What I Read Last Week
Tech/Startups
Why I wouldn’t use rails for a new company — Jared Friedman
Main Point: Ruby is slow and Rails is dead. Predictably Node is growing at breakneck pace.
Thoughts: It’s hard to tell whether this Node thing is a fad or a lasting trend. But either way JavaScript doesn’t seem to be going anywhere so learning a full JS stack is unlikely to hurt. Also, developing in Node with Mongo is really fast from idea to deployment.
Our Team Won Startup Weekend And All We Got Was A Shitty New Boss — Bobby Boyd
An entertaining account of how a team hacked away at a startup weekend, won and everything quickly went to shit right after.
Do it. Create a Crisis. — Aquiles La Grave
Main Point: Creating a perpetual state of crisis on a development team leads people to put aside conflict and do what’s required to get it done.
Thoughts: My gut reaction is to not like this. “Crisis” is another way of saying “stressful” and I’m not sure that constant stress is healthy for anyone. But I see the value (both academically and from past experience) of having tight deadlines with slightly outrageous goals to really bring the best out of people and teams. I believe that with clear expectations and good leadership this can work to create a motivated, high performing team.
Social
Here’s Why You Can’t Attract, Develop and Retain Female Talent — Anne Loehr
Everyone should read this, not just those that are going to be in charge of hiring decisions.
Inside the London megaport you didn’t know existed — Oliver Wainwright
Main Point: “London Gateway was built by Dubai, is twice the size of the City of London, is run by robots, has the world’s largest cranes — and it’s where everything you buy will soon come from. London’s docks are back in business”
Thoughts: The article isn’t all that interesting but I love global shipping. Global logistics is the closest thing in the world to a massive software project.
Donald Trump is America’s Silvio Berlusconi — Rula Jebreal
Main Point: “Like Berlusconi in Italy, Trump has built a political campaign employing unvarnished language and jaundiced humor, which has succeeded in the United States, a country that — embarrassingly — ranks second among wealthy industrialized nations, only behind Italy, in terms of being uninformed on key issues of the world.”
Thoughts: “It would be a terrible mistake for America’s political establishment to dismiss Trump’s populist appeal and presume him unelectable. Even if he doesn’t win, he’s already done damage: Laughing at, or simply ignoring his rhetorical, xenophobic bellowing can, perversely, further kindle Trump’s resentment-based politics, allowing them to fester unchallenged. The poisonous impact his campaign and antics are having on the country’s politics are exploiting and galvanizing broad, deep-seated, toxic resentment of the status quo, which has already defined this campaign — and which may well outlive Trump’s candidacy.”
