Reader's Corner No.11: NPM as a Build Tool, Great Work Environment, Process, and Project Management Mistakes to Avoid

  1. In the technical world, things are constantly changing. Because of this, our team members consistently seek ways to stay up to date. This week we address the following topics: using npm as a build tool, creating a great work environment, process, and project management mistakes to avoid.

How to Use npm as a Build Tool

David Gouch

Source: Keith Cirkel

Takeaway: A detailed explanation of the script running features already built in to npm — features many don't know exist when they reach add Grunt/Gulp dependencies.

 

Tags: #BuildTools, #TaskRunners

 


Gabe Newell's AMA on Reddit

Jay Roberts

Source: Reddit

Takeaway: When asked about why Valve often keeps quiet about their development plans, Gabe responded: "That’s right. Another way to think about this, and the way we talk about this internally, is that we prefer to communicate through our products. We are all pretty devoted to reading and listening to the community - everyone here believes it is an integral part of their job to do so. And when it comes time to respond, we generally use Steam - shipping updates that address issues or add functionality. Obviously this doesn't work for everything. Working this way imposes latency on our communication - it takes longer to ship and update than to do a blog post.

This can lead to the feeling of an echo chamber, where it seems like Valve isn't listening. We’re always listening. So sometimes the latency is rough for everyone, including us when we want to address issues quickly. On balance we think it's usually worth the trade-off." That focus on communicating via shipping code is a useful concept for a lot of our internal processes. We spend a lot of time talking about ways to do things but we make the most progress most quickly when we actually implement something and iterate on it.

Tags: #Process


ADA Title III Lawsuits Increase by 37 Percent in 2016

David Minton

Source: ADA Title III

Takeaway: There was a surge in ADA Title III lawsuits in 2016 to over 6,000 federal court filings. Of these lawsuits, more than 250 were related to allegedly inaccessible websites and/or mobile apps. Of note, ten individuals filed over one hundred suits.

Tags: #Accessibility, #InternetLaw


5 Mistakes Every Project Manager Should Avoid

Michael Nicholson

Source: A Girl's Guide to Project Management

Takeaway: While there are a large number of possible mistakes to make when managing a project, five specific ones are identified and discussed here. Forgetting the team (more specifically, forgetting team members), Lack of Communication, Being a Robot (and not communicating or understanding with empathy), Prioritizing Budget over Quality, and Failing to Understand Effort are all ways to derail what could otherwise be a successful project.

Tags: #ProjectManagement


What Really Makes a Great Place to Work

Jeanette Larsen

Source: Adobe Blogs

Takeaway: “While benefits are great, a company that recognizes the fact that people have different needs and supports them to the fullest extent possible is what really makes a great place to work.”

 

Tags: #Community, #Flexibility

 


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