is loaded with customer reviews that will help you write sick copy that resonates with prospects. ...

Being organized is the first and most important part of cooking (…) it’s all about setting yourself up to succeed. Thomas Keller (in his book Ad Hoc at Home )

Code Like a Chef: Work Clean | The Table XI Blog Interesting concept, specially the part gotten from the Ad Hoc at Home cooking book (by Thomas Keller ), which got me to dig out for the full text snippet ( emphasis added): Being organized – as we say in our kitchen, working clean – is a skill to develop. We call it mise-en-place , French for, literally, ‘put in place.’ The term can be very specific, referring to ingredients needed to complete a recipe, measured out and ready to use, or it can be more general: are you organized, do you have everything you need to accomplish the task at hand? ...

playbook, by thoughtbot This is your playbook. It details how you and your teammates run our software consulting company and how we make web and mobile products together. We’ve made the playbook free and licensed it as Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial so others may learn from, or use, our tactics in their own companies. HELLO TIME Consulting Investment PRODUCT DESIGN SPRINT Prep Work Understand Diverge Converge Prototype Test and Learn CHOOSE PLATFORMS Web Apps Mobile Apps Programming Languages Frameworks Databases Licenses LAPTOP SETUP Laptop Dotfiles Text Editor PLANNING Daily Standups Tasks Weekly Retrospectives Planning Meeting Altering the Process DESIGNING Sketches Wireframes User Interface Interaction Design Visual Design Usability Testing DEVELOPING Version Control Style Guide Pair Programming Test-Driven Development Acceptance Tests Refactoring Code Reviews Continuous Integration PRODUCTION Checklist Domain Names SSL Certificates Hosting Performance Monitoring Error Tracking Transactional Email Payment Processing MEASURING AARRR Instrumentation Subscription Metrics A/B Testing Feature Flags SALES Leads Understanding Product Vision On Site Customer NDAs Roles No Fixed Bids Budget Rate Typical Projects Contract Invoices HIRING Recruiting Interviewing Offer and Onboarding OPERATIONS Expenses Email Calendar Documents Meetings Accounting Legal SHARING Blog Twitter Research Open Source GOODBYE

Pairing vs. Code Review: Comparing Developer Cultures Prerequisites for success There are a few nonnegotiables that are common across both of these paradigms. Solid continuous integration Talented core developers Agreement on the importance of code quality Iterative self-organization The joys of pairing Everybody gets better together Pairing can balance the natural daily ebbs and flows of energy A peer generates motivation for self-improvement Tactical decisions are made more easily and with better results [Stronger] concept of collective code ownership but, ...

There are three (3) principles on which human life flourishes, and they are contradicted by the culture of education under which most teachers have to labor and most students have to endure. Human beings are naturally different and diverse . Curiosity is what drives human life flourishing. Human life is inherently creative . Education is not a mechanical system, it’s a human system, it’s about people! (via Ken Robinson: How to escape education’s death valley | Video on TED.com ) ...

This brings us to the magical three step process for becoming an expert at anything: Watch someone Try it yourself and experiment Teach someone else (via Programming Your Brain: The Art of Learning in Three Steps | BitNative ) See also another image representation:

How To Not Suck Online Download a PDF poster of the below tips & tricks Clear Language Simplicity Visual Priority Create Intrigue Ten Ideas in ten Minutes Write a Good Brief Write the News Story Make me Look Good It Pays to be Remarkable Be Relevant Collaborate not Death by Committee Adapt or Die Tell a Story Use Humor Give People a Strong Call to Action

The Twelve-Factor App In the modern era, software is commonly delivered as a service: called web apps, or software-as-a-service. The twelve-factor app is a methodology for building software-as-a-service apps (…) Codebase Dependencies Config Backing Services Build, release, run Processes Port binding Concurrency Disposability Dev/prod parity Logs Admin processes

[hyphen](http://thewritepractice.com/create-your-own-words-and-other-uses-of-the-hyphen/) = connect things to be used as one word/unit [n-dash](http://thewritepractice.com/whats-an-en-dash-and-how-to-use-it-correctly/) = indicates a range, as in: X--Y (from x to y) [m-dash](http://thewritepractice.com/what-the-heck-is-an-em-dash/) = break in narration, a short aside