planning - Coffee on the Keyboard

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planning

A collection of 5 posts

A software engineer, right, looking at a 3-monitor setup while working.

Debt, Depreciation, and Sustaining Engineering Work

Calling rearchitecture "tech debt" is a dangerous lie: it misrepresents the level of effort and retroactively makes our decisions into mistakes.

A graph in the positive quadrant showing y=x, y=x^p where p>1, and y=x^p where p<1.

Three Models of Value

In product development, we often think of "value" in large, discrete units: the value of project A vs project B; the value of a feature; the value of a refactor or architecture change. When we're deploying continuously, we have an opportunity to replace this mental model with a more continuous

A finger pointing to one of several empty boxes in a diagram on a chalk board.

Conceptual, Logical and Physical Data Models

Conceptual, logical, and physical data models has proven to be one of the most valuable things I've learned recently

A used car lot from the 1950s, named Parker-Robb Chevrolet, and featuring a number of classic Chevys.

What is "Tech Depreciation?"

As soon as you drive that software off the lot, its value will start going down. "Tech debt" is a well-known and useful metaphor, but I've found it doesn't describe the whole picture. Technical debt is a choice, a trade-off—sometimes made well—that can be paid down. It describes

An End and a Beginning

2010 is coming to a close, and, with it, the end of our year-long project to create a new platform for support.mozilla.com [http://support.mozilla.com/] (SUMO) is in sight. For the past year, developing the new platform has been our focus and has effected our roadmap. When