There's a lot to learn about design when you know nothing about design đ Issue #60
Plus: Why there's productive hassle and things programmers can believe in.
Hello theređ
Whatâs up? â˝
A new football season starts, next Monday, here:
Iâll be the first team analyst of the CF Perosinho, a club playing in the first division of the Porto district. You know, just 4 levels to climb and we can be fighting for a Champions League qualification. Exciting times.
And now on to what were the best things I found on the Internet this week.
New to me đĄ
The Optimal Amount of Hassle | 3 min read
đ In a week where I left my car in the shop, for the second time in two weeks, with a problem that seems to elude all mechanics this article provided the needed perspective.
đĽ âFranklin Roosevelt â the most powerful man in the world whose paralysis meant the aides often had to carry him to the bathroom â once said, âIf you canât use your legs and they bring you milk when you wanted orange juice, you learn to say âthatâs all right,â and drink it.â Every industry and career is different, but thereâs universal value in that mentality, accepting hassle when reality demands it.â
Things I believe | 9 min read
đž Hereâs a nice example of a list of beliefs and strategies about the craft of building software. One of the things I learned last week from âLeadership Step by Stepâ is that it pays to distinguish between beliefs and strategies because itâs the former that originates the latter. If your belief contains âshouldâ youâre probably talking about a strategy and what youâll probably need to dig deeper to analyze what do you believe in that makes that strategy interesting for you.
đ Here are two examples from the list: ââGood enoughâ isnât good enough.â and âAlways look for better ways of doing things.â Notice the difference?
Christopher Alexander: A Primer | 93 min watch
đď¸ Christopher Alexander is an âarchitect and design theoristâ and in this talk, we get a taste of his core principles of design, or in more concrete terms, the art of creating things that are a pleasure to use. Youâll get something out of this if you want to build a house, write a book, develop software, compose a song, arrange the books on the shelf, you name it. For example, why balconies should be more than 1.8m deep or otherwise you will not use them? Why should you start designing the garden first and then the house and not the other way around? Why do soviet-style buildings suck even more than you thought? The answers are provided and, pretty much all, the principles mentioned are re-usable in your creative endeavors.
Please help me grow this newsletter! Iâd love if you shared it with your more curious friends.
A most incendiary tweet đ§Ż
This week in a gif â
High note âĄ
This issue cover picture comes from here.
Last issue most clicked link was Leaders Never Plead.
I hope you enjoyed these last minutes as much as me putting this together.
You can also show some love by clicking that tiny â¤ď¸ at the top of the email. It would help spread the word. Or you can provide candy bars đŤ.
If you are one of those friends and someone shared this with you, you are in luck, buy them a beer next time you are together, and meanwhile, you can subscribe to This Weekâs Worth here:
Until next week,
Filipe