Category: Products
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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…
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22 rules of generative AI
Thinking about adopting, incorporating or building generative AI products? Here are some things to think about, depending on your role or roles. I assume you’re bringing your own product idea(s) based on an understanding of an opportunity or problems for customers. These rules therefore focus on the solution space. Solutions with generative AI typically involve…
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Throwback Thursday
The metaverse is a topic currently, though the concept has a long history. Twenty years ago, in the dotcom era, I was exploring this space, as I was recently reminded. Feeling nostalgic, I dug these projects out of the NAS archives. Tech has moved on, but there’s enduring relevance in what I learned. VO2max (1999)…
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Creative AI
I recently talked with Leon Gettler on an episode of the Talking Business podcast about Creative AI – paring people with AI to augment product and strategy development. This connects with some themes I’ve blogged about here before, such as No Smooth Path to Good Design and Leave Product Development to the Dummies. Also, Sketching…
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LEGO and Software – Part Roles
This is the fifth post in a series exploring LEGO® as a Metaphor for Software Reuse. A key consideration for reuse is the various roles that components can play when combined or re-combined in sets. Below we’ll explore how we can use data about LEGO parts and sets to understand the roles parts play in…
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LEGO and Software – Part Reuse
This is the fourth post in a series exploring LEGO® as a Metaphor for Software Reuse. The story is evolving as I go because I keep finding interesting things in the data. I’ll tie it all up with the key things I’ve found at some point. In this post we’re looking from the part perspective…
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Why the Australian COVIDSafe App Failed
It was a pleasure to collaborate with some of my colleagues on this article in The Australian newspaper, which I was able to put my name to. The article is titled Why the COVIDSafe App Failed, and may need a subscription to access. The tl;dr The COVIDSafe experience has been an education and if one…
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LEGO and Software – Lifespans
This is the third post in a series exploring LEGO as a Metaphor for Software Reuse through data (part 1 & part 2). In this post, we’ll look at reuse through the lens of LEGO® part lifespans. Not how long before the bricks wear out, are chewed by your dog, or squashed painfully underfoot in…
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LEGO and Software – Variety and Specialisation
Since my first post on LEGO as a Metaphor for Software Reuse, I have done some more homework on existing analyses of LEGO® products, to understand what I could myself reuse and what gaps I could fill with further data analysis. I’ve found three fascinating analyses that I share below. However, I should note that…
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LEGO as a Metaphor for Software Reuse – Does the Data Stack Up?
LEGO® products are often cited as a metaphor for software reuse; individual parts being composable in myriad ways. I think this is a bit simplistic and may miss the point for software, but let’s assume we should aim to make software in components that are as reusable as LEGO parts. With that assumption, what level…