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  • in Culture
  • 1 min read

Innovation vs. Structure - When Culture Kills Creativity

Does a playful company culture breed innovation while corporate structure stifles it?

Let's examine:

  • BlackBerry: From Fregin's creative "movie nights" to corporate rigidity... and ultimate failure
  • Twitter→X: From user-driven experimentation to Musk's centralized control
  • Apple: Jobs' chaotic creativity vs. Cook's operational excellence

Questions to ponder:

  • Can companies maintain creativity at scale?
  • Is the innovation/structure tradeoff inevitable?
  • What's your experience in different dev cultures?

Everyone and anyone are welcome to join as long as you are kind, supportive, and respectful of others.

BlackBerry phone on stand-by

  • in Culture
  • 1 min read

Does Software Development Change the Way You Think?

As a developer, have you noticed that you approach life differently than "normal" people? After all those years of training and career, do you think differently than how you used to?

In other words, do you approach non-coding problems like code?

Some examples:

  • Breaking problems into parts, like modular code: e.g. you plan a trip by organising flights and hotels like modules.
  • Spotting reusable patterns: e.g. you standardise meeting agendas using templates.
  • Debugging: e.g. you troubleshoot a friend's wifi by methodically working from the edge to the ISP.

Are these shifts unique to coding? Do they make life better or just annoy those around you?

Everyone and anyone are welcome to join as long as you are kind, supportive, and respectful of others.

thinking

  • in Culture
  • 1 min read

Tech Solutions to Global Issues: Always, Sometimes, or Never?

“The trick is not to skate where the puck is, but to skate where the puck is going.” This is Wayne Gretzky quoted in an article from IndustryWired in March 2019. The article highlights our urgent global challenges and advocates for technology as a solution. It presents solutions like:

  • Carbon Capture
  • Grid-Scale Energy Storage
  • Universal Flu Vaccines
  • Earthquake Prediction

What are your views on technology’s role in addressing the big global issues? Does tech offer the most effective approach? Are there negative side-effects to always leaning on tech for solutions to such problems?

Everyone and anyone are welcome to join as long as you are kind, supportive, and respectful of others.

tsunami travel times graph