Posted by Sébastien Lachance with Comments (0)
2009 has been a big year. A lot happened. Professionally and in my life in general.
I have been reading a lot of books that had nothing to do with the technical aspect of my job, but with other challenges in mind. I’ve read about business development, learning process, design (not software design) and project management. I’ve also came in contact with the Pragmatic Thinking and Learning book which gave me a lot of great tools to learn more effectively.
I’ve been working with an Agile Team for half a year now, going back where I really belong. I liked the experience and hope we (the team) can get even more benefits from this methodology this year. I’ve also assisted to some of the conferences of the Agile Tour 2009 which was a fantastic event.
I’ve always been a developer with a little knowledge of web design but no deep knowledge. I’ve always had design supplied to me and been able to hack through it and get thing done. This year, I’ve gone deeply in web design and CSS, so deeply that I now really hate browsers differences :). And I’m now an expert in Javascript, thanks to jQuery. Seriously, I made really big improvement on this side.
Search Engine Optimization that his. I was expected to increase visitors from the US on a website. I’ve started with no real knowledge on how Google was indexing content. So I geared myself, watched videos and read everything I could for this. It’s not always easy but it was a fun learning experience. One tool worth mentioning is the IIS SEO toolkit. The first analysis with this extensions showed me that I had a lot of problems with missing descriptions, keywords, titles, broken links, etc, on my blog, and it provided a great experience in allowing me to resolve them and understand what I did wrong.
I’m now married. Since October 17. What an intense ride it was. And we are now waiting for our first child to be born (due February 2010).
I’ve done some consulting work at the beginning of the year and it was really fun. Delivered on time and exactly what they wanted. Great experience. Great customer.
I have missed a lot of opportunity to blog and I intend to get back on track this year. I also migrated my blog from Wordpress to BlogEngine.Net this summer and seen a drop of more than 50% in traffic. I blame myself for my lack of migration strategy.
I read some technical books in 2009, but not as many as the other years. In fact, aside from Clean Code, CSS Web Design and ASP.NET MVC in action, I had read no other technical book.
A situation has occurred in which I was unable to deliver a project on time. Some deadline were too thigh and a last minute change (technology switch at the last minute) made the situation goes havoc and the project was abandoned (by me).
I had a pair of Skullcandy headphones that broke unexpectedly. But due to the formidable warranty (complete replacement or half-price on another pair), I had sent them to be replaced in October. I’m still waiting and all my attempt to contact them has failed. The problem is that I would have been able to repair them myself and now I’ve just lost them.Update 1 (January 14, 2010 : It seems the package never arrived…). Update 2 (January 19, 2010 : Now they found it and the new headphones are being returned to me.Update 3 (February 11, 2010) : 3 weeks now and still haven't received them (Canada Post is slow or ...).
I have enjoyed it so much that I had to sent an email to Andy Hunt (the author) to tell him how much I appreciated his effort to write this wonderful book.
I have just finished reading Pragmatic Thinking and Learning a few moments ago and I believe it's a wonderful book. Thank you! I haven't had much interest in reading computer related book so much as this one for a long time. I have a strong interest in the content you provided and will begin to apply what I can right now. Starting by re-reading the book and doing a Mind Map to be sure I picked all the interesting stuff. Excellent! If you have a chance, please post some happy comments like these on amazon.com. It really helps. Good luck, and all the best! /\ndy
I have just finished reading Pragmatic Thinking and Learning a few moments ago and I believe it's a wonderful book.
Thank you!
I haven't had much interest in reading computer related book so much as this one for a long time. I have a strong interest in the content you provided and will begin to apply what I can right now. Starting by re-reading the book and doing a Mind Map to be sure I picked all the interesting stuff.
Excellent! If you have a chance, please post some happy comments like these on amazon.com. It really helps. Good luck, and all the best! /\ndy
This book is about the process of learning and thinking. How the brain works. But with an programmer point of view. Andy Hunt start by showing the Dreyfus model of skill acquisition which is describing the different type of skill level and how you go between them. Just for the info, the Dreyfus model has 5 levels : Novice, Advanced Beginner, Competent, Proficient, Expert. He describe each level in detail and how to recognize it. And most importantly, how to act accordingly.
He also describe the R and L mode (left brain and right brain) and how to improve the flow between them. This is how you can remember think without thinking.
There is also a lot of the content dedicated to various method to “refactor” your brain. Each one is focused on being a better learner or to think more efficiently. Morning pages, mind map, SQ3R, etc.
I even had to apply some techniques described right away. Doing a mind map of what I’m trying to figure out or when I’m trying to absorb knowledge has helped me tremendously. It’s been almost a month now and I see some improvements.
I like to learn something new everyday and care a lot of the quality of what I am learning. So, it’s the reason I must give 4.9 star out of 5 (and yes, I will post a review on Amazon Mister Hunt).
I’ve picked up a copy of the book Pragmatic Thinking & Learning from Andy Hunt a couple of months ago. The book has 9 chapters and I am currently finishing the chapter 6. I am really impressed by the quantity of knowledge contained in it. I’ve always had a strong interest in psychology and the learning process. In fact, everything that concern the brain. Expect a review very soon.
Here is, like a promised, my review of Don't Make Me Think: A Common Sense Approach to Web Usability by Steve Krug.
First, I know some reader don't like long post, so I begin with the conclusion.
This book is a gold mine. It will be useful for web developer. He will be useful to anyone who is in contact with the development of a web site. And I risk myself to say that it should be useful for anyone who has to design something in any field for an end-user. This is really a great book to read.
And now, the review.
First of all, the book is short (201 pages). But it's a good thing. It goes right to the point. And if a ratio existed for the number of pages versus the quantity of valuable contents, it would be a top performer!
The author use already existing web sites to explain his points and use the "dialog style" where we can read a conversation between peoples. It's illustrated and some part are like a comic book.
In the first chapters, he wrote about the way to get a design right. Where the various element should be positioned to make the user think less and enjoy his experience more, the visual hierarchy, etc. We are scanning and not reading a web page. Important stuff to remember in fact.
And then, he is describing the problem we already (or will) have with home pages. He guide us through the challenge of getting it right and useful for any users. He talk about the way the user think and common misconceptions about it. One part that really hit me, is where he mention that the real person it should benefit is the user. We often forgot about this simple fact. No matter how great we think the web site his, he may not be perfect for the end user.
The chapter in which he explains how to do usability testing with real user is one of my favorites. How to choose users, where the test should be, which equipment is necessary, what to test and which procedures to follow. He even talk about the way to make user feel comfortable. There is no need to spend a lot of money, where we conduct extensive tests with various users. Sometimes, the most basic stuff we can do is right. That does not mean we should not have test, they definitely are necessary. He does a great job at proving the real value of those tests. I really enjoyed this chapter.
Near the end of the book, he discuss the experience for people with disabilities. He points to various references that every web developer should read and why it's important to respect guidelines that would help them. He kind of reminded me that we should not forget about them because it's a lot more work for us.
In conclusion, I believe that this book should be one the classic book every developer should read. I will put in in the same category as Code Complete.
I know that I haven't posted the JQuery in Action review yet, but I couldn't resist to finally read this book. In fact, I have the electronic version of it, but I needed a "real" book for long trip . Don't make me think by Steve Krug discuss usability problems and solutions. I first heard of this book by reading the Recommended Reading for Developers list of Jeff Atwood. It's only about 200 pages but it's supposed to be filled with valuable content. Short reading time + Lot of new knowledge = Good for me!
My first of 12 books I've committed myself to read : Head First Design Patterns.
This is the second time I've read that book, and quite enjoyed it again. As the title say, it's a book about design patterns. The patterns explored are :
Every pattern listed here is explained with an example of the real world. Not exactly as real as ours but it's different from what we've seen on other books.
If you've never read a Head First book, you will be surprised. The book is focused on interaction with the reader. At the end of some chapters, there is crosswords for us to do, forcing us to re-read the entire chapter trying to find the answers. There is also some place where you need to answers questions or writing class diagrams. You need to think a lot and it's a very good way to learn fast. The paragraphs are short and jokes are scattered all over the place. A very nice feature is that you have handwritten text everywhere, pointing out important stuff. If you happen to see incoherence in the text, be prepared to have a section clarifying all that (with a conversation between two patterns or a reader's question).
But it's not all about design patterns. They go through the basics and principles of Object-Oriented programming such as the Dependency Inversion Principle.
Well the book is about learning differently. And ca be a quick-start for beginners.
Have I learned something off this book? Of course! I have a lot more knowledge about design patterns now, even if I had previously read the Gang of Four pattern book. I can explain each one of the design patterns explored and recognize it in other's code. I recommend it seriously to anyone who wants to start applying design patterns and learning about Object-Oriented principles.
Here is a nice preview of the book : Chapter 3 : Decorator.