That’s what it means to become a leader. It’s not supreme confidence, it’s not fire and it’s not swagger. It’s doggedly and unglamorously trying to improve day after day, year after year.
Faster Specs without Loading Rails
If you’re writing unit specs in a Rails project and you don’t need Rails and all of its machinery to load in your spec while you’re iterating (for instance, because Rails takes 15+ seconds to load), you can just require the class you’re concerned with.
#require 'spec_helper' require 'rubygems' require 'active_support/all' require File.join(*[File.dirname(__FILE__)] + %w[.. lib services mything])
I use this when I’m writing specs for an isolated service object or adapter class, for instance, and I need to re-run the specs constantly. When I’m done I can just remove the 3 extra requires and go back to requiring spec_helper.
It’s not a long-term fix or anything—just a quick hack to get specs running faster when you’re iterating quickly on an isolated piece of code.
Tip-toeing in Code
def maybe_activate_frob
frob.activate! if x && y && z || a && b || c
end
vs.
def activate_frob_if_possible
frob.activate! if frob.can_activate?
end
vs.
frob.activate! if frob.can_activate?
I think I prefer the last version.
Conventional wisdom is, ultimately, found wanting on wise.
Jim Maiella, Impossible Happens
I really love that turn of phrase.
Indoctrination of children into religious belief systems is one of the great unpunished intellectual and social crimes of human history, and it continues almost unabated to this day.
NDAA and SOPA are both horrible laws…but they’re also perfectly predictable consequences of having the kind of busybody government that you’ve been loudly clamoring for your whole life.
I have made the decision that I love our children enough that we will kill you if you do this.
What Does ‘Quality’ Mean?
First, Kyle Neath talked about Relentless Quality, which I loved, but wasn’t everything I would say about quality.
Then, Adam Keys talked about Relentless Shipping, which I appreciated, but again was telling a different story.
Then @soopa accused me of not adhering to the mantra of “Relentless Quality” at some point, which was fair, but somehow missed the point based on my personal conception of quality.
So I wrote something about Quality in Craftsmanship to try to convey the way I approach quality and what I think it means.
Quality is a state of mind and a state of work during every step of creation.
What’s Next for Brad?
As you may have heard, Gowalla is going to Facebook.
Several of the Gowalla team members will be moving to California to join the Facebook team; I chose to stay in Austin. I moved to Austin in 2010 not only for Gowalla, but for a change in lifestyle. The pace of life, wonderful people, myriad events and warm weather here have conspired to steal my heart. Austin is my home and will stay that way for a long time to come.
It’s impossible to quantify the value of the time I spent with the Gowalla family. I feel I have made lifelong friends while working with some of the most talented people in the business. I will miss those who are moving to California, but I wish them the best and look forward to great things from all of them—this is a team that doesn’t compromise on vision or quality.
As for myself, I’ll be joining the team at OtherInbox for new adventures in software and product development. I’m quite happy to have found another high-caliber team with whom I am eager to work, while maintaining my home in this great city.
