Technical News
- Test Case Filter Syntax for VS 2012 Unit Tests
- New Programming Jargon from Stack Overflow
- Yoda Count, Rubber Ducking, Unicorny are some of the good ones!
- Beyond Agile Estimation Part I: Measuring Key Data Points
- Using your backlog and your velocity to estimate when the project will be finished
- Beyond Agile Estimation Part II: Improving Your Metrics
- Adjusting estimate based on some velocity loss do to scope creep or bug density or difficulty
- Application lifecycle in a Windows 8 Metro app
Leadership
- Leadership Language from a Submarine Captain
- Using I intend to… to encourage more decision making throughout the organization
- Three wins for the week
- One of the best ways to get everybody on the team firing on all cylinders is to go around the team and do a fast rundown of your three wins from last week, and your three wins for this week. This helps the entire team stay connected to the goals, what’s on the radar, and what’s important, in a very simple and agile way.
Business
- Meta-Knowledge
- Meta-knowledge can be thought of as a lack of hubris, an intellectual humility of sorts. Those who see the world probabilistically seem to better navigate volatile environments because they are wired to embrace uncertainty. They understand that they don’t know anything with 100% certainty and are therefore open to ideas different from their own.
- Risk, Fear, and Worry – Risk need not breed fear and worry
- Strategy matters more than ever
Not changing your strategy merely because you’re used to the one you have now is a lousy strategy.
General
- Multitasking’s Real Victims
- As we clock in more hours on smartphones and social networks, we’ve ushered in the “provisional conversation”: a face-to-face discussion that falls apart as one or more participants default to checking their phones, only to restart as the handsets are put back away. But why is it that when we talk about multitasking, we focus exclusively on how it hurts the multitasker?
- Productivity and Happiness come from the right amount of sleep
- THE 7 BENEFITS OF KEEPING A DAILY JOURNAL
- The problem with college essays
- Apologies for writing such a long letter, I didn’t have time to make it shorter.
- The Most Common Causes of Preventable Suffering (and Their Simple Solutions)
- Problem: Poor Diet Remedy: Cook at home
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Problem: Sedentary Lifestyle Remedy: Simple changes to lifestyle that encourage moving (smaller water bottle that you have to fill up more or parking farther away so you have to walk)
- Problem: Sugary Beverages Remedy: Alternate between water and and the sugary drink
- Problem: Poor Diet Remedy: Cook at home
- The positive aspects of boredom and procrastination
- I found I was filling every moment of my day with something [so I had to learn to prioritize nothing]
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Discusses what Active Procrastination is versus Passive Procrastination
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Just take a breath. Take more pauses. Stare off into the distance.
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The ideas in NY Magazine are backed up with research from the Journal of Neuroscience that suggests that daydreaming improves focus by creating long-range neural connections. In short, getting distracted and letting your mind wander can actually make you smarter and more focused in the long term. You shouldn’t stop in the middle of a productive moment and surf the internet, but if you catch yourself being distracted you don’t always have to fight it.
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We can’t be inactive all the time, but it’s a task we’re losing touch with. Like all things, it’s about balance, but the next time you’re sitting at the bus stop, consider leaving your phone in your pocket. Take a walk without those headphones now and again. Procrastinate on your decisions for a couple of days. A lot of things in life happen at warp speed and you can’t do anything about it, but a few moments each day can help you better understand the world.
