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Software Engineering ⚙️
A reasoned approach to technical changes
Successful execution in Phase 2 eventually leads to some self-propelled adoption, where people you did not explicitly sell on the new tech are freely choosing to use it.
A chief architect and a principal engineer at Slack describe how Slack makes technical changes. The defined exploration-expansion-migration process looks almost identical to how my org operates. Link
The balance between hacks and overanalysis
We have to be careful how we apply YAGNI, or You Ain’t Gonna Need It. The YAGNI mindset can make us miss significant cost savings. The right balance depends on our product’s lifecycle and will be somewhere in between. Link
AWS’s Google Maps alternative
AWS is now providing its location service like its competitors (think Microsoft Azure Maps or Google Maps). Since all my team’s infra is on AWS, this new location service is automatically a viable alternative over Google Maps. A notable backstory: Amazon, along with other tech giants, contributes to an open-source map database OpenStreetMaps. Link
People ❤️
How to align now and the future
It is easy to only focus on the next project and forget the big picture. The question“What will our product and business look like a year from now?” will keep us aligned with the long term vision. Link
How to negotiate
I am terrible at negotiating because I feel the urge to save my face. While this article is not work-related, I learned a lot about how to approach tough negotiations.
Never should one feel urgency to drop $20k+ on a rapidly depreciating asset.
Business 💸
Stock market peaks while people suffer
The lasting impact of the pandemic will be economic polarization. Folks who live paycheck to paycheck had lost their jobs when millionaires and billionaires made significant gains. This polarization will lead to more political instability in the future. Link
South Korean population started declining in 2020. What now?
Since the modern economy is based on endless growth, I’ve been worried about how the economy will behave once the population contracts. Now, this isn’t just a hypothetical in South Korea. Link
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