Changelog Interviews

Estimating systems with napkin math


Listen Later

We’re joined by Simon Eskildsen, Principal Engineer at Shopify, talking about how he uses a concept called napkin math where you use first-principle thinking to estimate systems without writing any code. By the end of the show we were estimating pretty much everything using napkin math.

Join the discussion

Changelog++ members save 4 minutes on this episode because they made the ads disappear. Join today!

Sponsors:

  • LinodeOur cloud of choice and the home of Changelog.com. Deploy a fast, efficient, native SSD cloud server for only $5/month. Get 4 months free using the code changelog2019 OR changelog2020. To learn more and get started head to linode.com/changelog.
  • Retool – Retool makes it super simple to build back-office apps in hours, not days. The tool is is built by engineers, explicitly for engineers. Learn more and try it for free at retool.com/changelog
  • Pixie – Pixie gives you a magical API to get instant debug data. The best part is this doesn’t involve changing code, there are no manual UIs, and this all lives inside Kubernetes. Pixie lives inside of your platform, harvests all the data that you need, and exposes a bunch of interfaces that you can ping to get the data you need. It’s a programmable edge intelligence platform which captures metrics, traces, logs and events, without any code changes.
  • FastlyOur bandwidth partner. Fastly powers fast, secure, and scalable digital experiences. Move beyond your content delivery network to their powerful edge cloud platform. Learn more at fastly.com.
  • Featuring:

    • Simon Eskildsen – Website, GitHub, X
    • Adam Stacoviak – Website, GitHub, LinkedIn, Mastodon, X
    • Jerod Santo – GitHub, LinkedIn, Mastodon, X

    Show Notes:

    • Napkin Math on GitHub (PRs welcome)
    • Napkin Math newsletter
    • zk - Zettelkasten on the command-line
    • How to Make Yourself Into a Learning Machine
    • Something missing or broken? PRs welcome!

      ...more
      View all episodesView all episodes
      Download on the App Store

      Changelog InterviewsBy Changelog Media

      • 5
      • 5
      • 5
      • 5
      • 5

      5

      5 ratings


      More shows like Changelog Interviews

      View all
      Planet Money by NPR

      Planet Money

      30,839 Listeners

      The Changelog: Software Development, Open Source by Changelog Media

      The Changelog: Software Development, Open Source

      284 Listeners

      Conversations with Tyler by Mercatus Center at George Mason University

      Conversations with Tyler

      2,395 Listeners

      Twenty Thousand Hertz by Dallas Taylor

      Twenty Thousand Hertz

      3,924 Listeners

      Python Bytes by Michael Kennedy and Brian Okken

      Python Bytes

      215 Listeners

      NVIDIA AI Podcast by NVIDIA

      NVIDIA AI Podcast

      331 Listeners

      Syntax - Tasty Web Development Treats by Wes Bos & Scott Tolinski - Full Stack JavaScript Web Developers

      Syntax - Tasty Web Development Treats

      987 Listeners

      Darknet Diaries by Jack Rhysider

      Darknet Diaries

      7,879 Listeners

      Sean Carroll's Mindscape: Science, Society, Philosophy, Culture, Arts, and Ideas by Sean Carroll | Wondery

      Sean Carroll's Mindscape: Science, Society, Philosophy, Culture, Arts, and Ideas

      4,140 Listeners

      Practical AI by Practical AI LLC

      Practical AI

      192 Listeners

      Dwarkesh Podcast by Dwarkesh Patel

      Dwarkesh Podcast

      417 Listeners

      Oxide and Friends by Oxide Computer Company

      Oxide and Friends

      47 Listeners

      The AI Daily Brief (Formerly The AI Breakdown): Artificial Intelligence News and Analysis by Nathaniel Whittemore

      The AI Daily Brief (Formerly The AI Breakdown): Artificial Intelligence News and Analysis

      479 Listeners

      Changelog News by Changelog Media

      Changelog News

      13 Listeners

      Changelog & Friends by Changelog Media

      Changelog & Friends

      2 Listeners