Develpreneur: Become a Better Developer and Entrepreneur
779 episodes - English - Latest episode: 28 days ago - ★★★★★ - 12 ratingsThis podcast is for aspiring entrepreneurs and technologists as well as those that want to become a designer and implementors of great software solutions. That includes solving problems through technology. We look at the whole skill set that makes a great developer. This includes tech skills, business and entrepreneurial skills, and life-hacking, so you have the time to get the job done while still enjoying life.
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Episodes
Mistakes In The Cloud - Know Where Things Live
July 21, 2022 10:00 - 16 minutes - 22.3 MBModern technology is the focus of this episode as we look at mistakes in the cloud. You can impact a lot of people with a simple error. That is why you need to be aware of what these new tools do and how to use them properly. For example, backups are great unless you manage to delete them all. Likewise, file sharing is excellent. However, it can lead to one person disrupting the work of your entire team. These cloud-related tools take the reply-all option in emails from a minor nuisanc...
A Positive Attitude and Finding Hidden Gems
July 19, 2022 10:00 - 23 minutes - 31.7 MBSometimes a story is full of lessons without having a well-defined core. There are many players, and the successful have a positive attitude. This trend supersedes mistakes, errors, and even bad luck. We look at one of those complex situations in this episode. There are many mistakes made, and they all are overcome by being focused on success rather than listing ways we can fail. A Positive Attitude In The Face Of Adversity This story does not start with a situation and players that ...
Trust But Verify - Avoid Business Assumptions
July 14, 2022 10:00 - 20 minutes - 28.7 MBThere are multiple lessons to learn from this little debacle of a story. However, trust but verify seems to be the best summation. We have to assume a lot in business. There are levels of acceptance and expectance both from vendors and customers. While those base metrics can be helpful, they are not always guaranteed. Logically Skeptical - Trust But Verify The challenge with some of the rules mentioned above of thumb is that they can be used against us. The effect is not much different f...
Know Who You Work For - Lines Are Not Always Clear
July 12, 2022 10:00 - 21 minutes - 29.2 MBClarity and communication are common themes in our improvement episodes. Those are most important when you need to know who you work for. Which master do you serve? The mistake highlighted this time is among many in a situation gone wrong. It also shows how some oversights or missteps can open the door to significant consequences. It does not hurt to be cautious in the modern business world. Things can change quickly. Important Clarification - Know Who You Work For There are competing go...
Admitting Defeat - Moving Forward And Accepting The Loss
July 07, 2022 10:00 - 15 minutes - 21 MBIn a season about growing from errors and mistakes, it seems that an episode about admitting defeat is required. We cannot stay stationary and make progress. This concept holds for individual situations and group decisions like the one we examine. That is why some things in life clearly defined as a win or loss (a sports match, for example) are a blessing. We have no real choice other than to move forward. Yes, we can languish in the loss and try to reverse it. However, it is an exerci...
Clearly Defined Objectives - It Is A Mistake To Not Ask Questions
July 05, 2022 10:00 - 25 minutes - 35.4 MBThis episode of learning from mistakes focuses on clearly defined objectives. The error highlights what can go wrong when we fail to have them. We also see these same potential issues pop up when we have weakly defined requirements. Finally, there is a need to communicate all of this as well. When we don't know what we don't know, many things other than hilarity ensue. Clearly Defined Objectives Are Needed Through Our Daily Life There are many ways to fall for this lack of clarity. ...
Testing Your Backups - Disaster Recovery Requires Verification
June 30, 2022 10:00 - 21 minutes - 30.2 MBThere are a few times I have been taught the value of testing your backups. That is why even disaster recovery needs to be validated. The first story I share is probably a worst-case scenario. However, it can happen, so we need to be aware of failure points. We must validate our backups regularly to ensure the process we are counting on is there when we need it. Testing Your Backups Before They Are Needed There are many ways to test backups and our disaster recovery plan. We can do ...
Sweeping Consequences - Avoid All In Until You Are Sure
June 28, 2022 10:00 - 17 minutes - 24.3 MBThere is an old joke about sweeping consequences in IT related to wildcard commands like "rm -rf *." However, there are ways to avoid getting bit by them. For example, we can do test runs and subset queries before doing the real thing. While it is undoubtedly faster to rip off one of those commands, it is also dangerous. This episode looks into some tricks of the trade I learned after countless times of being tripped up by this concept. Sometimes Easy Creates Sweeping Consequences A d...
A Car Sale - Acceptable Loss And Walking Away
June 23, 2022 10:00 - 20 minutes - 27.6 MBWe continue the series about errors and recovering with an excellent example of acceptable loss and when to walk away. We see these appear in negotiations regularly. They are shown in movies, television shows, and in real life. We walk away regularly without even realizing it. So yes, when you decide not to purchase an item or enter a store because of products or pricing, you are walking away from the negotiation. Determine Acceptable Loss Up Front The key to being able to walk away f...
Key Performance Indicators - Measure Your Spending
June 21, 2022 10:00 - 18 minutes - 25.5 MBThis episode looks at a marketing campaign and my lack of paying based on key performance indicators or KPIs. This was a slightly costly mistake and, thus, one that sticks in my memory. The mistakes that cause us some level of pain are also the easiest to remember. However, that is not the only lesson to learn from this past mistake. KPI - Key Performance Indicators Any form of sales or marketing campaign can be a black box when we do not set KPI values. There must be a way to measure...
Ask Questions To Show Knowledge - A Bad Interview
June 16, 2022 10:00 - 22 minutes - 31.5 MBIn this episode, our trip down memory lane stops at my first professional interview and when I learned to ask questions. It is thought by many that those that know never ask. However, that is far from the truth. There are always details to be learned. Likewise, good questions can impress others in an interview or other assessment situation. Smart people still ask questions; they ask insightful ones. You Provide Insight When You Ask Questions This story is about an interview, and tha...
Acceptable Risk - A Bike Trick Gone Bad
June 14, 2022 10:00 - 19 minutes - 26.9 MBWe look at another childhood error and its somewhat humorous result as an example of how to plan for acceptable risk. We often think of that as something where you are willing to pay the price. However, we also need to examine mitigating the consequences to where they are acceptable. It is sort of like placing a monetary bet. There is a limit we can lose, but maybe a side bet will help reduce the overall loss. Precautions And Acceptable Risk Preventive action is an excellent way to ...
A Painful Step - Situational Awareness
June 09, 2022 10:00 - 16 minutes - 23.1 MBA lack of situational awareness is just one of many youthful mistakes we make. Yet, it is the root of tons of lessons. We see it as children shining they are immortal in some way. However, sometimes there is just a misunderstanding of risks involved in actions or environments. Some of these same mistakes can hit us much later in life and come from incorrect assumptions. Situational Awareness Cures Many Ills Sun Tzu points out in "The Art of War" that the best way to win a battle is t...
When I Died - Rushing In And Lack Of Caution
June 07, 2022 10:00 - 20 minutes - 28.4 MBThis episode covers one of the more dramatic points of my youth where a lack of caution lead to me being declared dead. However, the declaration was hardly from a medical professional. Nevertheless, the impact to others was a lesson in itself to consider the source for any messages. I digress, this focus is on the initial mistake and rushing forward without proper analysis. Lack Of Caution Can Lead You Over A Cliff We often talk about momentum and how that can work in our favor. Howe...
Towed Away : Highlight Features
June 02, 2022 10:00 - 18 minutes - 25.2 MBWe explore another auto-related mistake in my past in this episode to spend time discussing a need to highlight features. In fact, an argument can be made that unknown features are not features at all. For example, I can give you ten dollars, but if I do so by hiding where it cannot be found that is not helpful. Am I even giving you anything in that case? Highlight Features, Users Want To Know The feature in our story of a handicapped parking space is one we expect all parking lots to...
A Stolen Car : Playing The Odds And Question Everything
May 31, 2022 10:00 - 19 minutes - 26.8 MBThis episode is a tale that shows us that we should question everything. Yes, even our assumptions. Actually, our assumptions first. We have so many sources of information available and yet we still tend to rely on only a few. Whether that is our point-of-view or intelligence gained from "reliable sources", we give them too much credit. Everyone makes mistakes and resting too much on an error can be a recipe for disaster. Question Everything - Even Your Givens When we talked about a...
A Mistake In Choosing A Major - Prepare For Meetings
May 26, 2022 10:00 - 21 minutes - 29 MBThe first mistake I want to share in this season is when I chose a major in college. While I was young and naive, it still is a teachable moment to prepare for meetings. This incident was not my last mistake around meetings. However, it is a good launching point for those further discussions. The error covered here is also one that may set the stage for later mistakes. We will discuss those as the season progresses. Prepare For Meetings Large and Small No meeting is too small. That mant...
Using Failures To Gain Success - The Season 17 Overview
May 24, 2022 10:00 - 15 minutes - 21.9 MBWe start season 17 with an overview of what to expect. This season will focus on using failures to gain success. Too much is made of the road to success without pointing out the learning that got someone there. The stories of this season will hopefully provide more examples of how a failure or mistake was just part of the journey to success. The Source Of Using Failures To Gain Success Scott Adams wrote a book called "How to Fail at Almost Everything and Still Win Big: Kind of the Story ...
Using Patterns and Anti-Patterns : Season Wrap-up
April 28, 2022 10:00 - 14 minutes - 20.6 MBWe end this season with a look at using patterns and anti-patterns throughout your work. The value they provide is obvious and costs little. We gain the lessons learned from others and have those available for our projects. Those experiences are valuable to us and jumpstart our solutions. Using Patterns Patterns are just that. They provide a recommended series of steps or an approach. However, they are not the solution. We need to use these tools as an outline or guide to building ...
Big Hairy Audacious Goals - An Anti-Pattern
April 26, 2022 10:00 - 15 minutes - 21.9 MBThe BHAG or Big Hairy Audacious Goals approach to vision or roadmaps is often recommended. The objective is to keep from limiting ourselves. The problem is that too much of a good thing can turn into a mental block or analysis paralysis. Too many options or too many tasks to complete is often overwhelming. The Big Hairy Audacious Goals Anti-Pattern Defined This anti-pattern occurs when the focus is on the overall goals or scope rather than what is in front of you. There is a differe...
Rinse And Repeat - A template pattern
April 21, 2022 10:00 - 15 minutes - 20.8 MBOne of the most powerful and useful patterns I have come across is one we will call rinse and repeat. It may also be seen as copy and paste or templates. However, the result is a way to rapidly generate a lot of similar solutions within an architecture or system. The Rinse And Repeat Pattern Defined The essential piece of the rinse and repeat pattern is a similarity in approaching a series of problems. This pattern becomes apparent when we solve a problem and then move on to another v...
The Rosetta Stone Pattern - A Common Format
April 19, 2022 10:00 - 14 minutes - 19.9 MBOur new patterns include the rosetta stone. This pattern provides a path to link disparate systems and their data formats. It comes from the historical rosetta stone which was a multilingual text used to decipher ancient languages. We use this as a sort of pathway to a common language for our application. The Rosetta Stone Pattern Defined Modern software often has multiple other systems that need to be integrated with. That means we need to pass data back and forth. The format and ...
The Worst That Can Happen - An Architectural Pattern
April 14, 2022 10:00 - 14 minutes - 19.6 MBWe continue on a series of new patterns and anti-patterns with "the worst that can happen." This pattern uses fear and hyperbole to help us tighten up a design. We imagine what can go wrong and use that as a guide for applying fixes, hooks, and exceptions. Thus, this pattern is more a process than a pattern per se. However, it is an important step we can take to validate and strengthen our solution. The Worst That Can Happen Pattern Defined The pattern is applied by reviewing an arc...
Technical Debt - Yes, That Is A Pattern
April 12, 2022 10:00 - 15 minutes - 21.8 MBThe idea of technical debt is a hot topic among software development groups. In particular, this concept shows up in agile efforts. While it is more a concept than a pattern, we can use this as a pattern for our design and development work. In fact, it lines up well with the Pareto principle and pushing details off until after delivery. The Technical Debt Pattern Defined I like to think of technical debt architecture as boxes and connections that are dotted lines. We sometimes see a...
The Cancer Pattern - One Place The C Word is Ok.
April 07, 2022 10:00 - 17 minutes - 24.4 MBThe Cancer pattern has a word we do not have a favorable view of. However, this pattern is becoming needed in more and more environments. This pattern is one for conversions and migrations. We do not always have a clean slate for our architecture. Thus, we need designs to handle the modification of an existing architecture. The Cancer Pattern Defined The way Cancer evolves is that it replaces cells with something new while leaving things functional. This approach is how we often wa...
Keep It Simple - A Pattern To Avoid Complexity
April 05, 2022 10:00 - 17 minutes - 24 MBWe return to pick up a couple of new patterns. In this episode, we look at the keep it simple pattern and how to apply it to architecture. It is a pattern that we often overlook. However, it is an essential piece of many successful solutions. It is the heart of our desire to break complex things down into small pieces we can tackle. The Keep It Simple Pattern Defined We run into this pattern, or mentions of it, in many areas of life. Software architecture is no exception. When we ...
Misdirection Anti-Pattern : Solving The Wrong Problem
March 31, 2022 10:00 - 18 minutes - 25.6 MBWe looked at an incorrect focus based on faulty data analysis in our prior episode. This time we explore solving the wrong problem with the misdirection anti-pattern. While this situation can arise from the data bigotry anti-pattern, it is often a failure to grasp requirements fully. It is a problem that comes from improper focus and lack of communication. Those are two prevalent weaknesses in a project that lead to challenges and even failure. The Misdirection Anti-Pattern Defined ...
Statistical Bigotry - Placing An Incorrect Emphasis
March 29, 2022 10:00 - 18 minutes - 25.2 MBThis podcast season is a great excuse to highlight new anti-patterns. We look at a new one we call statistical bigotry in this episode. That is an excellent emotional word and a common challenge across many areas of problem-solving and debate. This anti-pattern appears when we give too much weight to our data and improperly use statistics. Statistical Bigotry Defined We use data and facts to support our decisions regularly. However, we can not blindly use data in this way. We need t...
Stovepipe Enterprise - The Patchwork Anti-Pattern
March 24, 2022 10:00 - 15 minutes - 21.5 MBWe have highlighted many areas of quality software development. However, the stovepipe enterprise is a maintenance anti-pattern. This situation occurs when we build a system that has a high maintenance cost. Even worse, maintenance often requires to be done quickly and more as a patch than a build. Therefore, we produce a house of cards that becomes more fragile as time goes by. Stovepipe Enterprise Defined Stovepipes are historically a form of a kludge. Wood-burning stoves needed a...
Warm Bodies - A Subtraction By Addition Anti-pattern
March 22, 2022 10:00 - 16 minutes - 22.6 MBThe "warm bodies" anti-pattern is sometimes subtle. However, it can be frustrating and sink more than a project. This approach is based on the fallacy that more developers or resources will create better software sooner. Instead, the reality is closer to the idea of getting nine women to give birth to a baby in one month. Warm Bodies Defined This anti-pattern is an attempt to work faster or get a project back on track by adding resources. It often is identified by a manager hiring m...
Vendor Lock-in : A Limiting Anti-Pattern
March 17, 2022 10:00 - 15 minutes - 22 MBThis episode covers the vendor lock-in anti-pattern. It is another one that we have seen before. However, it is slightly different when you apply it to software architecture. This situation is fascinating as we can fall into it thinking we are making the best decisions. However, comfort and ease are not always the best way to assess our solution. Vendor Lock-in Defined This anti-pattern occurs when we craft an architecture that hinges on a vendor or third-party product. Sometime...
Reinvent The Wheel : An Anti-Pattern of Pride
March 15, 2022 10:00 - 16 minutes - 23.1 MBThis next anti-pattern is "reinvent the wheel." It is not a rare issue in solving problems. However, it is still worth exploring. Knowledge is not enough to avoid it. Otherwise, it would be less common. Likewise, the speed of progress in technical solutions makes it a challenge to keep current and avoid this anti-pattern. Reinvent The Wheel Defined We see this in many ways. However, it always boils down to looking at a problem as a novel challenge, rather than something already...
The Wolf Ticket Anti-Pattern: As In Wearing Sheep's Clothing
March 10, 2022 11:00 - 15 minutes - 21.2 MBCommunication and consistency are key traits of patterns. Likewise, a lack of these creates anti-patterns like the wolf ticket. We all know that standards are helpful and a worthy pursuit. However, there are de facto standards that can cause us headaches. Let's look at how a good intention can turn into an anti-pattern. A Wolf Ticket Definition A wolf ticket is not that different from smoke and mirrors. It is a standard or other conforming to rules where there is no enforcement. Bu...
The Jumble Anti-Pattern : Mixing up horizontal and vertical
March 08, 2022 11:00 - 17 minutes - 23.6 MBOne of the funny things about anti-patterns is that they are obvious in the name alone. We might not know what it is but everyone avoids a jumble. There is no technical knowledge required to judge this is not a good idea for a solution architecture. In this episode, we review the jumble anti-pattern, what it looks like, and how to avoid it. The Jumble Defined The key to the jumble anti-pattern is horizontal and vertical elements of the design. We want to keep those separate much like...
Cover Your Assets Anti-Pattern : Protection Over Production
March 03, 2022 11:00 - 16 minutes - 22.9 MBOverkill is a theme among many anti-patterns. The cover your assets approach is one of those types where it just goes too far. There is nothing wrong with providing a solid paper trail and communication. However, we can make documentation the point and miss the true goal of a project. Cover Your Assets Defined This anti-pattern is the same as documentation for documentation's sake. We get lost in administrative red tape, but do not make it to analysis paralysis. The whole project be...
The Swiss Army Knife Anti-Pattern - All Things To All People
March 01, 2022 11:00 - 18 minutes - 25.2 MBMuch like the make people happy obstacle, we have the Swiss Army Knife Anti-Pattern. This mistake is another example of over-architecting a solution. Think of it as throwing everything into a design instead of thinking through what is needed. However, this approach is not gold-plating and bells and whistles. Instead, it adds things "just in case" they are required. The Swiss Army Knife Anti-Pattern Defined We often have pointed out patterns that break down and simplify a problem. Th...
Make Everyone Happy - A Paradoxical Anti-Pattern
February 24, 2022 11:00 - 14 minutes - 20.4 MBOne of the most amusing anti-patterns is the one known as "make everyone happy." The funny thing is that it never does. Instead, it points us to an old bit of wisdom that you end up pleasing no one when you try to please everyone. Put more simply; you cannot have more than one master. If this seems familiar, we have discussed it under the name "design by committee" in prior posts. Make Everyone Happy Defined You have heard that two heads are better than one. Unfortunately, that does...
Architecture By Implication - An Assumption Anti-Pattern
February 22, 2022 11:00 - 16 minutes - 23.3 MBThe series switches gears to look at anti-patterns. We start with the mother of all anti-patterns, architecture by implication. Any time we have a pattern that includes assumptions, success is a challenge. Looking ahead, the next several episodes will explore familiar anti-pattern names. We will find that many coding anti-patterns can also be applied to architecture. Likewise, these are ways to approach enterprise solutions. Architecture By Implication Defined This anti-pattern is w...
The Space-Based Pattern , AKA A Cloud Architecture
February 17, 2022 11:00 - 19 minutes - 26.4 MBWe wrap up our patterns focus with the space-based pattern. This is also known as cloud architecture. We will see how this approach allows us to break out the solution into components suited for scaling. We solve the problem of scalability in architecture instead of tools. The Space-Based Pattern Defined We have often seen layers in our architecture discussions. Similarly, this pattern breaks out each layer into many workers. Therefore, it is described as a collection of grids. Fir...
The Microservices Architecture Pattern - Small, Reusable Solutions
February 15, 2022 11:00 - 15 minutes - 21 MBWe come to one of the best patterns for breaking a big problem down into bite-sized pieces. The microservices architecture pattern is a perfect fit. The objective is to farm out work to one or more services that are small and well-defined. This pattern is one that has grown in popularity and is often seen in Cloud solutions. The Microservices Architecture Pattern Defined The architecture is another one that has three primary components. There are client requests, an interface layer,...
The Microkernel Pattern - Core System and Plugins
February 10, 2022 11:00 - 15 minutes - 22 MBThe focus of this episode on software architecture patterns is the microkernel pattern. It is a common way to build on core technology without the need for future design. Once the plugin interface is defined, the sky is the limit for enhancements and upgrades. You do all of this without impacting that core. The Microkernel Pattern Defined This approach starts with a core piece of functionality. Next, other components are added to it. We see this pattern utilized in many cloud produ...
The Interpreter Pattern - Translate expressions in code
February 08, 2022 11:00 - 17 minutes - 24.1 MBWe continue our season of software architecture patterns and more by reviewing the interpreter pattern. This one may seem familiar. It has been discussed in other areas of software development. However, it is worth refreshing our memory on this helpful solution. The Interpreter Pattern Defined The way this works is to start from a client, and given a context; we receive an expression. That may be a very simple or complex series of "sentences." Next, the expression is broken down in...
Blackboard Pattern : A Way to Brainstorm In Software
February 03, 2022 11:00 - 13 minutes - 18.3 MBThe blackboard pattern is arguably the least known among our first group. This is a pattern that is not common because it is best used with some specialized tasks. However, you may be familiar with it if you work in speech recognition, vehicle tracking, sonar signals interpretation, or similar open-ended forms of searching and matching. The Blackboard Pattern Defined Three appears to be the magic number for parts of an architectural pattern. Likewise, this pattern again has three conc...
Model-View-Controller : A Pattern Based on Functional Area
February 01, 2022 11:00 - 16 minutes - 22.7 MBThe Model-View-Controller pattern is one that is common and often seen in frameworks. It provides us with a nice place to "hang" our code. The Model-View-Controller Pattern Defined We have another pattern that contains three parts. In this case, we have the model, the view, and the controller. These each has an area of functionality they contain and are intended to act without regard to the other areas. The effect is not unlike other patterns that divide and delegate functionality. ...
Event Bus Pattern : A Software News Feed
January 27, 2022 11:00 - 15 minutes - 21.7 MBWe often see the Event Bus architectural pattern in notification frameworks and Android development. This approach provides us with a way to have a news feed mechanism across clients and processes. The Event Bus Pattern Defined There are three main players in this event bus pattern. The players are the sources, the bus, and the listeners. Within the bus, there are channels. In this pattern, the listeners subscribe to a channel or channels. Likewise, the sources post messages to one...
Peer-To-Peer : An Architecture Pattern Where Everyone Shares The Work
January 25, 2022 11:00 - 14 minutes - 20.4 MBThis episode digs into the peer-to-peer software architecture pattern. It is common among file-sharing and crypto networks. Likewise, the pattern is not too complicated. However, it is robust and secure as we have tightly defined communication paths. We also have every node playing the role of both client and server. The Peer-To-Peer Pattern Defined The description of peer-to-peer is even less complex than client-server. We have two nodes with a bi-directional link between them. Ea...
Broker Pattern - Send Requests To The Correct Worker
January 20, 2022 11:00 - 15 minutes - 20.9 MBThe broker pattern may seem very similar to some others we have examined. However, it is more about distributed systems than balancing traffic. The pipe-filter and master-slave patterns provide single path processing. This pattern sends the requests down different paths based on the request itself. The Broker Pattern Defined A broker pattern is a sort of tree structure. We start with a client that makes a request to the broker. The broker assesses that request and then sends it to a...
Pipe-filter : An Architecture for Processing Data
January 18, 2022 11:00 - 15 minutes - 21.2 MBThe pipe-filter architectural pattern is very common and used to process data. It is flexible and scalable. This pattern has existed in other areas. However, it is the perfect solution for software problems that need steps or filters. The Pipe-Filter Pattern Defined Think of a start and an endpoint. Data has to go from beginning to end, and work will be done on it along the way. The work done is the filters, and we can place any number of filters along the journey. Each one is stan...
Master-Slave : An Architecture For Distributing Work
January 13, 2022 11:00 - 15 minutes - 21.8 MBWe switch gears in this episode and look at a pattern for getting work done. The master-slave pattern can be confused with the client-server. However, they are very different. The main difference is how the work flows through the system. The Master-Slave Pattern Defined This pattern is a way to get large jobs done. In contrast, the client-server pattern focuses on multiple users and requests. The master-slave pattern provides an example of delegating work within a system. The requ...
Client-Server Pattern - Software Architecture
January 11, 2022 11:00 - 16 minutes - 23.4 MBThe discussion of patterns sort of goes backwards this episode. First, we look at the client-server pattern. It is an older and well-established pattern. However, it is not suited to modern solutions. This approach harkens back to the old days of mainframes and massive servers that were shared resources for application users. The Client-Server Pattern Defined This pattern is the simplest version of a layered pattern. There is the front-end client and the backend server. Unlike the ...