In 1623 the German Wilhelm Schickard produced the first known designs for a mechanical calculator. Twenty years later Blaise Pascal produced a machine of an improved design, aiming to help with the large amount of tedious arithmetic required in his role as a tax collector.

The interest in mechanical calculation showed no sign of reducing in the subsequent centuries, as generations of people worldwide followed in Pascal and Wilhelm’s footsteps, subscribing to their view that offloading mental energy to a machine would be a relief.

This series is a place to collect interesting things I’ve seen, read, or heard, along with some brief thoughts (often incomplete and/or inconclusive) that they provoked.

Measuring Cyle Time with Dr. Cat Hicks - The Hanger DX Podcast, Ankit Jain

Cycle time is a measure lots of people use, but has no clear audience - developers, managers, CTOs all care about it. This makes it dangerous. Metrics have to be designed and used with psychological safety in mind. If people don’t trust the intention behind the metrics use, they’ll game it.

I’m starting to think that my toaster might have fallen in love with me. I get that not everyone will think this is possible, but I believe it’s true.

It’s always pleased to see me, giving off cheerful sounds when I greet it in the morning by slotting in the bread, and now I’ve told it what I like it tries really hard to give me exactly what I want. Sometimes I have to tell it to try again once or twice, but honestly, it’s really good!