108 / Humans Need Play

Hi, how was your week? 🦕

Toot of the Week

The worst thing that ever happened in software engineering was when Kirk asked Scotty how long something would take and Scotty said thirty minutes and Kirk said you’ve got five and Scotty got it done in five and impressionable children watched this and grew up to become managers. — @isaacfreeman@cloudisland.nz

Peopleware

• To Build a Top Performing Team, Ask for 85% Effort (hbr.org)

  Greg McKeown about the old management mindest of maximum effort and a better alternative.

• Humans Need Play (allenpike.com)

  Allen Pike about the human need for play (next to work or entertainment).

• On Being Useful (berthub.eu)

  Bert Hubert has a guide on “being useful”, a.k.a. fighting the climate crisis for example,or social injustice.

• Imaginary Problems Are the Root of Bad Software (cerebralab.com)

  George about imaginary problems that appear because of communication issues or people wanting to solve hard, not boring problems.

Software

• Plain Text Journaling (peppe.rs)

  Akshay built their own journaling system in Vim and shares how.

• HDR QR Code (notes.dt.in.th)

  dtinth found an interesting hack to display QR codes brighter than possible with CSS. Thanks, Eric!

• TypeScript 5.2's New Keyword: 'using' (totaltypescript.com)

  Matt Pocock explains how to use the new upcoming TypeScript lifetimes feature.

• Exclusive: OpenAI Lobbied E.U. to Water Down AI Regulation (time.com)

  Billy Perrigo explains how Sam Altman spoke about the need of AI regulation but secretly lobbied the EU to water down the AI Act.

Cutting Room Floor

• A case for socks with toes (herman.bearblog.dev)

  I don’t know why this is in here, but apparently socks with toes are good for you? Thanks, Eric!