Category: Article
-
What to expect when you weren’t expecting an R&D project
This was supposed to be a regular digital project that consistently made progress towards the objective… right? Problem statement, some analysis, build a solution bit by bit, deploy, …, nice linear progression… but no… we were wrong! It turned out to be an R&D project. Often R&D projects change direction and sometimes seem to go…
-
EV adventuring with resilience
Road trips are the most demanding EV scenario currently in Australia, especially to remote destinations. However, a little planning shows that they are still quite doable. Did the plans survive contact with reality? Mostly. In short, it was a pleasure to drive an EV long distances and the only inconvenience was faulty public charging infrastructure.…
-
R&D burn up
This article captures the key points of a conversation I have quite often with teams involved in exploratory work, and their stakeholders. Typical burn up We’re used to burn up charts looking like the examples in this description from Atlassian – a roughly horizontal scope line which we work towards with a roughly diagonal completed…
-
EV adventuring
Electric Vehicles (EVs) are great for weekend adventures and more. In Australia in 2024, it still requires a little extra planning, but many adventures are achievable with that little extra, and as infrastructure continues to improve, there will be ever less transport planning for ever more adventuring! For the time being, I’ll run you through…
-
Ten years of the safetydave.net blog
This blog recently turned 10! Let’s have a brief indulgent look at the highlights. Origins Though the safetydave.net domain has a longer history (and the “Safety Dave” nickname a longer history before that), I’d been reluctant to blog about work-related topics prior to joining Thoughtworks, probably because: After a couple of years in enterprise consulting,…
-
A coding saga with Bard
Though but a footnote in the epic of coding with AI, I though it worth musing on my recent experience with Bard. Bard currently uses the LaMDA model, which is capable of generating code, but not optimised for it. The story might be different with Codey as protagonist (or is that antagonist?) I didn’t produce…
-
Humour me – DRY vs WRY
Don’t Repeat Yourself (DRY) is a tenet of software engineering, but – humour me – let’s consider some reasons Why to Repeat Yourself (WRY). LEGO reuse lessons In 2021, I wrote a series of posts analysing LEGO® data about parts appearing in sets to understand what it might tell us about reuse of software components…
-
Smarter Semantle Solvers
A little smarter, anyway. I didn’t expect to pick this up again, but when I occasionally run the first generation solvers online, I’m often equal parts amused and frustrated by rare words thrown up that delay the solution – from amethystine to zigging. The solvers used the first idea that worked; can we make some…
-
I did it my way – hand-rolled navigation with open spatial data
Sure commercial maps app directions are great, but have you ever found the customisation options limited? What if you want to use bike paths and back streets when cycling, or avoid winding roads that might make backseat passengers car-sick on a road trip? The paved route OpenStreetMap and OpenRouteService do provide this type of functionality,…
-
End-to-end simulation hello world!
I’ve talked to many people about how to maximise the utility of a simulator for business decision-making, rather than focussing on the fidelity of reproducing real phenomena. This generally means delivering a custom simulator project lean, in thin, vertical, end-to-end slices. This approach maximises putting learning into action and minimises risk carried forward. For practitioners,…