Three Topics

Hi,

This year, I’m a bit behind with the newsletters. For one, I’m deeply involved in client projects – and the client always comes first. Additionally, since the beginning of the year, I’ve been battling pneumonia. It only started to improve this week. The symptoms were mild - after all, I continued to work - but I noticed a lack of energy for tasks beyond my duties.

To get back into the swing of things: Today, I have three short topics for you.

1. Large code reviews kill your quality

At my client’s, I’ve just come out of a code review that took me over 7 hours. I wrote more than 120 comments. And I’m not done yet. It was exhausting.

A conscientious code review can indeed take as long as the implementation – but after 7 hours, the quality of my review isn’t getting any better.

You must not let a pull request become this large. There are always many excuses for why it ended up being large. But do everything to prevent it.

2. Don’t improve the world around you

I don’t mean that you should stop recycling or being there for your fellow human beings when they need you. I’m of course talking about the professional environment.

In the last three months, I’ve put a lot of energy into convincing another team to adopt common DevOps practices. It’s the biggest leverage my client has.

But the team is outside my remit. And it’s just not working. It takes much more energy to get something moving that’s further away. It’s better to sweep in front of your own door. It’s easier than keeping the whole street clean.

“Cobbler, stick to your last”

Goodness - that was a lot of metaphors 😬

3. My positioning is taking shape

As you could read in my last newsletters: I’m changing my positioning. Or rather, I’m aligning my outward appearance with the work I’ve actually been doing over the last year.

Software architecture for medium-sized businesses.

And this week, I had an interesting initial conversation. There, I articulated my new positioning for the first time. And it felt well-rounded. The narrative is right. It’s easy to convey. And it solves a real problem.

It’s time for me to move forward with the adjustments to my website and profiles.

Rule the Backend,

~ Marcus