Doing the Same Thing Over and Over Again and Expecting Different Results

Posted on by Rob Larsen

Here I am taking a shot at shorter form writing. Watch me write!

The biggest job/career related error I made this past year was going against my own policy and talking to a company I had a bad feeling about from the beginning. I’ve actually known about this company for a long time and think poorly of them. The thing is, a recruiter came along and told me how much they were paying for a high profile role they were trying to source. That number was higher than the honestly very high number I have in my head to go work for someone else at this point. So, against my better judgment and against my own stated policy of not talking to people unless I’m sure the company will be a good fit, I talked to them.

I’m a dumb-ass.

The one part of the conversation that sticks with me is the “big” question in the interview. Apparently, they’ve got a lot of separate development teams who have worked in multiple versions of Angular on different components that have to play nice together on the same page. As you can imagine that has caused problems. Apparently, they’re also kicking off some development using React. With that cluster in mind, they asked, how would I help solve the issues they were having with all these interoperability concerns at an architectural level.

My answer was simple. I said, “Stop doing that. Don’t use React and standardize on one Angular version.”

I could hear the frustration in the interviewer’s voice as he said, “that’s not really an option” as if pointing out the obvious solution to their self-inflicted problem was an insult to him personally. I could tell he wanted to hear some hair-brained technical solution (“I know we’ll write REACTANGULAR and it will normalize across all Angular versions”) that would rescue them from a disaster of their own making, without having to do hard work. He lead me down that path a little with some follow-up questions. The thing is, that’s precisely the kind of bullshit is never going to come out of my mouth. I wasn’t going to blow smoke up his ass just so that he can ignore the obvious solution. To me, when you’re doing something so fundamentally wrong, the best solution is to bite the bullet and do something fundamentally right to counteract it.

How they thought introducing an entire second library to the mix was a good idea is something that will forever confound me. They’ve already identified this as a problem and they’re willingly making it more complex. That’s insanity.

Suffice it to say, they didn’t like me for the role.

So many companies are obsessed with being on latest and greatest libraries and frameworks. If, like this company, you want to be a great engineering organization you should focus on doing great work. If you’re architecture is a patchwork monster it doesn’t matter if you’ve got the new and shiny. You’ve just got a new and shiny patchwork monster.

Palatino Consulting, One Year In

Posted on by Rob Larsen

While I’ve been consulting independently for slightly more than a year, I’ve been doing so under the Palatino Consulting banner for exactly one year, this week.

It’s been going pretty well, thanks for asking.

I’m at the point now where I’m starting to think about whether or not I want to expand this business to include more than just me. The opportunity is there (and has been since day one, to be honest), I’m just not sure if that’s the way I want to go. I like my simple life right now, but I do miss having a team to work with so I’m tempted to start to expand. Maybe, like the founding of the business itself, I’ll be forced into a decision one way or another by some circumstance. At least in this case it will be positive (some opportunity I can’t pass up) rather than negative (getting laid off.)

The one downside to the success is that I’ve had a hard time finding time to write . Which is fine on a lot of levels as I like what I’m doing and working for myself makes even the longest week a lot more satisfying. This is especially true because, unlike many people putting in 60 hour weeks, I get paid for every minute of my time.

Fireworks
Fireworks by Flickr user maf04

Still, I’d like to share more here as a lot of what I talk about in the book is still going strong, but I’ve found it hard to get into the flow of writing again after 3 or so years writing books back-to-back. We’ll see how it goes. I may try to take some baby steps with short pieces and see if the habit sticks.

If not, remember- I’ve still got the web’s back.

Current Status: For Hire

Posted on by Rob Larsen

My current long-term consulting gig is ending at the end of June and, being a fan of managing uncertainty (did you see how I did that?) I’m trying to line something up for the summer sooner rather than later. I’m sure I’ll find something (I’ve got recruiters knocking down my door), but I’m also interested in finding something that will be fun and/or challenging so I’m making a concerted effort to let the world know.

If you’re interested you can check out the small site for my consulting business

I’m on LinkedIn

View Rob Larsen's LinkedIn profileView Rob Larsen’s profile

This is what I do

  • Front End Architecture
  • Training
  • Front end development, with a focus on the following:
    • General JavaScript and jQuery development
    • AngularJS applications and components
    • RWD (Responsive web design) development
    • Mobile web sites and applications
    • Web performance consulting
    • Pixel perfect CSS layouts
  • Process and standards development

Drop me a line if you’re interested

Google Chrome Reverses Course- Will Implement Pointer Events

Posted on by Rob Larsen

This is great news. One of the worst chapters from a standards perspective in The Uncertain Web was on user input. At the time I wrote the chapter, I had a relatively positive tone. The flow of the chapter led to a discussion of Pointer Events and how, with support in IE and intended implementation in both Firefox and Chrome, we were on the cusp of having a sane way to deal with user input across devices and form factors.

Then it all went to hell.

Here’s what I wrote in the book:

As you’ve read in the chapter on user input, the Pointer Events specification, proposed by Microsoft, favored by Firefox and adopted by the W3C, is up in the air because Chrome isn’t sure whether or not they are going to support it. This was announced after I finished the chapter on user input. I found out via Twitter that Chrome was going to pull planned support for Pointer Events and felt about as deflated as I’ve ever felt about a web standards topic. For one thing, I like Pointer Events. I’m not sharing them as the way of the future just to be hip and share the new stuff. I really like them. Secondly, Google’s proposed alternative, “incrementally extending our existing input APIs” doesn’t really offer much of a salve to the wound of two wasted years looking for this specification to get off the ground and into browsers.

Maybe, like the door on +picture+ being reopened and bursting through to get into the specification, the already specified Pointer Events’ work will come back from the dead and make it into Chrome and the rest of modern browsers. The Chrome team are listening to feedback, so hopefully that’s just what’s going to happen.

We shall see.

Here’s what I wrote when Chrome announced the changed status of the original intent to implement:

I’ve already had to rewrite a book chapter on input on the web because of Chrome dropping support for Pointer Events (you were the good guys- along with IE you form an 800lb gorilla) to be a lot more bleak (now Chrome is the bad guys and we don’t have any solution on the horizon.) Nothing would please me more than to revert to the original take on that chapter.

I also don’t want to pin my hopes on this issue getting sorted out on the vague promise of “extensions” to the existing screwed up mess. What guarantee do we have that Apple will be any more interested in “extensions.” Will Chrome’s BFFs on the IE team be interested in “extensions?” If we’re looking at incremental extensions as the solution (with no more details than that,) I will be retired, drinking coffee at Sant’Eustachio Il Caffè and struggling my way through La Gazzetta dello Sport before the issue of user input on the modern web is sorted out in a way that benefits developers and end users. Smart people are doing stupid things with this stuff because it’s a complicated issue. Browser vendors and the W3C have to lead on this and sort it out from up on high because the bottom up approach isn’t working right now.

Thankfully, the Chrome team listened to reason (and a flood of negative feedback for their decision) and have reversed course.

Now we just need to get the new jQuery-driven version of the Pointer Events polyfill project ready for prime time and we’ll be all set.

As an aside, if there’s one good thing that came out of Chrome’s decision is that they Polymer team deprecated the Pointer Events Polyfill and passed the codebase over to jQuery. The Polymer version of the polyfill had a high barrier to entry to even get to use. I just linked to a version in my own code repo for the book because I hated the idea of forcing people to go through a multiple-dependency, poorly documented rigmarole just to “install” the polyfill. The jQuery team will, eventually, have a handy download link right on the site- like a normal project.

Navigating the Uncertain Web

Posted on by Rob Larsen

The current talk I’m giving distills the second chapter of The Uncertain Web into 45 or so minutes (I’ve got the powerpoint on Github if you’re interested.)

As I continue to discuss topics relating to the book here on the blog, I thought it would be useful to outline the core concepts of that chapter in an even shorter format so that even if you haven’t read the book (and you should really read the book- it’s great) or haven’t had the good fortune to see me speak you have some sense of what I’m talking about as an approach to tame the web’s uncertainty.

Here are the basic ideas.

Don’t Blame the Web for Being the Web
The web is a diverse place that’s getting more diverse every single day.

If you accept the web’s diversity (and maybe even celebrate it) and you find yourself getting angry about one thing (maybe Internet Explorer 8) or another (the stock Android Browser) just take a minute to remind yourself that this is just the way the web is.

Repeat after me: This is just the way the web is.

Since there’s competition in the browser space, there’s always going to be a bad browser. When the current bad browser goes away a new one takes it’s place at the bottom of the pile. You just have to accept that and move on with your life.

Identify and Embrace Your Audience
You would think this second general concept would go without saying, but…. You really need to identify and embrace your audience

Do you know who your audience is? You’d be surprised how many clients I’ve had who couldn’t answer this very well at all.

While you can look at web-scale statistics for browser and operating system market share to get some idea of where things are, the only metrics that truly matter are those for your specific audience.

Test and Pray for the Best
This third general concept used to be much easier. Nowadays we’ve got to test in as many devices as we can and then pray for the best in the ones we don’t have direct experience with.

Once you’ve identified your audience, where they are and what they’re using it’s time to define the technical demographics you’re going to target with testing and active support.

You’re never going to test everything. The days of testing 95% of the web with one PC running IE6 and toggling between two screen resolutions are long gone. Test with as many real devices as you can and have a plan for what broad range of devices and operating systems you’re going to support. “Android” isn’t good enough. “Android 2.3 and up” is better and saying you’re going to dig up a Moto X means you’ve got your full game face on.

Focus on Optimal, Not Absolute Solutions
This concept has been with me for many years. My prime example is the many arguments I’ve had against putting in the extra effort to add rounded corners in older IE.

These days you need to focus on optimal, not absolute solutions.

Your site is not an absolute thing. The best possible site you can have will be the best possible site for everyone that visits it. If that means it’s a high DPI, 25MB monstrosity for a guy on a MacBook air in a coffee shop in Palo Alto or just a logo and an unordered list for someone on a-rented-by-the-minute phone in Lagos, then that’s the way it is.

People are used to sites looking different on different devices so take advantage of it and provide them with the best possible experience for their particular setup.

Embrace Accessibility
This concept is unfortunately something I have to call out, but people don’t focus enough on accessibility for the pure sake of it, so here we are.

On the modern web we need to embrace accessibility.

If your site is accessible you’re guaranteeing that you’ll be able to reach the largest possible audience.

You’re also doing the right thing.

I can’t stress that enough. You should be doing this anyway.

Lose Your Technology Biases
This general concept is one that drives me particularly nuts.

You’ve got to lose your technology biases.

Tech folks generally have great hardware and new, high powered smart phones and tablets. Most other people in the world don’t. Tech folks tend to forget that.

Not everyone has a fast machine. Test on crummy hardware and crummy phones.

Not everyone is on a Mac. In fact, the vast majority of people on the desktop are still running Windows, no matter what it looks like at conferences. Test on Windows and test in IE.

Not everyone is on an iPhone. Don’t design your experiences around iOS.

Embrace Empathy
This concept runs through much of what we’ve already discussed, but I still like to call it out. We need to embrace empathy.

Don’t blind yourself to what your audience actually is by assuming that they are just like you.

They’re not. Your average experience at work, at home or on your phone is almost certainly an optimal view of your site. You’re an expert at using the web. Make sure you look at it, really look at it, in every scenario you can muster. Sure, we’re all guilty of demoing code under the best possible circumstances. That’s natural. The thing is, that demo is the ideal vision of your site run by an expert. The thing you’re actually building, the down and dirty version, is for people with a completely different relationship with technology than yours.

Try to get in their shoes instead of assuming everyone else is in yours.

Lose Your Stack Biases
This is a new pet peeve that has cropped up over the past couple of years.

Lose your stack biases.

Your users don’t care if your stack is clever. What they care about is the speed, usability, look and feel, interactivity and features of your site. If your stack isn’t adding to one of those then you might be going down the road to stack obsession.

This is the foundation of what I’m talking about these days. This is all covered in much greater detail in the book and in my talks, but the overall gist is here. Now that I’ve gotten this out of the way I’ll get back to diving into the continuing evolution of the web and what we can do about it to make it the best web it can be.