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Reg Braithwaite

2 months ago

in Incubators, accelerators, and ignition on StartupNorth
For those who are interested, yes I do advise startups from time to time on an informal basis. My observation is that typically I am approached by startups with a strong technology founder or founders. They know of me through my development activities, so they are motivated to seek me out and exchange ideas.

That's terrific, and technology-centric founder please don't stop: I love talking with fellow developers! At the same time, I have a sneaking suspicion that the technology-centric founders would do well to also seek out business-centric advisors and learn to manage the resulting impedance mismatch. Likewise, business-centric founders might benefit even more from bringing a technology-centric advisor on board to complement their strengths.

8 months ago

in Hexangular Gazebo on Languages of the real and artificial
Going with the charitable interpretation, I'm going to say this is a "backless" design.

1 year ago

in State of Music Now on Whether a tree falls...
Thanks for the link love! You have an intriguing idea there: Labels transforming radio.

Reg Braithwaite's last blog post..Show, Don't Tell at http://weblog.raganwald.com

1 year ago

in The Crunch Mode Paradox: Turning Superstars Average on James on Software
I must admit I have trouble with the argument that "it's an emergency, it's critical." That makes it sound like an exceptional circumstance. Ok, if that happens on one project out of ten or twenty, fine. But when it happens on every milestone of every project, you have to step back and stop pretending there is an emergency and recognize that you are managing *for* this outcome.

Imagine, if you will, the question of performing open-heart surgery on an overweight forty year-old smoker with blocked arteries/aorta/whatever. Obviously, it's an emergency, get out the knife.

But if the same person is back in twenty-four months for more surgery, and they haven't lost weight, they haven't stopped smoking, what are you to say? Clearly this is no longer "emergency surgery," the patient is choosing a course of action that will end up with surgery.

1 year ago

in The Crunch Mode Paradox: Turning Superstars Average on James on Software
I must admit I have trouble with the argument that "it's an emergency, it's critical." That makes it sound like an exceptional circumstance. Ok, if that happens on one project out of ten or twenty, fine. But when it happens on every milestone of every project, you have to step back and stop pretending there is an emergency and recognize that you are managing *for* this outcome.

Imagine, if you will, the question of performing open-heart surgery on an overweight forty year-old smoker with blocked arteries/aorta/whatever. Obviously, it's an emergency, get out the knife.

But if the same person is back in twenty-four months for more surgery, and they haven't lost weight, they haven't stopped smoking, what are you to say? Clearly this is no longer "emergency surgery," the patient is choosing a course of action that will end up with surgery.

1 year ago

in The Crunch Mode Paradox: Turning Superstars Average on James on Software
Thanks for the quote and the link!

Controversial indeed... I myself do not always refuse the bidding of stake holders, even when I believe they are wrong. But I do insist that they understand the trade-offs they are making before trying practices I believe to be unproductive, such as sustained overtime.

It doesn't always help, but I often try to crack a joke to make the point. In the case of crunch mode, my standard line is:

"No problem. I can do almost as much work in seventy hours as I can in fifty."

1 year ago

in The Crunch Mode Paradox: Turning Superstars Average on James on Software
Thanks for the quote and the link!

Controversial indeed... I myself do not always refuse the bidding of stake holders, even when I believe they are wrong. But I do insist that they understand the trade-offs they are making before trying practices I believe to be unproductive, such as sustained overtime.

It doesn't always help, but I often try to crack a joke to make the point. In the case of crunch mode, my standard line is:

"No problem. I can do almost as much work in seventy hours as I can in fifty."

1 year ago

in Brilliantly wrong on Paul Buchheit
"While an Undo feature could be useful, isn't this just coddling people who should otherwise be paying closer attention to what they are doing?"

How shall I put this?

While a source code repository with version control could be useful, isn't this just coddling programmers who should otherwise be paying closer attention to what they are doing?

1 year ago

in Check Email Address with JavaScript and Regular Expressions on The Marketing Technology Blog
I like the idea, but I would be hesitant to adopt this particular regular expression without description of which legal email addresses it does not accept and which illegal addresses it permits.

For an example of a regular expression that does a decent job alongside an explanation of which cases it does not cover, see this:

http://www.regular-expressions.info/email.html

My personal preference is to cover most of the simple cases and issue a warning for everything else rather than rejecting it. If Bob really want sto submit bob@com.museum rather than bob@museum.com, why not let him?
1 reply
Douglas Karr Hi Reg,

You can test out the Regex utilizing an Online Regex Tester.

Also, there's definitely much more that can be done if you want to ensure an email address is valid in accordance with the RFC.

There are a few reasons not to allow someone to enter an invalid email address:
1. They will get annoyed at you when the email they expected doesn't get through - regardless of whether or not it was your fault the address was entered incorrectly.
2. If com.museum was a valid domain and, let's say, Yahoo! operated it - any email address that bounced would have a negative impact on your company's reputation for email delivery. This could lead to all of your company's email being blocked.
3. If your email service provider allowed you to enter bob@com.museum, you'd also pay for each email sent to that email address until they unsubscribed that address due to bounces. I would steer clear of any ESP that would allow an invalid email address like that - they're just taking your money!

Thanks for stopping by!
Doug

2 years ago

in Why You Have To Work For A Startup on Pat Maddox
John Jeese:

I am still very much impressed by how computers work, thirty-two years after I first started programming.

Is this any different than an Astronomer who is still impressed by how the Universe works after decades of research?

And Ruby is a tool like any other. True. But why do you suggest that tools can't be cool?

2 years ago

in Why You Have To Work For A Startup on Pat Maddox
"the experience you get creating stuff that hasn’t existed before is so much more useful than the experience you get implementing somebody else’s ideas or going over ground that’s already been thoroughly explored."

Giles, no truer words were e'r spoken. Or as Orson Welles put it, Always have a dream. Why spend your life building somebody else's vision?"

3 years ago

in Practice and perfection on BenCrowder.net
Thanks for the link love! I look forward to reading more from "Outside the Box."
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