What A Lot Of Things

Buckle up, dear listeners, for the 23rd rollercoaster ride of What A Lot Of Things! In this episode, Ian and Ash embark on a wild adventure through the treacherous jungles of productivity, armed with nothing but their wit, wisdom, and a healthy dose of skepticism.

First up, Ash dives headfirst into the Figma frenzy, revealing how this popular design tool might just be the secret supervillain in the epic battle between designers and developers. Will our heroes survive the onslaught of never-ending design iterations? Tune in to find out!

But wait, there's more! Ian takes us on a whirlwind tour of national productivity measures, where GDP reigns supreme and the Genuine Progress Indicator lurks in the shadows. Marvel at our hosts as they attempt to decipher the arcane mysteries of economic output, all while dodging curveballs like the Protestant work ethic and the ever-looming specter of eternal damnation for the lazy.

As if that wasn't enough excitement for one episode, you'll be treated to a thrilling exposé on Ilkley's car-free utopia (spoiler: Range Rovers may lose a few parts), and Ash's daring exploits in the Yorkshireman Trail Marathon (where hydro-engineering meets masochism). Our intrepid hosts even find time for a rousing debate on the merits of aerosol cheese (truly the pinnacle of human achievement) and welcome unexpected cameos from Monty Python, Jacob Rees-Mogg, and a clicky laptop fan.

So grab your productivity hats and join Ian and Ash as they attempt to solve the great productivity puzzle. Will they increase the podcast's Genuine Progress Indicator? Will they finally achieve inbox zero? Or will they simply end up confused and covered in aerosol cheese? There's only one way to find out in this uproarious episode of What A Lot Of Things!

Links

• Figma and No Handoff's Why I moved on from Figma.
• The Productivity Policy Institute and their article What explains the UK productivity problem? 
• The Global Innovation Index from the World Intellectual Property Organisation
• Max Weber and his concept of the Protestant Work Ethic in which he asserted that Protestant ethics and values, along with the Calvinist doctrines of asceticism and predestination, enabled the rise and spread of capitalism. 
• Ilkley's Car Free Festival held this year on 22nd September 2024
• Ash's blog and the Leeds Testing Atelier.
• Haworth in the Brontë country, where the Yorkshireman Off-Road Marathon takes place. Oh, and the 2024 results!
• The Kagi search engine used by Ian
• Gross Domestic Product (GDP)
• Genuine Progress Indicator (GPI) although this also stands for Global Peace Index which is what you'll get if you search GPI.

Finally, get in touch!

Join the What a lot of Things LinkedIn group to hear Ash's hot takes on episode content, or email us using (as you prefer) [email protected] or [email protected] both carefully camel cased so as to avoid ambiguity!

Get ready for a productivity party as Ian and Ash dive into the chaotic world of getting stuff done! From Ash's Trello-powered life management system to Ian's valiant attempts at David Allen's Getting Things Done, our dynamic duo explore the highs and lows of personal productivity.

Warning: may contain traces of work-in-progress limits and an unhealthy obsession with database administrators.

But wait, there's more! Brace yourself for a mind-bending journey into Conway's Law, where organizational charts meet software architecture in a cosmic dance of confusion. Watch Ian struggle to grasp Ash's examples (don't worry, he gets there eventually) as they unravel the mysteries of monoliths, microservices, and everything in between.

With a sprinkle of neoliths, megalithic humor, and a dash of LinkedIn bot paranoia, this episode is guaranteed to leave you questioning your team structure and reaching for your Trello board. Remember folks, in the world of What A Lot Of Things, everything changes while staying exactly the same!​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​

Links

• In Defence of Productivity by Jason Swett
• The Protestant Work Ethic by Oliver Burkeman
• David Allen’s Getting Things Done
• 4000 Weeks: Time Management for Mortals by Oliver Burkeman, and his TEDx Manchester talk Why Patience is a Superpower
• Productivity software: OmniFocus 4, Trello
• Outside Context Problem, from Excession by Iain M Banks
• Windows Recall: How to turn it off and why you should at Tom’s Guide
• The DevOps Handbook by  Gene Kim, Jez Humble, Patrick Debois, John Willis, Nicole Forsgren
• Strangler Fig blog post by Martin Fowler, and his post on Conway’s Law.
• Conway’s Law and Mel Conway's paper How Committees Invent
• Dealing with Creaky Legacy Platforms by Jonny LeRoy
• Team Topologies by Matthew Skelton and Manuel Pais, Wardley Maps by Simon Wardley and The Mythical Man Month by Fred Brooks.
• When: The Scientific Secrets of Perfect Timing by Daniel Pink
• Hachyderm

Email us on [email protected] or visit us on LinkedIn.

Hold onto your keyboards, folks! In this episode of What A Lot Of Things, Ian and Ash embark on a wild ride through the treacherous waters of R&D tax credits and the murky depths of technical debt.

Watch as Ash dons his cape and mask as the Testing Avenger, attempting to save Ian's poor, test-less Ilkley Live website from certain doom. Marvel at Ian's creative excuses for avoiding automated tests, and cheer as he finally succumbs to the relentless pressure of good practices in context.

Along the way, our intrepid hosts navigate the choppy seas of database migrations, wrestle with the kraken of personal project maintenance, and attempt to decipher the ancient runes of government innovation incentives.

It's a rollicking adventure filled with British wit, playful banter, and enough tech talk to make your CPU overheat. Don't miss this episode - it's more entertaining than watching a Clanger try to use Twitter!​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​

If you haven’t already, we’d love it if you would contribute to our listener survey.

Links

• Sifted: UK startups warn they ‘won’t survive’ if HMRC claws back tax credits
• HMRC: Claiming Research and Development (R&D) tax reliefs
• Innovate UK
• AWS Amplify
• The most excellent Mark Steadman and his podcast health check service.
• Ilkley Live (this is significantly more interesting in the 3 months before the event) and the Ilkley Live Facebook group.
• Ilkley Live technologies: React, NextJS, NodeJS, Javascript, Typescript, Tailwind CSS, and Vercel. Zod and Yup. Oh, and Bun.
• …also, Notion and Notion Databases
• Testing frameworks, Playwright and Cypress.
• Ministry of Testing for learning about testing.
• Technical debt

..and you should email us, either at [email protected] or, for the more timid, [email protected].

Strap in for a wild ride as Ian and Ash tackle the dystopian world of employee monitoring software! Marvel at the horrors on sale as our hosts ponder whether these digital taskmasters are the future of work or just really creepy ways to watch people type.

But wait, there's more! Venture into the mind-bending realm of the Cynefin framework, where our intrepid duo attempt to make sense of not a model, but a framework. It's also not a quadrant (although it kinda looks like one).

From mouse jigglers to Welsh castles, this episode has it all. Will Ian and Ash successfully navigate the complex waters of these topics, or will they end up in the "confused" domain? Tune in to find out, and remember - in the chaotic world of What A Lot Of Things, sometimes you just have to act first and think later!

Links

• PC Mag: The Best Employee Monitoring Software for 2024
• Mouse jigglers on Amazon (not an affiliate link because we know that nobody reading this will buy a mouse jiggler)
• Homer Simpson's keyboard bird
• HP Quality Center (tl;dr it changed hands)
• The Cynefin Framework as invented by Dave Snowden
• Cynefin wiki, including a page on the Domains which mentions the carnival example.
• The Rodecaster Pro II that we use for our recording, and that provides all-too-easy access to silly voice processing effects. Sorry.
• Wardley Mapping
• Use Due for iOS and MacOS to be persistently nagged to remember what you went into the kitchen (or any other room in the house) for.
• Time and motion studies
• Welsh castles, although Dave Snowden apparently doesn't live in one.
• Fairport Convention's website, including info on Cropredy Festival where Ian could hear Rick Wakeman and Richard Thompson, but not sadly Trevor Horn for health reasons.
• WOMAD festival
• Siphonaptera, a poem about fleas which was not, in fact, by Spike Milligan.

Step into the origins of What A Lot Of Things with this special bonus episode that takes Ian and Ash back to where it all began - the hiking trails of Ilkley Moor! Long before they were podcast hosts, the duo's casual walks and pub visits sparked the conversations that would eventually become the show.

Now, armed with new wireless microphones, they're recreating that magic on the move. Join them as they ramble through picturesque landscapes, discussing everything from recent tech outages to the state of software testing, all while navigating steep hills and encountering local wildlife. Listen in as they ponder important questions - like whether it's possible to learn carpentry while running - and share impromptu observations that capture the essence of their friendship and the spirit of the podcast.

With plenty of tech talk, gentle ribbing, and a dash of nostalgia, this unique "podcast-on-the-go" episode is a treat for long-time fans and new listeners alike, offering a glimpse into the show's roots and the camaraderie that makes What A Lot Of Things so special.​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​

In this episode, Ian and Ash embark on a meandering journey through the digital wilderness, pondering the merits of a smartphone-free childhood and the peculiar world of software code review and pull requests. From nostalgic ramblings about bakelite phones to imagining a world of smart telegrams, our intrepid hosts navigate the treacherous waters of modern parenting and software development practices. Expect tangential detours, impromptu time travel, and a healthy dose of silliness as they attempt to make sense of it all - or at least have a good laugh trying.

Links

• Smartphone Free Childhood
• Government Launches Crackdown on Mobile Phones in Schools (gov.uk)
• We wanted to change the norm on smartphone use’: grassroots campaigners on a phone-free childhood (Guardian)
• Ian's Ilkley Live website, plus here's the personalised programme feature on the staging site.
• The Google Maps Distance Matrix API
• "I think PRs are a _really_ bad idea..." (Allen Holub on Twitter)
• "Inspection is too late...", W Edwards Deming
• and... Funny git merge (Youtube)

Email us at [email protected]

In this rollicking 18th episode of What A Lot Of Things, Ian and Ash dive into the choppy waters of Apple's tussle with the EU over the Digital Markets Act, pondering the implications for developers and users alike. They then take a wistful trip down memory lane, discussing the persistent challenge of legacy systems and out-of-support software, with a particular focus on SQL Server. Along the way, they manage to squeeze in a cheeky debate on teleportation ethics, ponder the correct pronunciation of 'SQL', and reminisce about childhood telly frights. It's a right old mixed bag, this one - tune in for a jolly good natter about tech, nostalgia, and everything in between.

Links

• EU: Digital Markets Act
• Apple Developer: App Review Guidelines
• Daring Fireball: The EU is reaping what it sows with the DMA: Uncertainty
• FT: Apple set to be first Big Tech group to face charges under EU digital law
• Daring Fireball: Apple’s Plans for the DMA in the European Union
• Apple PR: The App Store, Spotify, and Europe’s thriving digital music market
• Spotify: Apple’s Proposed Changes Reject the Goals of the DMA
• Disney Plus on Apple Vision Pro
• The Register: Apple says if you want to ship your own iOS browser engine in EU, you need to be there (in the EU)
• CGP Grey: The Trouble with Transporters
• The Register: Nearly 20% of running Microsoft SQL Servers have passed end of support
• Hyrum's Law - An observation on Software Engineering
• Wikipedia: History of Microsoft SQL Server
• Wikipedia: Object Relational Mapping (ORM)
• Prisma Next-Generation Node.js & Typescript ORM
• Wikipedia: Year 2037 Problem (aka the Epochalypse)
• Wikipedia: Doctor Who covers the afterlife in Dark Water
• By the Power of Grayskull

In this episode of "What A Lot Of Things", Ian and Ash consider the nature of time, before diving into two main topics: AI's evolving role in our lives and the nature of creativity.

They discuss "large action models", the new Rabbit R1 device, and Apple's recent AI announcements, debating whether AI is best viewed as a feature or a standalone product before going on to challenge the common belief that some people "aren't creative," examining how past experiences shape our perceptions of our own creativity. Ian and Ash explore the importance of practicing creative skills, maintaining a growth mindset, and the challenges of creating art while still developing skills.

Links

• Thinking Digital conference
• Jennie Maizel’s Sketchbook Club
• TED: Sir Ken Robinson: Do schools kill creativity?
• Every Child Is an Artist. The Problem Is How to Remain an Artist Once He or She Grows Up – Pablo Picasso (apologies for the obnoxious ads on this link)
• TED: Carol Dweck: The power of believing that you can improve
• Ira Glass on the gap that creators must bridge
• Quote from Douglas Adams on deadlines
• Psychology Today: The Science of Creativity
• Psychology Today: The Unromantic Truth Behind Creativity Myths
• Cory Doctorow: What Kind of Bubble is AI?
• Deepmind’s AlphaFold and their protein structure predictions for nearly all catalogued proteins known to science
• Connections game from the New York Times 
• Using AutoGPT to save money
• Rabbit R1 pocket companion
• Humane AI Pin
• React (Reason & Act) AI agent paper from Google
• Glue and pizza (BBC)
• Leeds Testing Atelier

In this episode of "What A Lot Of Things", Ian and Ash celebrate their podcast's return to a regular cadence, with episodes now coming out every two weeks.

The duo cover two main topics - local democracy and the backlash against social media algorithms. On local democracy, Ian discusses his experience running for town council, the arcane rules and challenges involved, and his belief that more ordinary citizens should get involved to make local councils less political and more pragmatic.

The conversation then shifts to the pros and cons of social media algorithms. Ash and Ian examine how platforms like TikTok and YouTube quickly learn user preferences, sometimes recommending questionable content, and debate whether such algorithms ultimately benefit users or simply enable more effective advertising and "shitification". They also discuss some emerging alternatives that aim to provide more transparent, human-curated social media experiences.

Ian and Ash conclude by sharing the best way for listeners to get in touch with their thoughts and feedback. Another thought-provoking installment of "What A Lot Of Things"!

Links

• Leeds Testing Atelier
• Manifesting Agency and Days, Ian’s other podcasts.
• The famous meeting of Handsforth Parish Council at which it turns out that Jackie Weaver did in fact have the authority.
• Flatpack Democracy
• Ian’s website made for Ilkley Community Alliance
• Play Rock Paper Scissors with CGP Grey
• Wired: The Latest Online Culture War is Humans vs Algorithms
• pi.fyi, Spread Social and the Prosocial Ranking Challenge.
• Ian's Ilkley Community Alliance website (and, through the magic of Vercel, here is the version from the time of the election)
• WSJ: How TikTok's Algorithm Figures You Out (Youtube)

In this latest episode of the "What A Lot Of Things" podcast, hosts Ian and Ash explore intriguing aspects of technology and its broader implications. They delve into the evolving career paths for testing specialists, discussing how testers can navigate organizational challenges and develop fulfilling careers. The conversation shifts to a significant security furore involving the XZ compression tool, where they unpack the complexities of open-source software maintenance and the vulnerabilities introduced by subtle malicious contributions. Throughout, the hosts' lively banter and insightful anecdotes make for a thought-provoking listen that bridges technical details with broader tech culture reflections.

Links

• Guardian TechScape: How cheap, outsourced labour in Africa is shaping AI English and "ChatGPT cliches" gist 
• iPhone 7 Plus and Samsung Galaxy S22+ (better link for the Samsung?)
• 2030 Status meeting with Mother Nature video from Apple.
• Pachyderm and Hachyderm.
• Agile Testing Fellowship
• Maaret Pyhäjärvi's post on LinkedIn quoting Anna Baik, plus a Youtube video on how to pronounce Pyhäjärvi. We will do better next time! We can find other people quoting Anna saying this, but not the original source for the quotation.
• Articles for Thing One:
  • Ministry of Testing: Navigating a Career Path in Software Testing
  • TechBeacon: Two years with no testers: What I learned
  • Dan Ashby: Dispelling the misconceptions #5 – “Lets 100% automate everything and get rid of all our testers”
  • TestFort: AI in Software Testing: A Silver Bullet or a Threat to the Profession?
• Eton College King's Scholarship Exam, General Paper I
• Accessibility testing specialist, Ady Stokes on LinkedIn
• The best step-by-step story I found for the XZ backdoor was Everything I know about the XZ backdoor by Evan Boehs
• XKCD: All Modern Digital Infrastructure
• XZ maintainer Lasse Collin's page on the backdoor
• Andres Freund's email to the OSS Security mailing list on discovering the backdoor
• Dosubot, an AI-powered Github maintainer agent used in Langchain's repos.
• The story of `left-pad`

...and our new email address: [email protected]