Two Cents and a Thousand Words

If you regularly follow my Twitter stream, you may be confused by what appear to be contradictory tweets about wanting to have uninterrupted periods of time at work and wanting to move off the computer and socialize more. I admit that it is quite confusing, so I thought I’d go into a bit more detail here.

For those of you who don’t know, I’m one half of the “development team” at Sephone. (There are more than two people who do development at the company, but I’m one of the two people who don’t split their time between dev and design.) As the company has grown, more and more people take part in the development process. I have to say, it’s great to see fellow employees learning and growing with their experience. At the same time, though, this inevitably leads to an increase in the number of questions directed at the two of us, both because we have the most dev experience in the company and because we’re fairly well versed in the projects that are currently active.

Development is one of those jobs that requires a lot of concentration. An increase in the number of interruptions and distractions greatly affects the productivity of a developer (and I’m not the only one who believes this). As an informal supervisor of anywhere between five and ten other people with various levels of development knowledge, these interruptions add up quickly. We’ve tried a number of ways to remedy this situation: devoted blocks of time during the day for questions (”office hours”), weekly development meetings, lunch ‘n learn educational sessions.

These communication limitations lead to a pretty noticeable consequence: isolation. Isolation can be wonderful for productivity, but it leads to an atmosphere of untouchability and unapproachability. Due partially to the fact that we’ve been fortunate enough to have a fairly full workload and partially to the limits we’ve attempted to set in place, I haven’t felt as though I’ve been part of the *other* parts of the development process for quite some time. And I’ll openly admit that I really miss that interaction with the other people in the company.

Over the past couple of days I’ve been discussing some options for the future with my co-workers over lunch. We’re going to have a few new interns once we move to our new office in a couple of weeks, and we wanted to do some preemptive brainstorming to discover ways that we could maintain some amount of productivity while still having a relaxed, friendly, and sociable environment between employees. Here are some of our ideas.

• Use the tools. Over the past couple of years, we’ve really made great progress in our internal documentation for projects. Many of the questions a developer or intern may have about a project are answered in the project’s documentation page or in our past task records. The first lifeline should always be the documentation we already have (as well as a simple Google search for pure development questions).
• Schedule it. It’s difficult to change gears. For some questions, though, an immediate answer isn’t necessary. Saving questions until less active parts of the workday (ie, first thing in the morning or right after lunch) goes a long way to increase productivity.
• Work from home. Working from home can be a great option, especially with larger projects. We trade off out-of-the-office days and find that productivity often rockets through the roof on these days.
• Always be available. While it may decrease productivity, it’s very important to have an environment in which everyone is approachable if necessary. Co-workers should be respectful, though, of any requests to come back at a more convenient time.

It’s important to me to be productive yet sociable; in fact, most of my best experiences at Sephone have been while interacting and brainstorming with other employees. How have you tackled the interruption versus socialization conundrum where you work?

As you may have noticed, this blog - justinrussell.com/blog - has sort of become the odd man out as far as my online presence is concerned. With all the other services in the landscape today, specialized blogs like Another New World and the Pine Tree Photography blog, and especially with the advent of Twitter and my own Twitter account, I don’t feel the need to have a personal blog to the extent that I did two or five years ago.

Here’s the kicker: I love to write. I feel like I haven’t been writing as much as I want lately. Sure, some of my thoughts fit nicely into 140-character tweets, and others fit in well over at ANW or PTP. But to be honest, I’m a lot more complex than that.

I’ve decided that my goal for this blog will be as a catch-all to everything that doesn’t fit anywhere else. Yes, that’s sort of a vague guideline, but if you look at my Twitterstream, that’s pretty random as well. This blog will turn into a collection of thoughts that just don’t fit into 140 characters. (And be forewarned: some of these posts are going to be long. I like to write, dammit, and that’s what I intend to do.)

I know that I’m pretty spread out across the web, so I want to make it easy for you to stay on top of the posts here even if you don’t subscribe to this blog individually. The posts here will be shown on justinrussell.com home, of course, and they’ll also be syndicated at on my Facebook profile. I’ll also put links in my Twitterstream to the posts I think are most notable (or those for which I want feedback). And maybe - if we’re lucky - this site will get a bit of a theme upgrade, too.

With all the URL shortener opinions lately, there’s been a lot of discussion of the usefulness of these services. Do they degrade the value of links and the Internet? Do they destroy usability? Will they cause an LHC-style black hole? What’s a Twitter-loving guy to do?

Build your own, of course.

Today I’m introducing jusr.us, the newest and only officially-sanctioned Justin Russell URL shortener. (Officially-sanctioned means that I’ll be the only one creating jusr.us URLs.)

Check out some of the best links ever!

• jusr.us/bcb4s - BarCampBoston4 sessions this weekend
• jusr.us/jr - the new justinrussell.com
• jusr.us/aB - Molly plays “MyHope”

Is there any real use in doing something like this? On the technical side of things, sure, there are a few advantages. But really, it’s just a reminder that we live and work in a great space on the web and have to remember to have fun every once in a while.

Back in the summer of 1999, “JRuss2001’s Home Page” was put online for the first time. The site featured a directory of calculator programs, song parodies, web site suggestions (including AltaVista as the best search engine), and a recommendation to use MSIE 5.

Eight redesigns and almost ten years later, I’m now publishing the newest revision of justinrussell.com. Given that the focus of the web has moved away from personal home pages to social web services, this new version serves as a launch point into these external sites and provides a listing of the latest content and favorites I’ve gathered on those sites. (Think of it as Collage 2.0.)

This is my first home page redesign in over two years, and I’ve had some help with this one. After inviting comments and feedback on Twitter, a bunch of people - including Caitlin, Lyndsy, Gary, Amy, and Hans - helped me work out some bugs and spruce the site up a bit. It’s still a work in progress, but it’s my favorite home page revision to date.

Now it’s off to BarCampBoston!

On Saturday I headed down to Manchester, NH, to attend BarCampManchester3. There were a ton of great conversations going on, and as always, I really enjoyed the low-key atmosphere that a BarCamp provides. The new venue at UNH Manchester was amazing, and I think we have a great home for BarCampManchester going forward.

This year, I really felt as though I could relate with the other developers there. (I’ll be honest: in the past, I’ve felt as though the Maine development community lagged behind the communities in New Hampshire and Massachusetts. This year it seemed more on par.) There was a ton of great discussion about project management, agile development, client communication, and more.

I brought along my nifty Flip camera and recorded three sessions. Each is approximately 45 minutes long.

It was great to meet everyone at BCM! Hope to see you all again next time around.

It happens to be Halloween. It also just so happens to be the day I introduced a new, secret project I’ve been working on to my co-workers at Sephone.

Do the geeks see where this is going?

Thanks to a $6 clothing and $3 eyewear sale at Ocean State Job Lot last night, it just seemed appropriate.

The geeks will get it.

In an effort to appease my always-multitasking mind, I’m going to start a new bunch of post categories on Two Cents and a Thousand Words.

The first new category is called “On the issues,” and its roots are in last month’s post about debate versus attacks and everything in between. Long-time followers of TCaaTW know that I don’t often go political on my blog, but recent followers of my Twitter stream will attest to the fact that I’ve gone there lately.

Because our leaders-to-be are letting us down in the arena of actual issues, I realized the only way to have a true discussion about the issues is to start with some opinions that are close to my heart: my own. (In retrospect “discussion” would have been a better term than “debate” in the aforementioned September politics post.) I’ll choose an issue, lay out my beliefs and what has led me to where I stand, and ask for comments. There are a few ground rules:

1. I don’t envision ever running for elected office.
2. I’ll sometimes admit that there are things I don’t know. I’m ok with that.
3. If you disagree, tell me why.
4. I will listen to good arguments, and they may influence my position on issues.
5. I may post revised versions if my stance changes enough.

This idea was inspired by Barack Obama’s Policy Issues site and several individuals who will be quoted in future posts. (Whether you agree or disagree with Obama’s policies, the Web portion of his campaign is truly inspiring.)

I’ll keep a running list of topics at the bottom of this post as I add new ones.

If you’ve been tolerating my politics-laden Twitter feed or Collage lately, you know I launched a new version of my Pine Tree Photography site last weekend. What’s the change? It’s pretty simple. You can now buy my photos.

Here’s how it works. There are no real visual design changes to the site; the only difference is that when you reach a photo page, you’ll now have the option to add matted or unmatted prints to a cart. View your cart, enter your shipping info, pay at PayPal, receive prints in a week or two. It’s that easy.

As I’ve said before, photography is a passion for me, and I don’t think I’d ever want to have it be my sole occupation. If I can make some money on the side doing what I love to do, though, I’m not going to limit myself. I do love photography, and I love matting (and the whole shipping process) just as much. If you know of anyone who would be interested in some Maine prints, have them browse around the site.

Because I love you all so much, though, I’m not stopping there. I also launched the Pine Tree Photography Stock Collection. While the gallery at the print site of PTP is pretty limited to my favorite shots, I’ve opened up the doors to more photos that might be useful in projects of all types. Again, the process is pretty easy for this. Find a photo you like, pay at PayPal (starting at $30, depending on the size of the download), instantly receive an e-mail with download links to the photos you’ve purchased, use them for just about anything (websites, note cards, flyers…). That’s the stock side of things, and we’re (I’m) all really excited about it.

Also, the photoblog formerly known as photoblog.justinrussell.com has moved to blog.pinetreephotography.com. Same great posts, new great address.

My next project is reviving this blog. More on that in a bit.

I’m often called quiet, reserved, or introverted. As my close friends will tell you, though, there’s nothing I enjoy more than an honest debate. I like trying to understand why people stand by their convictions, their opinions, and their outlook on life. Almost any topic is fair game with me.

Well, with just over fifty days to go until Election Day, we’ve hit the bottom. I’ve been trying to stay up-to-date with the latest political news, but a lot of it just angers me. Every four years it seems the two months that could be most beneficial to America (and possibly the world) are squandered in the face of distortions, chatter, and scandal.

I’ve been trying to come up with an understandable way to express how I feel about the “game” of politics, as Obama put it during a recent event in Virginia. Here’s my view:

A campaign - or any political discussion, for that matter - can begin at any of these levels and move up and down at will. Let’s look at each level individually.

Attacks & Mistruths: When a person “hates politics,” this is usually what they mean. This level can include out-of-context quotes, innuendo, or outright lies.

Generalities & Emotion: Perhaps the broadest category, this level includes everything from emotional appeals to the use of commonly held beliefs. Often, though, these have little or no backing with actual policies or plans. You’ve heard them all in this election, and they’ve played a key role: hope, change, “country first,” “yes we can,” and so many more. Although the use of these sorts of strategies is better than using attacks and mistruths, they still do not help voters, supporters, or opponents decide rationally.

Facts: Candidates can use facts to support their arguments. Facts can include voting history, personal values, and statistics. Facts must be used with great care, however; misleading statistics fall under mistruths.

Debate: The pinnacle of politics is debate, when two sides come together to discuss their differences in search of the optimal solution to a problem. This is the most inspiring part of politics. Unfortunately, it’s usually the least-used as well.

If debate is the most promising part of politics, why isn’t it used more often? It’s pretty simple; it’s not sexy. Emotional issues of all types create more tension and more fodder for news coverage. When was the last time you saw an outline of opposing views on immigration in a news program or TV ad? (As a side note, this is one reason I enjoyed The West Wing so much as a television show. Though the primary objectives of the show were drama and character development, there was a good amount of discussion and debate about real-life issues in every episode.)

Good, honest debate truly does inspire me. There are many wonderfully intelligent people in the worlds who share different yet perfectly valid views on topics ranging from abortion to gay rights to the environment and climate change. It just doesn’t seem to happen in the months leading up to elections.

What do you think? Did I leave anything out? What advantages are there for a candidate to use less emotional and more rational tactics in a campaign or discussion?