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slightlyoff@toot.cafe ("Alex Russell") wrote:
We are not just embedded in our ecosystems, we all play a role in their reputation, in the esteem in which they are held. In their rise and/or fall as vocations.
If senior folks and thought leaders aren't going to take that responsibility seriously, preferably by centering users at the margins and working to deliver results for them by default, then we just need to change the guard. It's that simple.
Mastodon Feedslightlyoff@toot.cafe ("Alex Russell") wrote:
And we *must* be willing to work, quietly at first and loudly later, to make these points if that's what it takes.
Not for our own good -- although it is bound up in this too -- but for the good of users.
When we zoom all the way back, we see the interdependence. When frontend fails users on a loop, frontend stops being important. It's just an inevitability.
So @remotesynth's piece ably captures how longevity depends on adaptability, but it also depends on delivering value.
Mastodon Feedslightlyoff@toot.cafe ("Alex Russell") wrote:
But *why* does it hurt these teams? What about this has been a letdown? As some are quick to point out, these apps *exist*, don't they?
Well, yes, but not in a way that meets the goals of the very teams we're talking about potentially upsetting with direct language about the status quo.
And that's the thing: the business goals aren't being met. The user goals aren't being met. The developer goals aren't even being met!
Frontend needs to be able to talk about that.
Mastodon Feedslightlyoff@toot.cafe ("Alex Russell") wrote:
But let's zoom back out. Discussing only how it's going for developers, how they were poorly served by "thought leaders" and folks with an agenda to pitch, is important. And the piece stems from the residual pain of that experience.
Unlike the folks selling the complexity, I'm in the trenches with the teams that are now the somewhat embarrassed owners of manure-lagoons of JS. If I saw them in these remediations, putting in an oar, I might not even have written it.
Mastodon Feedslightlyoff@toot.cafe ("Alex Russell") wrote:
Perhaps it would have been helpful to add another blog-length footnote chronicling all of the receipts of the times I presented the lemon vendors with evidence of how teams -- their customers -- were being mislead and let down by their products. How that played out across most of a decade, out of view, using traces and evidence to lay out clearly why it wasn't working. And how even those that made noise about improving often did not.
Mastodon Feedslightlyoff@toot.cafe ("Alex Russell") wrote:
One critical problem with "trickle-down UX" ("DX") is that it puts vaseline on our ethical lenses; by removing users from the conversation, we are left only to discuss the developer population. In any industry there will be resource and attentional distribution and equity questions. And it is right that we take some care to communicate important things well, and that we use quieter channels before going loud.
The post @remotesynth links to is, in that spirit, the *end* of a very long process.
Mastodon Feedslightlyoff@toot.cafe ("Alex Russell") wrote:
Towards the end of this (important) piece, @remotesynth touches briefly on why, I think, we've remained in such a bad place in frontend for so long: a culture that puts the experience of developers ahead of users:
https://remotesynthesis.com/blog/the-price-of-developer-tools/
This is, as he notes, sensitive, so let me elaborate a bit for the avoidance of doubt.
Mastodon Feedjeffsonstein ("Jeff Sonstein") wrote:
from: Why Ketanji Brown Jackson Split With the Court’s Liberals in a 5–4 Decision - Slate
Mastodon Feedjeffsonstein ("Jeff Sonstein") wrote:
“The one indubitable conclusion so far is that Jackson is not just a liberal but a civil libertarian, and whenever the government seeks to punish a citizen, it should never take her vote for granted.” - Slate
Mastodon FeedReblogged by slightlyoff@toot.cafe ("Alex Russell"):
remotesynth@mastodon.xyz ("Brian Rinaldi") wrote:
Mastodon FeedReblogged by bcantrill ("Bryan Cantrill"):
amyfou@lingo.lol ("Amy Fountain") wrote:
Mastodon Feedxor@tech.intersects.art ("Parker Higgins") wrote:
Really great podcast interview with Andy Byford, a celebrity public servant with a super interesting history running transit systems. He gets into more juicy detail here than I expected! https://www.thestar.com/podcasts/the-paul-wells-show/2023/02/22/a-man-in-transit-what-moves-andy-byford.html
Mastodon Feedslightlyoff@toot.cafe ("Alex Russell") wrote:
It's...pathetic? Sad? Hilarious? Enraging? Disappointing?
Is there a word for feeling all of those about someone at the same time?
Mastodon Feedslightlyoff@toot.cafe ("Alex Russell") wrote:
It will never stop being funny to me that Google's "solution" to the reality of Android fragmentation was to remove the version metrics from this page:
https://developer.android.com/about/dashboards
...and put behind a 750MB Android Studio (+ 400MB SDK) download instead, where they know journalists won't look for it:
Mastodon FeedLoved the details in this article about Mallory Swanson #USWNT https://theathletic.com/4261930/2023/03/01/mallory-swanson-goals/
Mastodon Feedjeffsonstein ("Jeff Sonstein") wrote:
‘“We studied the roads they used, then hid and waited” to shoot in ambushes, Sergeant Knignitsky said.’
in war, if you do not learn you die.
Mastodon Feedjeffsonstein ("Jeff Sonstein") wrote:
Abrams & Leopard 2 “…tanks are expected on the battlefield in the next several months. The new Russian armor turned up earlier — and in its first wide-scale deployment was decimated.
A three-week battle on a plain near the coal-mining town of Vuhledar in southern Ukraine produced what Ukrainian officials say was the biggest tank battle of the war so far, and a stinging setback for the Russians.”
https://www.nytimes.com/2023/03/01/world/europe/ukraine-russia-tanks.html
Mastodon Feedjeffsonstein ("Jeff Sonstein") wrote:
“The Kremlin may leverage an amendment to Russia’s Criminal Code increasing punishments for "discrediting" the war in Ukraine to promote further self-censorship among the critical ultranationalist community, prompting pushback from Wagner Group financier Yevgeny Prigozhin and prominent milbloggers.”
https://www.understandingwar.org/backgrounder/russian-offensive-campaign-assessment-march-1-2023
Mastodon Feedjeffsonstein ("Jeff Sonstein") wrote:
“Last night, Republican lawmakers in Georgia advanced a major piece of anti-voting legislation, which among other provisions bans drop boxes and eases voters’ ability to challenge other voters’ eligibility. The bill moved forward even though the state’s election director testified that it could violate federal law.”
https://www.democracydocket.com/news-alerts/georgia-republicans-advance-omnibus-anti-voting-bill/
Mastodon Feedjeffsonstein ("Jeff Sonstein") wrote:
“OpenAI announces ChatGPT and Whisper APIs”
#openai #OpenAIAPI
#whisper
#ChatGPThttps://dev.to/ben/openai-announces-chatgpt-and-whisper-apis-304i
Mastodon FeedReblogged by cstanhope@social.coop ("Your friendly 'net denizen"):
edithfrost@ravenation.club ("Edith Frost") wrote:
Mastodon FeedReblogged by kornel ("Kornel"):
DataDrivenMD@fedified.com ("Dr. Jorge Caballero") wrote:
Mastodon FeedReblogged by cstanhope@social.coop ("Your friendly 'net denizen"):
lupyuen@qoto.org ("Lup Yuen Lee 李立源") wrote:
Mastodon FeedReblogged by xor@tech.intersects.art ("Parker Higgins"):
zararah ("Zara Rahman") wrote:
Mastodon FeedReblogged by kornel ("Kornel"):
axbom@axbom.me ("Per Axbom") wrote:
Mastodon FeedCurrent mood: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rTfa-9aCTYg
Mastodon FeedReblogged by slightlyoff@toot.cafe ("Alex Russell"):
fox@front-end.social ("fantastic ms.") wrote:
Mastodon Feedslightlyoff@toot.cafe ("Alex Russell") wrote:
Your scientists were so preoccupied with whether they could (make a 60fps loading spinner), they didn't stop to think if they should.
Mastodon FeedReblogged by slightlyoff@toot.cafe ("Alex Russell"):
jaredwhite@indieweb.social ("Jared White") wrote:
Mastodon Feedslightlyoff@toot.cafe ("Alex Russell") wrote:
A pattern I've noticed in the last ~2 years of perf work: client side JS is now expected to be so slow that *backend* latency has regressed.
Regularly seeing big services whose frontends are drowning in script with > 500ms TTFB *on fast links* 🤯
