Dimitrios Platis

Principles on a wiki page... not a good strategy for organizational change. If you are part of an Architecture Modernization Enabling Team (or similar), creating documentation is a tiny part of your responsibilities. You need to get out there and spend time with teams, help them to understand and adopt principles, translate principles to their context, repeat the message until it sticks, get feedback and improve yourself... and just think about the whole developer experience. If you are looking for inspiration then look here: Truls Jørgensen & Audun Fauchald Strand. They gave an exceptional case study on this topic at QCon London 2022 (or some other time during the twilight pandemic years). https://lnkd.in/dtEmKGGi One thing I love about working at PayFit France is being part of a motivated staff engineering community that is always trying to improve in this area. #architectureModernization

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Let's talk about Trust. Recently I just finished my skipper courses, and you know what - it's so much a software development. You're - a cross-functional team of 2-8 people - with a delivery idea of moving the vessel from point A to point B. But yet, that's an extreme sport - and as with every extreme team activity - Trust is key to success. A team member has the Trust if - believe other members are doing their best in their work - believe other member's estimations/promises are true - believe other members will raise a flag once trouble appears > We can fail, but fail quickly and learn. But how do you build that in the team? The first thing you do - you become such a person. You always do your best. You try to keep your word and promises. You fail and talk about that openly. You are - the Trust deliveryman. > As a leader, you need to trust your team first to be trusted. So what do you think? - Do you have a Trust-specific task in your backlog? - How do you measure the Trust in your team? - Did you have an experience where a lack of Trust became a blocker? inspired by https://lnkd.in/dGQCPi9v #LifeIsASoftwareDevelopment

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Did you know that Impact Mapping has been created in Sweden by some agency to stop the Swedish government from wasting money on failing IT projects? Impact Mapping is all about making an impact and changing behaviours. If you have never heard about Impact Mapping or if you would like to learn more about it, check out my discussion with Gojko Adzic, which was recorded for Pragmatic Talks at ACE! Conference. #impactmapping #pragmatictalks https://lnkd.in/dWsgghCR

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Underestimated service worth the attention, whether you run a react, Vue, Angular, Hugo or whatever SPA or other kind of static website, know you can run it for free in Azure with Azure Static Website. Learn from the best, and enjoy a day packed with SWA goodness

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Thanks for bringing this up Bill Doerrfeld. It's a topic we see highlighted by our larger customers. In some cases, we've seen API teams try to catalog their APIs with an Excel sheet. That never ends well. We're iterating on our internal API catalog with our customers right now, so looking forward to any insights you gather in your article!

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https://lnkd.in/dxqQa5kn Just read a fantastic article by Christian Heilmann 👀 that I couldn't help but share. In this article, Christian passionately defends the role of frontend developers and highlights the critical importance of specialized expertise in web development. Christian perfectly captures the essence of what it means to be a frontend developer today. We're not just writing HTML, CSS, and JavaScript. We're crafting the very interfaces that define user experiences across all devices and browsers. His experiences with major companies like Yahoo, Bing, and Microsoft, as well as his work on browsers like Firefox and Edge, underscore the significance of having dedicated frontend professionals. One standout point was the common misconception that frontend work is somehow less "real" than backend or full-stack development. Christian dismantles this myth by highlighting the deep expertise required in performance optimization, cross-browser compatibility, and accessibility. I highly recommend reading this article, especially in an era where the push for full-stack generalists can sometimes overshadow the need for dedicated frontend expertise. It’s a powerful reminder that having specialized skills is crucial and that investing in experts can save time, money, and headaches down the line. #TechInsights #FrontendDev #LGUW #LGUW14dayschallenge

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Familiar situation, anyone? Yeah, that’s what happens all too often with software development. In the mad rush of ‘we needed it working a week ago’ people forego testing hoping that everything will be alright. Or, if not, the problem wouldn’t become too serious until much later. But that is the problem on its own. Not this kind of an attitude, though God knows that it’s really unfair to the client who thinks that everything is tested and works perfectly well. But other people suffer from ‘pushing straight to prod’ approach. I fell into that category a couple of times, actually. It goes like this: you are asked to add some functionality or reconstruct some part of software, say a mobile app, you start writing your code only to hit the wall of some kind of error. And in the end it turns out that the app isn’t functioning as it was supposed to, and you end up fixing bugs on top of your other work. In the best-case scenario you can prove that you were not the one to make the code malfunction. So let’s be respectful to each other and test our codes before pushing ;) #IT #Web #development #startup #outsource #outstaff

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The Clarity Paradox: Why Brilliant Minds Embrace Simple Language I'm about to talk about Naval Ravikant again (and I know me, it won't be the last time)! I've been listening to Naval Ravikant with BeerBiceps podcast lately, and there's one particular insight that really struck a chord with me. Naval emphasizes that the smartest people can explain complex concepts in the simplest terms, using plain English without resorting to abstractions or jargon. Naval, a self-described "failed physicist," shared his experiences being surrounded by physicists and immersed in physics literature. He points out that you can't fool a physicist with fancy words or convoluted explanations. The field demands rigor and precision. Drawing a parallel to computer science, Naval notes that code must be correct to compile and well-written to function as expected. You can't talk your way out of errors when dealing with computers. The profound observation - being grounded in scientific disciplines and surrounded by scientific minds forces you to be rigorous and humble about your actual sphere of knowledge. In essence, while you might deceive individuals, you can’t deceive free markets or nature - both thrive on genuine feedback. It emphasizes the importance of surrounding ourselves with environments that offer unfiltered, objective feedback, encouraging continuous growth and improvement. I think it’s very important to surround ourselves with people who push us to be clearer, more precise, and more humble in our knowledge. For those interested in exploring Naval's wisdom further, I highly recommend two podcasts: - Joe Rogan Experience 1309 - Naval Ravikant: https://lnkd.in/gWDX6VwJ - The Naval Podcast - Naval Ravikant with BeerBiceps: https://lnkd.in/gX-v6Fm2 These conversations are goldmines of insights into clear thinking, communication, intellectual pursuits, and life in general.

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What’s the most difficult bug you’ve ever solved? How did you manage to solve it? I was working on this tracker project, the development went smoothly until someday the team found a strange bug. The bug was really annoying. Not because it was complex system, but because it's hard to reproduce. You see, my company was building 12 units for our pilot project. 10 deployed in the field, 2 as backup units in our HQ. 2 weeks after deployment, everything seemed fine. some devices transmitted bogus data, only at 00:00 midnight. “Okay, probably it’s just a firmware issue” I said to myself. Here are some other facts to make it even stranger: 👉 From 10 units deployed, only around 3 were affected 👉 The bug started to appear AFTER 3 weeks of 24/7 operational 👉 2 units in HQ didn’t have the issue Well, if it was a firmware problem, point 1 and 3 were the counterargument. I went to my boss's desk and said “There you go, we got hw issue. I couldn’t repro the bug here, I have rerun our unit tests 1000 times, the only possibility is our GPS module”. “Hmm, what’s your proof it’s our GPS? Your perfect unit test result ain’t showing nothing” He said. “I’m not convinced”. He had a good point. I wasn’t communicating my reasoning well enough, I just blamed the GPS based on a hunch and patterns. Honestly, I wasn’t sure if it was really a GPS issue (hehe), but my gut feeling told me I had to check the GPS in isolation, because it was the weakest link in our system. After that, I created a small firmware just to log the GPS NMEA sentence output, containing GPS data like timestamp, coordinate, etc. When I finished the logging, I had 24 hours' worth of data. I didn’t know what I was looking for, but I decided to dive into the log line by line, until suddenly I found something. Apparently there was an “alien” NMEA sentence that will make the system timestamp reset. The funny thing is, that NMEA sentence appear at totally random intervals. You might find it after 10mins, nothing, and then another 3 hours later. Not every GPS had this behavior, so totally random. My firmware wasn’t handling that well because I assumed the GPS behavior was 100% predictable. Later, I added a single line to my firmware to handle that randomness and the bug had practically gone. I came back to my CEO and said “Yes, it was the GPS module, there's a random NMEA sentence we don't want". “I fixed the issue and the bug’s dead. I already created the post-mortem doc in Notion. I’ll share the link in our discord”. My boss was now convinced. What’s the lesson learned here? • Use data to make decision • Assume nothing about the hardware • Assume the hardware will fail extravagantly • Use defensive programming in your firmware • Assume random things can sometimes happen What’s the most difficult bug you’ve ever solved? How did you manage to solve it?

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GPT-powered software agents are heralded as the next step beyond chatbots, but have only partly lived up to the hype so far. 👿 Currently agents tend to be fail due to pile-up of errors in subprocesses. For example a five-step process for an agent with individual error rates of, say, 5% lead to overall error of 26,4%. That is without taking into account that all you do to make this better, tends to make the agents *fragile*. That is, they become prone to failing due to model updates or data drift for instance. Improving sub-processes at some point always involved human-annotated data, which doesn't really scale - up till now. 😯 In this very recent interesting paper by google deepmind, they seem to have found a way to potentially improve agentic workflows *without the need for human annotation*. If this approach works beyond the context they have tried this approach in the paper (math problems), this makes agents much more feasible then they are now! 😀 Incidentally the key idea is to provide much more detailed feedback to the model beyond a simple 'works' or 'doesn't work'. I find this type of feedback tends to work better for humans too :). #AI #AIImpact #Agents

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The changes in Copilot are constant now. I noticed that my sidebar in Edge didn't work since a few days. Historically it has been a security setting and cookie problems that hold that up. Since it wasn't cookies I tried a few tricks and solved it. So Microsoft changed how the sidebar works. There is no longer a slider between Work/Web but is works on auto. At the same time I have one tab logged on https://lnkd.in/dQqdecQN where the slider is still present. They used to be synced but now work independently. Also I can now upload files in Copilot where I was forced to type /[filename] It is a mad dash to just keep up and no more time to share knowledge with coworkers. Good and bad. #copilot #softronic

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I used to hate "10x Developers". The idea of a unicorn that can do 10x the average developer that took the industry by storm. Until I spoke with Gregor Ojstersek about this. He convinced me that 10x Developers do exist. Not because they can do 10 times more on their own. But because they bring out the best in others. And together, they do 10x for the whole organization. This is the real 10x Developer. Not 10x the individual performer. 10x the impact on the business. I'd love to hear your thoughts on this - drop them below and tune into our next episode of CTO Insights for a deeper dive. Link to the full episode: https://lnkd.in/dnXFcg5k

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You've been working on an embedded project for months. Everything seems under control, but then the testing phase begins... and the problems start piling up. Bugs you didn’t anticipate, deadlines you’re no longer going to meet, and costs that just keep rising. Meanwhile, your customers are left waiting longer for a solution.  𝗦𝗼𝘂𝗻𝗱 𝗳𝗮𝗺𝗶𝗹𝗶𝗮𝗿? Often, testing happens way too late. And what happens then? You discover problems when it's almost too late. You get stuck, the schedule falls apart, and you lose your sense of control. 𝗪𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝗶𝗳 𝘆𝗼𝘂 𝗰𝗼𝘂𝗹𝗱 𝗿𝗲𝗴𝗮𝗶𝗻 𝗰𝗼𝗻𝘁𝗿𝗼𝗹?  👉 What if you could catch bugs much earlier?  👉 What if you could adjust during development, ensuring your projects are completed on time and within budget?  👉 What if your customers are happy because you deliver on your promises? Start testing early, avoid surprises, and keep control over your project. In "7 𝘚𝘵𝘦𝘱𝘴 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘍𝘢𝘴𝘵 𝘛𝘪𝘮𝘦 𝘵𝘰 𝘔𝘢𝘳𝘬𝘦𝘵 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘏𝘪𝘨𝘩 𝘊𝘶𝘴𝘵𝘰𝘮𝘦𝘳 𝘝𝘢𝘭𝘶𝘦”, I dive into this topic in more detail. Download link in the comments.👇

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This one is out of the topic of software development and engineering stuff that I usually talk about. First, the reason for a ship logo can be explained: It's useless here. Useless things suck in software development and writing code. I have been sceptical about it many times and posted stuff on optimisation while criticising stupidly written code and software. That's kind opposite on the business side of things. Let me clear this out I am not a strategy marketing person or an experienced startup guy, but a consumer and I have experience of watching companies steal attention and make people buy things that have way less probability of usage than the straightforward ones. I remember those days when Siri was new in the market and only iPhones managed to get the voice commands to work. It was I think 10 years ago when people I know were rushing to buy iPhones. When I asked them about what's great about it, most of the time I didn't hear about "it has those cool processors" or "smooth and gorgeous display", which was expected from Apple. Rather, most of them were interested in "Oh it has Siri, it supports voice commands" and "that the high-end technology, I can talk with my phone, OMG". 10 years after that, I have had a Macbook for 2 years now and haven't even thought of using Siri anytime. For me, and most of the people back in the day, Siri was kind of "useless" in my terms but was a solid hit for getting the product into the market. Okay, get this: Nobody told me that the iPhone 5 has an "Apple A6 1.6GHz" processor or a crystal clear display, mostly at the top of the margin. But somewhere or the other, I was shown Siri. I remember my close relative showing me Siri and calling a person with it, but I never saw him using it to make a call time. He would literally wash his hands if he was cooking and would pick up the call with his hands. To be clear, I am not undermining anything. Siri was ahead of its time and an important innovation, but looking at its usage by most of the crowd, it was mostly useless to a general crowd of users. The same goes with the Rabbit r1. It's a cool concept but seems to be failing in the current market and I don't find any use case from my side (even Marquee Brownlee can't find it). But it spread like wildfire, a new concept with a small device as an assistant. I hope they make it right in the future, but for now, it remains useless and popular at the same time. And that's the moral of the story: A few useless things tend to attract more attention than those which are expected from the brand, which can be used to turn it positively if done correctly. You can get these insights for free in my Newsletter, directly in your inbox with no effort from your side: https://lnkd.in/gDVBY9hC

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I've been doing Codewars katas in Rust to try an cement my (quite limited) knowledge and really thought I was on the right track with the top solution! The problem was to return the sum of all the numbers between a and b. - So I added a mutable sum variable on line 5. - Returned 1 value if they were the same on line 6. - Determined which value was highest/lowest on lines 9-10. - Created an inclusive range between the two on line 12... Then forgot the basics of coding on line 13! I'd been so focused on using the syntax of my new language that I forgot the basics! I failed the very first test! That had passed the values 0 and 1 - should be simple right? I think what I'd been thinking of was mapping over an array in JavaScript, or something..., because I know there are methods like next() in Rust. I thought I was being clever - how do you add one value to the next. 🤔 I ran the code, and was totally puzzling over how 0 and 1 could somehow equal 4. Then I remembered I wasn't using an array, but a simple for loop. One that, for those params, would return 1 for the first iteration, then 3 the last. 🤦‍♀️ And, of course, I didn't figure that out right away. Nope, me, being me, had to question my Rust specific code. So don't forget the basics, like little old me!

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There is nothing worse than being ghosted by someone after they offer to help you with something. So I had a rust developer who was "super excited" to offer me some time to help me sort my problem... That was always 3 weeks ago now. The first couple of days were "I will be going on vacation in a couple days and will be diving into this", then a week later "Sorry I was busy but will be diving into this". I questioned if it was a problem with complexity of my code and the answer was "no the code is very straight forward." And then, nothing.... a week later I contacted, the person saw my messages but never replied. They stopped liking my posts at about the same time. Now closing in on in the third week, I seem them active online at times but they don't even look at my DMs. Officially ghosted. So three weeks down the drain where I thought someone would help, but then it turned out that nope, they for whatever reason are not going to be helping. And I have having so many difficulties with this part of the code it makes me want to rip my eyes out. Months and months everytime I think I am close to the solution, I find I am not. Yesterday I thought I had it, but nope still I can't get past this part of the code. So if someone INCREDIBLY EXPERIENCED with rust wants to offer me some time, please let me know. Those who are not HIGHLY EXPERIENCED will not be able to help. I need someone who won't mind DIVING INTO the code, not just trying to explain to me how to do it. If you are interested this for a blockchain THERE IS NO PAY so don't bother reaching out if you need tokens, paychecks, or compensation of some kind. Again HIGHLY EXPERIENCED rust developers only.

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I recently had a conversation with Mariia Vain, a Staff Software Engineer at AgencyAnalytics, about one of the most critical skills for Staff+ engineers: prioritization. As Mariia pointed out, there will always be countless things you could be fixing, improving, or building. The challenge isn’t in finding what to work on but in narrowing it down to the 2-3 things that will have the most impact over the year. This can involve engaging in deep conversations and interviews with engineers across different areas, identifying opportunities where solving one issue could have rippling effects across teams. Using data like performance metrics, security reports, and reliability stats to back up these decisions can also make a stronger case for why a particular direction is chosen. Setting up recurring meetings with focused teams—like a backend council or guild—can help align on priorities and gather insights from those closest to the work. At the end of the day, it’s up to the Staff+ engineer to make the final call and communicate this clearly to engineering leadership. While ensuring that all voices are heard, sometimes you need to disagree and commit in order to move forward. How do you navigate prioritization in your role? I’d love to hear your strategies and experiences! If you're a Staff+ Engineer I'd love to connect: https://lnkd.in/gKT7unhC

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TLDR, but for CLI programs...uh, yes please! Quickly see a CLI's usage in nicely formatted way with examples. I've added `tldr` program to my toolbelt for sometime now - it quickly gives you the "TOO LONG DIDN"T READ" docs of a CLI program. tldr <CLI_PROGRAM> Checkout https://lnkd.in/eJgyec-f, for macOS you can install it via brew like so: brew install tlrc

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Bringing new developers on board can often be a lengthy endeavour, stretching over weeks or even months before they're fully integrated into a team and project. Consider this: during the onboarding period, every hour counts, both in terms of time and cost. Imagine a scenario where the average hourly rate for developers is $70/hr. If a new hire spends 60 hours onboarding, that translates to a significant investment of $4,200 just to get that developer up to speed. But that's not all. It's essential to consider the opportunity cost as well. A new developer, depending on their experience level might take over two months to reach full productivity. During this time, their output is not just limited; they're also more than twice as likely to leave due to ineffective onboarding. In essence, the true cost of onboarding extends beyond the dollars spent on training—it includes lost productivity, increased turnover, and missed opportunities. By streamlining your onboarding process with EaseIn(https://easein.io), you can not only save time but also maximise the return on your investment in new talent. #developeronboarding #onboarding #Productivity #Retention #Onboarding #employeeexperience #techonboarding

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