30 Mar 2018 |
Programming
Last night I went to my first technical learning Meetup event in a long time. It was the monthly Vue.js meetup, held in DTLA at Amanda McGlothlin’s space, Headquarters. Both Jon Jandoc and Jon Kim presented, and then Jim was there too! So it was a nice impromptu Hack For LA reunion. I learned a LOT:
- I don’t need to feel guilty for not learning Angular and React. I can skip those and go straight to Vue.
- Vue + Nuxt + Netlify makes for a nifty deployment stack.
- Netlify integrates well with Github and even renders pull requests for testing.
- Cypress.io is a cool Selenium replacement for Vue.
- I’ve been a big fan of JAMstack without realizing someone had created a name for it - client-side Javascript, reusable APIs, and prebuilt Markup.
- It’s been a long time since I’ve done real coding.
- Jim is interested in working with me on doing a project startup guide.
- VS Code is now a popular code editor.
- Use Google Sheets as a user friendly database by having your client side app use the JSON API. (I think I’ve done this in the past, but it doesn’t hurt to remind myself)
Vue
- https://vuejs.org/v2/guide/
- https://css-tricks.com/intro-to-vue-1-rendering-directives-events/
- https://laracasts.com/series/learn-vue-2-step-by-step
- https://www.udemy.com/vuejs-2-the-complete-guide/
30 Mar 2018 |
Reading,
Professional Development
For the last two years, I’ve been toying with the idea of finding a Product Manager job. It seems to fit with my current role at work, even if we don’t distinguish ourselves with specific titles. We’re all “Systems Analysts”, and some of us do “Development” while the others do “Business Analysis”. That’s about as detailed as we get.
I went to one meetup event hosted by Product School, and I’ve been watching the video recording of the conference they hosted last week. I’ve read a lot of articles, like this one about product managers being the ‘Jack of all Trades’. If I want to be serious about it, I need to figure out how to present myself, what skills I need to grow, and what kind of role I want. This ties into potentially doing a side consulting gig too. Do I focus on being the product manager or developer?
Recommended books from various lists:
- Classics
- The Lean Startup by Eric Ries
- The Hard Thing About Hard Things by Ben Horowitz
- The Mythical Man-Month by Frederick Brooks
- Nudge by Richard Thaler and Cass Sunstein
- Positioning by Al Ries and Jack Trout
- The Design of Everyday Things by Donald Norman
- Hooked: How to Build Habit-Forming Products by Nir Eyal
- A Whole New Mind by Daniel Pink
- Don’t Make Me Think by Steve Krug
- Crossing the Chasm by Geoffrey Moore
- Predictably Irrational by Dan Ariely
- Thinking, Fast and Slow by Daniel Kahneman
- The Lean Product Playbook by Dan Olsen
- On Writing by Stephen King
- PM-specific
- Cracking the PM Interview by Gayle McDowell
- Product Leadership by Richard Banfield, Martin Eriksson and Nate Walkingshaw
- Dev
- XP Explained by Kent Beck
- UX
- The User Experience Team of One by Leah Buley
- Other
- Inspired by Marty Cagan
- The Inmates are Running the Asylum by Alan Cooper
- Sprint by Jake Knapp
- The Halo Effect by Phil Rosenzweig
- High Output Management by Andy Grove
- The Innovator’s Dilemma by Clayton Christensen
- Blue Ocean Strategy by W. Chan Kim and Renee Mauborgne
- The Captain Class by Sam Walker
Articles:
29 Mar 2018 |
Life,
Reading
I feel like I’m still catching up. I’ve been in what feels like a permanent state of always catching up. I tell myself, I just need some time to sit somewhere alone (a cafe, a bar, home) and do all the planning things. Spending last weekend in Portland was a nice getaway. I do feel a bit refreshed after that. I worked hard (really!) to avoid catching up on work while on vacation. Instead, I finished reading To Sell is Human by Daniel Pink, AND I picked up 5 more books to read. I feel that I’m much more likely to finish reading a physical book than a digital one.
I’ve actually made it through my multiple huge lists of tasks - taking care of some items, dropping some items, and putting yet other items onto new short term/long term lists.
I haven’t forgotten about goals. We’re quickly approaching the end of 2018 Q1, so this is a really good time to review those.
19 Mar 2018 |
Professional Development
Today I randomly came across 2 Google apps aimed at teaching Business/Marketing and Development skills. Looks interesting so far, especially the UX design.
I spent the weekend re-listing To-Do items, and then I prioritized them. I still haven’t finished any of them. I’d like to use this platform to create lists that I’d want to add to and reference in the future. I realized that I don’t tend to go back and reference things in my journal. Not yet on my list of To-Dos, even though it should be, is re-formulating my goals list.
On the list of lists to create:
- Sellers of merchandise promoting tech, aimed at women.
- Ideas for civic tech merchandise.
- Books to read… Thinking Fast and Slow, Dan Ariely’s books.
16 Mar 2018 |
Life
Half a year ago I moved back into DTLA. For 2 years before that I was living in Covina, commuting to DTLA daily AND on the weekends. I never spent time at home, and so one of my goals in moving back to DTLA was to make home a space I wanted to be in and to actually spend time there. I’ve been able to accomplish that, which is great. However, what I’ve realized is that I constantly find myself unable to put my head down and do work because home is so comfy and distracting. In the past, I was forced to do work (or at least crafting) because I had nothing to do while sitting in cafes.
Lately I find that I am creating lists, mentally noting that I need to set aside time to sit down and work on the things on my lists. I think I can do it at home, but I get distracted hanging out with Lawrence and Amy. I love spending time with them, but I don’t like spending that time feeling like I really should be doing something else. The other thing impacting this is that I’ve been a lot busier at work the past year. More assignments, more meetings, etc. So I have less time during the day to set aside to plan my time.
A schedule will be good, if I can stick to it. :D Saturday morning. Tuesday afternoon. GOALS.