Episode 4: You are not Facebook.

In episode 4, host Brandon Aaskov (Principal Software Developer, Rocket Insights) talks with Rocket Insights developers Matt DiDomenico, Matt Merrill, Dave Oelfke and Ian Pirro about over engineering systems.  We dive into anticipating problems that might not exist, the temptation to impress other engineers and missing the mark with end users.

As always, we end with picks for you to follow up on!

Topics:

• 0:00 - Intros and YAGNI.
• 2:00 - Don't optimize ... yet.
• 3:00 - Being afraid of code judgement.
• 4:10 - Thoughts on Heroku.
• 5:20 - Think about the end user instead of impressing other developers.
• 8:50 - When should you start thinking about scale as a developer?  What's the line between Dev and DevOps in scaling?
• 11:00 - The trough of disillusionment with new apps and component libraries.
• 13:00 - Know your customer. If you don't, ask questions.
• 15:20 - Perfect is the enemy of done.
• 17:45 - On premature code reuse...
• 21:10 - Be Lazy! / Number of git repos as a proxy for complexity.
• 23:15 - Timelines are good and force you to ship and get feedback.
• 25:00 - Silly things engineers do in the name of good code.
• 26:50 - Picks:
  • Dave - Goole Chrome plugin proposal and a huge digression into privacy and ads
  • Brandon - Bad Blood: Secrets and Lies in a Silicon Valley Startup
  • Matt M. - The Idea Factory: Bell Labs and the Great Age of American Innovation
  • Matt D. - Zeit Now
  • Ian - Tab Soda