The worst NFL announcers, by the numbers (via Kottke). Obviously, this is my jam. To my surprise, Phil Simms didn’t come in last. Simms is a real conundrum; I think he’s great on Inside the NFL, but on live TV he shows frequent ignorance of how NFL games work. Apparently a lot of people don’t like Aikman as an announcer; I think he’s tolerable. I’m surprised Daryl Johnston’s FOX team didn’t show well; I guess Siragusa brings them down something awful.
Mapping Place Pins. The extended story of how the city guide feature on Pinterest came to be. Having worked on the edges of stuff like this in my Gowalla days, this was an intriguing read. Even if you haven’t worked on a location product, stick around and read it for the behind-the-scenes details and the loving treatment of how an idea becomes a product.
Architecture and Agility: Married, Divorced, or Just Good Friends? It starts here…
Does agile development need architecture? Does architecture need agile development? Is it possible to even answer these questions without a polarizing debate typified more by caricature and entrenched cultural views than by clear definitions and open reasoning—a debate more closely resembling two monologues streaming past each other than a dialogue?
…and ends with thinking about the intersection of making things, designing things, and working with people in a different way: holistically. People don’t write great code on schedule because of architecture and process. Architecture and process are what help people learn and create faster. Once a team is learning quickly and creating effectively, then they can write great code and ship it predictably.
