Pick Your Plot

From ChatGPT:

The author reminisces about their first encounter with gnuplot during their Masters program, highlighting its simplicity and effectiveness in plotting data compared to writing code. They also reflect on their software engineering course, discussing concepts like Brooks’ Law and the importance of communication in project management. The post delves into the challenges of communication pathways in organizations, emphasizing the need for discriminant communication methods to balance efficiency and innovation. It discusses the limitations of formalized communication channels and hierarchical structures, advocating for empowering engineers with agency and ownership over their work. Finally, it proposes a decentralized approach to communication and project management, where clear priorities and feedback loops enable effective collaboration while minimizing misinformation.

Porridge Planning

From ChatGPT:
The text underscores the interconnectedness of business goals and engineering processes, advocating for a collaborative approach to achieving project success, much like Goldilocks finding the perfect bowl of porridge. It emphasizes the importance of arriving at what it calls an “honest plan,” akin to Goldilocks’ quest for the “just right” bowl. This metaphorical journey highlights the need for teams to iterate through planning until they discover a stable and suitable plan, reflecting a deep understanding of project requirements and accurate estimations, ultimately leading to a more reliable forecast of their efforts.