💭 Providing a sense of independence in caregiving

Say you’re supporting and providing for someone with reduced mobility1. If you want them to maintain their sense of independence, thn focus on your response times. Make it a priority to respond to their request for help immediately (or as fast as you can). When they have autonomy, people experience a short time from thought to action. This is crucial to give them the sense of independence: thought ➔ action...

December 18, 2023 Â· 1 min Â· 133 words
A mural depicting people gathered in a dimly lit room, showcasing unity and diversity

💭 Diversity and Inclusion: Reflections on Empathy, Hiring, and Transformation

Thoughts about 3 aspects of promoting diversity and inclusion in the workplace: the need to understand each other, for companies to reveal themselves, and getting a seat at the table.

November 6, 2023 Â· 4 min Â· 758 words
Pop art painting of a crowded office party with many people

💭 Navigating people: The antisocial guide to survive social gatherings

Guide to being invisible in a crowded party. The subtle art of staying present and mingling with people, at the same time absent without engaging, all without raising suspicion.

July 10, 2023 Â· 7 min Â· 1365 words
An eye, a hammer and question mark, side-by-side next to each other in graffiti style

💭 Speaking or communicating? Easily recall how to give good feedback

There are many guidelines on how to structure feedback but human nature is quite common. A simple mnemonic will help your recall your favourite framework when it matters the most — talk about what you “observe”, its “impact” and then “ask”.

June 13, 2023 Â· 4 min Â· 741 words
Three silhouette shadows showing behind a translucent curtain

💭 “The Business” considered harmful

Few corporate speak expressions annoy me in as much as these 2 words: 😬 “The business” This is a pet peeve of mine, for sure. But beyond that, it’s important we stop covering decision makers behind “The Business” curtain. There is no such entity called “The Business” in companies. “The Business” isn’t a job function or role or group of people. “The Business” is everyone in the company. So what is happening in reality, behind “The Business” curtain?...

June 4, 2023 Â· 3 min Â· 519 words
On the left, red switch with a 1 on top, a 0 on the bottom, and turned to the 1 position + on the right a coaxial selector with the input on the bottom, an A and B position of top, and the central nob set to the A position

💭 Mental model for Booleans vs Enumerates

In programming, Booleans and Enumerates are common data types to represent the concept of “choice”. When there are several things to choose from, the Enumerate is the only one to support it, so that’s clear. But what about when you have two things to choose from? There might be some confusion between both data types since either of them supports handling binary choices. The confusion arrises in particular when you want to add the choice of a new behaviour, on top of an existing one....

May 15, 2023 Â· 2 min Â· 352 words
A pair of glasses sitting on a table facing two blurred screens filled with code

💭 Pairing Reviews: Bridging the gap between pair programming and code reviews

Paring technical sessions for kick-offs and reviews can be a good alternative for programmers frustrated with async code reviews and unhappy with continuous pair programming.

May 8, 2023 Â· 11 min Â· 2186 words
Ceiling of Borujerdis House in Kashan, Iran with a bright light centre and shaded triangles all around it

💭 Context is everything, even when you don’t see it

We have all heard the common sense1 saying that “context is everything” at some point of our life. It’s a reminder to consider the circumstances before making judgments or decisions. Especially in consultancy, “context is everything” is a famous adage. What is true in one company, almost never applies directly to another. We always need to do major adjustments to the new context and the different realities. But what if I told you that we can take this idea even further?...

April 24, 2023 Â· 5 min Â· 953 words

💭 Slack Overload? Regain control with Inbox Zero principles

Update 2024-04-19: Add illustrative images to the Context section, including info on Rivers, not buckets. Update 2024-02-13: Introduce headings for easier navigation and highlight the core problem with messaging apps. Update 2023-10-17: Replace simplistic “Channels/Someday” channel organisation with a MoSCoW-inspired sections structure optimised for fast processing. Context Lets start by recalling a few old principles about processing large volumes of information, and then define the core problem with modern messaging apps, as I see it
...

April 17, 2023 Â· 10 min Â· 1942 words

💭 Hearing or listening? Unlock the value of receiving feedback

Most information on feedback focuses on how to give negative feedback. But what about receiving negative feedback? How better would it be if both ends shared the burden of having productive conversations? Let’s put our egos to the side and be emphatic with those who give us criticism, so the burden isn’t on the speaker alone.

April 10, 2023 Â· 4 min Â· 693 words
A firefighter using a hose to extinguish a fire in training

💭 From Chaos to Strategy: Embracing Firefighting at Work

We use the analogy of firefighting when people handle unexpected problems at work. Instead of reacting in a chaotic manner like civilians, adopt the strategic approach of trained firefighters. This involves having a plan, clarifying roles, training people and practicing together. Doing so, we can create a better culture of preparedness in our companies.

April 3, 2023 Â· 3 min Â· 488 words

💭 Thermal throttling: “Gone in a cloud of dust”

When no matter how much you treat some problems as a “software” issue, there’s no escaping the “hardware” truth.

August 12, 2022 Â· 2 min Â· 336 words
Watercolor painting of baby shoes

💭 Histórias curtas

Pequenas histĂłrias de 6 palavras sĂŁo inspiradas num famoso desafio colocado ao escritor Hernest Hemingway. ...

July 16, 2020 Â· 1 min Â· 206 words
Cubism painting about a person with red eyes, working with their laptop in hell, looking upset

💭 Working from Home Hell

After 15 days of confinement due to COVID-19, with 2 adults working and 3 children attending school remotely, “WFH” is standing more closely to “Working from Hell” than “Working from Home”. đŸ˜±

March 27, 2020 Â· 3 min Â· 520 words

💭 PHP shenanigans

Pop quiz about PHP and something we’ve stumbled upon last week, while working on a client’s codebase. ...

April 15, 2019 Â· 2 min Â· 294 words
Father pointing to a slate board with a lock drawn in chalk and his 2 twin sons looking at it, in black and white crayons

💭 Educating security

A real story of how following good security practices is both easier to do than ad-hoc methods, and it spreads quickly to others.

March 18, 2019 Â· 3 min Â· 461 words

💭 Scala Enumerations Summary

Comparison between different ways of doing enumerates, with scala.Enumeration, case object and Java’s Enum.

May 14, 2017 Â· 9 min Â· 1882 words
Panorama dos 447 carros carbonizados no estacionamento de terra batida do Andanças

💭 IncĂȘndio no Andanças: Os NĂșmeros das Seguradoras

AnĂĄlise do impacto do incĂȘndio no Andanças, seguradoras envolvidas e nacionalidade das matrĂ­culas.

August 13, 2016 Â· 3 min Â· 472 words
Examples of a sketch, wireframe and mockup, side by side

💭 UI/UX design artefacts

Compare and contrast different design artefacts (sketch, wireframe, mockup, and prototype) in terms of their fidelity, speed, cost and use cases.

March 27, 2014 Â· 1 min Â· 134 words

💭 Vodafone “Update” app for iPhone

A while back, Widgetlabs (makers of Vodafone’s Update app for iPhone) was kind enough to ask about my complaints regarding the Vodafone Update app. Having setup version 2.0 of the app to connect to my Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn accounts, here’s a quick list of my main impressions, in no particular order: Problems Poor timeline management, with several issues: Entries getting frequently out of chronological order, with the most recent ones appended after 1 month old entries, for example....

January 4, 2010 Â· 3 min Â· 454 words