Adam Keys is Thinking

The practice of building software/technology is going through a phase shift. We’ve worked from abundance the past few years. Now we have to figure out which developments are worth keeping and make a dividend of that exploration. It’s not clear what job roles, kinds of software, practices, and benefits¹ will persevere.

We’re going to have to ask “what would you say it is you do around here?” of software development assumptions from the past few years. It’s unsettling², but some good corrections will come of it.

I’m betting that using writing as a lever will remain under-rated and under-used. Both for asynchronous/remote work and improving all kinds of thinking about building software.

Furthermore, Poker Face is excellent.

1. Sorry, nap pods and ping-pong tables. ↩
2. And, often executed cynically. ↩

Working in small increments towards medium-to-large projects or outcomes is tricky. I too frequently find myself down a much deeper rabbit hole than I’d intended. And I’ve spent a lot of time thinking about it and practicing at it! Recommended reading: Simon Willison on productivity.

Read-only and write-only modes of accessing social media – there’s something good here. E.g., blogs and feed readers are distinct from most¹ posting software. Currently, I’m reading Twitter once a day, as a digest, without the ability to scroll an infinite timeline. If I want to post, I open up an entirely different app that nudges me towards writing instead of dashing off hot-takes. Interestingly, Typefully and Mailbrew are what I’m using for this and are made by the same team. I wonder if that was intentional or a happy accident?

Billing/subscriptions/payment projects are absolutely crucial, “undifferentiated heavy lifting”, and difficult to pull off. I have a ton of unstructured ideas about this. The latest kernel of an idea: billing projects are very likely to involve weird interactions between business goals, customer psychology, and anecdata.

The nap hierarchy – naps are probably in my top 5 list of work-from-home benefits.

1. Early versions of NetNewsWire and Userland Radio notwithstanding. ↩

How I work: what might “pairing” with a language model-based assistant (e.g. GPT-3) look like?

How I build: the tension between the web platform being more capable than ever versus the difficulty of standing up many kinds of “basic” applications. e.g. animation is better/more sophisticated than ever, but skipping ahead with building web/database applications requires expertise and a few hours to get something up and running.

How I collaborate: encouraging teams to work in issue threads, thereby improving the quality of thinking (via writing) and building ambient, asynchronous awareness amongst teammates.

Delegating: supporting teammates, delivering the right context, setting good outcomes/goals.

Not delegating: managing/mitigating risk, resolving unknowns. “Delegate downhill work, tackle uphill work.”

🤔 Compilers are at once magic and the closest thing to mechanical tools in a software developer’s experience.

✍🏻 Reflecting on using Shape Up for the past few years…

• Managing a backend engineering team at Pingboard.
• Managers can, and should, do deep work. What forms does that take?
• You can build anything from trust; how do you turn accountability into agency amongst teams?
• How can I get more writing/editing/publishing practice in?
• Meditating & reading