@brwngrldev - September, 2021
Hey! 👋 Long time no speak. How are you holding up? My family and I are doing well, thankfully. Attempting to keep my mental and physical health in check during these challenging times. Although, some days it's not easy.
I realize I can’t do as much outside of work activities as I once did. In fact, I've had to pull back on my tech community commitments. Just need more space to breathe. I hope you’re giving yourself the needed space as well. 🙏
One thing that’s helping me is taking a break to work out in the middle of the day. I’m definitely not where I want to be yet, but I’m much stronger and focused. I’m privileged enough to work with a personal trainer. Having a trainer forces me to schedule time for my health. I don’t naturally like to exercise. I’d rather be reading a book or learning something new on the computer. My trainer holds me accountable. I need that for now.
Other than that, I continue to experiment with how I run my life. I view every couple of weeks as a new “sprint". I reflect on what I accomplished, what I didn’t accomplish and why. Then I brainstorm ways to achieve my goals.
For example, my daily step count dropped to 500. That’s not just unhealthy, it was affecting my mobility. 😢 So I purchased a standing desk and desk treadmill. I start my day in a standing position. And then I walk on the treadmill at least every other day. From that simple change, I’m averaging about 3,000 steps a day. 🚶♀️This is just one example, but should give you an idea of my “life sprints."
Hopefully, you and yours are safe and hanging in there. ❤️ Now on to the books, podcasts, and cool tech.
Books I’m Reading
Atomic Habits - https://amzn.to/3BwSymj
I received this book as a gift. It sat on my desk for a while and then one day I picked it up. I haven’t been able to put it down since. Atomic Habits is a blueprint for how you can build good habits and break bad ones. The novel idea for me was this, “The most effective way to change your habits is to focus not on what you want to achieve, but on who you want to become.”
I thought about that statement a lot. Then I asked myself, “Who do I want to become?” What type of mother? What type of wife? Leader? Friend? Person? In most aspects of our lives, we have a choice. I want to be a healthy person. I’m not. What can I do to change that? Loads of things; but I don’t have to tackle it all at once. I can make changes, one small thing at a time. That’s reasonable and sustainable.
But what about when it comes to your bad habits? The author, James Clear, covers that too. I have a bad habit of checking Slack all hours of the day. It’s the first thing I do when I wake up and the last thing I do when I fall asleep. One way to break bad habits is to make them unattractive and invisible. So I logged out of my work Slack on my phone. If I really want to check Slack, I have to go in my office, log into my laptop, and then open the app. I was worried I would miss something at first, but it’s been fine. I’ve been able to break the habit.
If you struggle with feeling overwhelmed when it comes to habit formation and breaking, I highly recommend this book.
Androids: The Team That Built the Android Operating System - https://amzn.to/3jvX9ip
Androids is an insider's view of the team behind the OS that we know and love (mostly 😉). I wasn’t sure what to expect when I first picked it up. I knew there would be jokes, because of Chet, but other than that I figured it’d be a stroll down memory lane. I was wrong.
It contains nuggets of gold for tech companies, both big and small. Especially when it comes to team dynamics, hiring, and working towards a shared goal. One thing that stuck with me is this quote,
"Android exists because the people who built it worked together previously at various other companies”
This is why you don't burn bridges. You never know when you'll have the opportunity to work with a previous colleague again. And besides that, a cohesive, tight-knit team is capable of solving big problems, if you just let them.
It was a good reminder to solve interpersonal issues quickly. Needless drama on a team is a distraction and prevents them from making meaningful progress.
Let’s Talk Podcasts
The Product Podcast - Beyond OKRs: Goals, Roles and Norms
In this episode, Carlos talks to Christina Wodtke, about setting effective OKRs. Christina believes that OKRs are not meant to be the measuring line for all things taking place in a company. Instead, they should be there to help teams align on the big picture items. She talks about the benefit of using pipelines over roadmaps.
I’m sure you’re familiar with roadmaps, but pipelines might be new to you. Christina defines pipelines as a list of things you could do with a valuation about impact and confidence in achievement. Without using this same terminology that’s the way my company has been approaching quarterly planning. Despite not wanting to be in all of these planning sessions, I find them valuable in making sure we’re working on things that matter across the organization.
Christina and Carlos also discuss the characteristics of high-performing teams in this episode. Give it a listen.
Android Developers Backstage - Compose Testing
Nick and Romain chat with various folks from the Android team about testing in Compose. My team at Meetup has started developing with Jetpack Compose. So when I saw this episode I was eager to give it a listen. They go into the details of how the Compose testing APIs function.
Specifically, there was talk about the semantic tree and time manipulation. I’ll admit, they lost me for a second. Then I took a break and started reading over the documentation. And I had my "ah ha” moment. Testing in Compose is similar to Flutter Widget testing. When I was working at Zola Electric on the Flutter app, I wrote numerous tests using almost identical concepts. Now I’m eager to write some tests for Compose as well.
Current Tech Fave
Struggling to focus during meetings? Take notes. Taking notes helps you to avoid distractions and really lock into the details being shared.
I create mind maps for this purpose. My current tool of choice is XMind. I use it to take notes during meetings, plan out process recommendations, prepare for presentations, and more. I used the free version for a while and then upgraded to the paid version because I liked it so much. And no, this is not sponsored. I just happen to enjoy this tool very much.
I’ve used other tools, like Miro, for mind mapping. They worked okay. But the ease with which I can create maps in XMind is unmatched. The keyboard shortcuts are simple to remember and let you capture what’s being said near real-time. If you’re looking for a solid mind mapping application, definitely give XMind a try. If you do, let me know what you think.
Until next time, thanks for reading!
"My mission in life is not merely to survive, but to thrive; and to do so with some passion, some compassion, some humor, and some style.”
- Maya Angelou
Blog: http://www.adavis.info
Twitter: https://twitter.com/brwngrldev
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