The 10 Best Practices for Remote Software Engineering
At face value, when we think of developer productivity we might think of effectiveness in time management, communication, and task completion. Although we are drawn to personal workflow or time management tools, and learning secrets to improving our productivity, ironically this quest for the holy grail can sometimes take us off course and be a detriment to our productivity. The problem is that accomplishing tasks or having a filled up schedule does not necessarily equate to productivity. Creating a formulaic working strategy, as was common in the last century, does not either. Productivity is less a quality that can be easily measured, controlled, or improved directly with tools, but instead is a human element that manifests from developer happiness.
This Viewpoint is intended for remote software engineers who are facing new challenges to thinking about routine, responsibility, and goal setting. As a developer of scientific software, and one who has transitioned to working remotely before any stay at home orders, I have slowly learned to optimize my own productivity by focusing exclusively on well-being. In this Viewpoint, I summarize what I have learned.
Headless Commerce, Explained
Everything direct-to-consumer brands need to know.
If you're tuned into the ecommerce space, you've no doubt heard about "going headless", or building a headless commerce storefront. You may have heard that headless commerce means a move from commerce-led to content-led solutions. Or maybe you’ve heard it represents a lean toward an ‘API-first’ approach? As with any largely uncharted territory, it can be hard to work out what’s growing faster, the technology or the terminology.
Because headless can seem inaccessible with all of its jargon, we’re aiming to add some clarity and address common questions about redesigning your ecommerce architecture.
https://getshogun.com/what-is-headless-commerce
Right to Disconnect, Remote Working & Productivity Monitoring
The right to disconnect vs. America's always-on culture
European countries are adopting right-to-disconnect laws, protecting workers from employer retaliation. But in the U.S., there appears to be little interest from lawmakers.
Irish employees’ ‘right to disconnect’ enshrined in code of practice
A code of practice giving employees the ‘right to disconnect’ from work and not engage in electronic communications outside of their normal hours has come into effect in Ireland
Remote workers largely supportive of a UK right to disconnect
The introduction of a “right to disconnect” in the UK is popular among workers and has backing from trade unions
Deploying productivity monitoring software ethically
While software that tracks the activities of staff can be helpful to companies with a remote workforce, managers must consider employees’ concerns and privacy
https://www.computerweekly.com/feature/Deploying-productivity-monitoring-software-ethically
Tech sector trade union campaigns to protect workers’ privacy
A UK-based trade union for technology workers and others employed by tech companies is organising around the issue of worker’s privacy and workplace monitoring
Navigating the sticky issue of monitoring employee productivity
With employees having shifted en masse to remote working during the pandemic, we explore how enterprises have maintained the productivity of their dispersed workforce
Why Computing Students Should Contribute to Open Source Software Projects
Learning to program is—for many practical, historical, as well as some vacuous reasons—a rite of passage in probably all computer science, informatics, software engineering, and computer engineering courses. For many decades, this skill would reliably set computing graduates apart from their peers in other disciplines. In this Viewpoint, I argue that in the 21st century programming proficiency on its own is neither representative of the skills that the marketplace requires from computing graduates, nor does it offer the strong vocational qualifications it once did. Accordingly, I propose that computing students should be encouraged to contribute code to open source software projects through their curricular activities. I have been practicing and honing this approach for more than 15 years in a software engineering course where open source contributions are an assessed compulsory requirement.2 Based on this experience, I explain why the ability to make such contributions is the modern generalization of coding skills acquisition, outline what students can learn from such activities, describe how an open source contribution exercise is embedded in the course, and conclude with practices that have underpinned the assignment's success.
A-Z of fraud
Action Fraud is the UK’s national reporting centre for fraud and cyber crime. To help understand which fraud you've been affected by, they have categorised over 155 of the frauds and listed in alphabetical order.
https://www.actionfraud.police.uk/a-z-of-fraud-category
Open Access
Here's Open Research Explained
If you’ve got questions – like why choose gold open access, how do preprints work, and what’s an APC – we’ve got answers. Dip in and out of this short video series. It explains the different aspects of open research and what it all means for you.
https://www.wiley.com/network/researchers/featured-content/here-s-open-research-explained
Your Open Access Questions, Answered
https://www.wiley.com/network/societyleaders/latest-content/your-open-access-questions-answered
13 Useful Email Newsletters That Every Entrepreneur Should Subscribe To
Knowledge is power. A fact that everyone agrees on. But this is something all entrepreneurs not just agree on, but embrace completely! For them, it is an indispensable part, not just of their profession but of their life. Due to the constant creativity that is happening in this field, it is important to constantly be up to date.
Join us as we say a quick thank you to technology and its wonderful, wonderful ways. Some of which easily lets us stay in touch with our fellow hustlers and all the innovations that take place! Such as with signing up for the best email newsletters we have ever come across!
https://digest.myhq.in/best-email-newsletters/
The Early Pitch Decks Of 25 Startups Before They Became Billion-Dollar Companies
See the early pitch decks of 25 unicorn companies (and exited unicorns), including Coinbase (when the price of bitcoin was around $6.25) and Airbnb (when it was AirBed&Breakfast).
https://www.cbinsights.com/research/billion-dollar-startup-pitch-decks/
Online Book: The Manager’s Handbook
The Manager’s Handbook is a brand new book written by Alex McCaw, who is the CEO at Clearbit – one of the hot startups in Silicon Valley.
What’s really interesting about this book is that Alex believes in the concept of building one of the best-managed companies in the world. He’s done something that’s somewhat uncharacteristic of other CEOs out there, by taking a personal interest in ensuring that managers in his company are working on their management craft on a daily basis.
Alex compiled all the different things that they do at Clearbit into this handbook and he graciously just made it available to everybody.
The book is filled with best practices that Clearbit execs have taken from all walks of life and from different places, and what’s nice about it is that you only have to read this one book to learn them!
Read it online at https://themanagershandbook.com/
A Tactical Guide to Managing Up: 30 Tips from the Smartest People We Know
Like any relationship, that of the manager and their report is a two-way street, and the task of navigating the often bumpy road along a startup’s course falls on both parties. There are those managers who you instantly click with, falling into an easy rhythm as though you’ve worked together for years. Others duos may seem like you’re trying to force two repelling magnets together. But more likely, your relationship with your boss falls somewhere in between these two extremes.
That’s in part because managing up is a rather amorphous category, encompassing everything from developing rapport and trust, decision-making, communication style, conflict management and goal-setting with higher-ups.
Whether you’re joining a brand-new team and want to start your partnership with a new manager off on the right foot, or you’re looking to make an already great working relationship with your boss even better, there are plenty of low-lift tactics ahead for how to manage up effectively. Read on.
The Creator Economy Explained: How Companies Are Transforming The Self-Monetization Boom
The creator economy refers to the independent businesses and side hustles launched by self-employed individuals who make money off of their knowledge, skills, or following.
The creator economy has seen a record $1.3B in funding in 2021 alone. We dig into how startups are building across the value chain, top investors and companies in the space, and what's next for the industry.
https://www.cbinsights.com/research/report/what-is-the-creator-economy
Case Studies: Showcasing IBM Client Stories
This excellent case studies resource page features over 1770 case studies (as on Jun 2021). They can be searched across different industries, technologies/solution category and geography.
https://www.ibm.com/case-studies/search
Tech History
Feeling nostalgic about your first tech gadget or toy? Want to learn about tech's visionaries and trailblazers? If so, you've come to the right spot.
https://flipboard.com/@techrepublic/tech-history-shb02oefz
Neurodiversity at Work: Supporting Employees Across the Spectrum
Study after study shows that diverse organizations are more innovative and generate higher profit. While diverse teams can be great at coming up with new ideas, neurodivergent employees, literally, think differently.
It's why firms such as Microsoft, Google and SAP run neurodiversity-at-work initiatives. Let's explore what neurodiversity means – and why you and your organization should embrace it.
https://www.mindtools.com/pages/article/neurodiversity.htm
Benefits Of Practicing Yoga
Looking for reasons to try yoga? From increased strength to flexibility to heart health, we have 38 benefits to getting on your mat.
https://www.yogajournal.com/lifestyle/health/womens-health/count-yoga-38-ways-yoga-keeps-fit/
Videos: Tech that can hack your brain
Need more proof that the future is here? Get ready to have your mind blown with tech that can truly can get inside your head.
6 talks · Total run time 1:30:24
https://www.ted.com/playlists/392/tech_that_can_hack_your_brain
Videos: Talks to watch before a job interview
Interviews can be intimidating. These talks are full of useful tips, tricks and advice that can help you land the job you’re after.
6 talks · Total run time 1:25:46
https://www.ted.com/playlists/352/talks_to_watch_before_a_job_in
Videos: New tech, new ethics
With technical advancement comes great ethical responsibility. In these talks, amazing, life-altering feats of science make us ask: How could we mess this up?
9 talks · Total run time 2:34:04
https://www.ted.com/playlists/329/new_tech_new_morals
Videos: Jaw-dropping science breakthroughs
Revolutionary achievements, important discoveries and astounding leaps of progress that have fundamentally transformed the scientific world.
9 talks · Total run time 2:03:19
https://www.ted.com/playlists/484/jaw_dropping_science_breakthro
IRAI Quiz -- 210621
1. SpaceX: Starlink = Amazon: -------
2. What is known as K8s
3. ---------------- is the selling of previously owned, new or used products, mainly electronic devices or media.
4. --------- is the Indian equivalent of Twitter
5. ----------- becomes the first country to adopt Bitcoin as legal tender.
6. ------------- is the name of the Blog of Bill Gates, co-founder of Microsoft
7. (Google/Tesla) --------- unveils its new supercomputer (supposed to be 5th most powerful in the world) to train self-driving AI
8. One quintillion (1018) floating-point operations per second is known as ---------- (peta/exa) FLOP
9. World Wi-Fi Day is observed on -------
10. B2C: Business to Customer = D2C: -------
Answers at the end
26th Jun 2021 at 6 pm IST. ACM, IEEE CS & CSI.
Webinar on "Surfing the Data Tsunami" by Mr Venkat Krishna, CEO, PQSI Digital. Register at https://bit.ly/3oKVNRY
10th Jul 2021 at 6 pm IST. CSI, ACM & IEEE CS
Book launch and presentation on "Overview and Trends in Software Design Architecture and Engineering"
Speakers: Prof. C.R. Muthukrishnan, Former Dy Director & Prof of CSE, IIT Madras and Prof. Pramod Chandra P. Bhatt, Former Prof at IITK, IITD, IIITB & IISc and the author of the book Register at https://bit.ly/3wn390Y
For PDF invites, presentation & speaker details:
Jun 2021 Events: https://bit.ly/34erAkx
Jul 2021 Events: https://bit.ly/3iJKJ6B
For more events in Jun 2021: https://bit.ly/3bv7IxI
For more events in Jul 2021: https://bit.ly/35FByfN
Answers to IRAI Quiz -- 210621
2. Kubernates
3. Recommerce
4. Koo
5. El Salvador
6. Gates Notes
7. Tesla
8. exa
9. 20th June
10. Direct to Customer
