Notable

Adam Haylock (a customer of my previous employer), gave some similar advice at a company event a few years ago and it stuck with me. So much so that I had a succession plan in place for when I eventually stepped out of my team into a new role. It massively reduce the guilt I might have felt otherwise leaving my team behind and also freed my up to try my hand at something else. While it didn't quite work out for me the way I had wanted, that was my problem and not my team's.

If you can't be replaced, you can't be promoted

I'm pretty sure that's the wording Adam used. Roy Schwartz:

Always go for people who want and can do your job.

Some more advice from the same post:

But here's the secret: The easiest way to get better at something is to surround yourself with people better than you — and learn.

This is where I am now in my career, I'm surrounded by much cleverer and more talented people than I have been around for a while. I feel like I did coast for a few years but once an opportunity presented itself I took it (and did so twice). I've never felt the need to be the cleverest person in the room, but clearly know what my strengths are and I'm always open to conversations and when appropriate, taking the time to learn new things.

Posted 10th May 2022 @ 10:33

Incredibly detailed article by Bartosz Ciechanowski on how the various pieces of a watch work together. His article on GPS is worth a look too.

Posted 5th May 2022 @ 15:42

I'm a big fan of Adam Conover's work, his 'Adam Ruins Everything' serious was a lot of fun to watch. Looking forward to this new series. Could really do with a show like this for the UK.

Posted 5th May 2022 @ 11:35

Posted 5th May 2022 @ 09:37

Some fantastic advice from Kevin Kelly on his 70th birthday. Well worth reading all 103 items on the list.

Posted 3rd May 2022 @ 12:25

Posted 29th Apr 2022 @ 10:45

I wondered about this statistic over the weekend and good to see that there's some data on the subject to look at. Pretty clear that being vaccinated massively reduces your risk of death should you be (re-)infected.

I'm still very disappointed with the general feeling that we're just going to live with COVID, but this data does help to put me at ease. A little.

Posted 27th Apr 2022 @ 10:28

Leah Elliott's updated Chrome comic:

All facets of your life are scrupulously collected

Posted 22nd Apr 2022 @ 14:39

Debra Caplan:

We are watching an astounding mass delusion unfold in real time.

The pandemic is far from over, if hundreds are still dying at the hands of a virus it feels very strange for us all to just learn to live with it.

Not only have our governments failed us, but we all failed to be kind enough to each other and actually put an end to the transmission of Covid.

Posted 22nd Apr 2022 @ 12:12

Somehow I avoided having any USB-C devices until early 2020. It's only been the last 6 months where I've gone from having a single USB-C device to multiple.

While I don't think this is a bad idea, it does annoy me that the whole USB-C cable situation is an absolute mess. It's even worse when you throw in Thunderbolt which looks the same but isn't.

If device manufacturers are going to be forced to provide USB-C ports, then the whole ecosystem needs to just work. You can't have a situation where the average consumer may or may not buy the correct cable. Numbers indicating the Gbps and wattage aren't good enough, in my opinion. A PD label isn't either.

Lightning on the other hand, it does what it does well. Even Micro-USB gets it right and is probably the most common port for non-Apple devices in our house.

Overall, it is probably a good move I just don't understand why the world of USB-C is so complicated.

For more on the topic, listen to John Gruber and Nilay Patel over on The Talk Show podcast.

Posted 21st Apr 2022 @ 16:00