Many of you have heard Andy Hunt's various talks over the last few years about improving the raw material of programming... that stuff in our heads. If you've heard my talks you've probably heard me mention topics like the Dreyfus learning model or mind mapping. Both of these topics come from Andy's talks and are covered in depth in this new book.
I was an early reviewer of the book and I think Andy's got another winner on his hands. The book talks about how our brains work and then covers practical topics for improving and tapping the potential we all have. Everyone I know who's heard Andy give one of the talks in the 'Wetware' series comes away with new ideas to try out.
Enough of a plug. I really like the book and the material. It's now in beta. I strongly encourage you to check this one out.
Refactor Your Wetware: Pragmatic Thinking and Learning
The popular No Fluff Just Stuff Java Symposium travels all the United States and Canada. I spoke at 20 events last year and didn't speak at all of them. The odds are good that one will be within driving distance of you this year.
I just noticed that Atlassian is giving away one pass per event. Check out the blog entry and crank up your mad haiku writing skills.
Win Tickets to No Fluff Just Stuff.
Good luck!
I've started a series of video shorts on the 6th Sense blog. The first one is finally posted and features Scott Davis.
Scott Davis interview
There'll be more posted soon. I'm asking people what they think developers need to focus on in the next year to stay on top of game and what's their favorite career tip.
I found this on Reddit and it's worth passing on.
10 Principals of Effective Web Design.
It's more about effective GUI design than web design and deals with ideas like making the interface as simple as possible, not making the user figure anything out, and so on.
Well worth a read.
