Post ASAzeIOdFbXj0UrKRk by ak@mastodon.social
(DIR) More posts by ak@mastodon.social
(DIR) Post #ASAtDLONP9EakrVMTA by simon@fedi.simonwillison.net
2023-01-30T16:45:27Z
0 likes, 3 repeats
Here's an organizational hack I've used a few times which I think more people should try: run your own personal engineering blog inside your organizationYou can use it as a place to write about projects you are working on, share TILs about how things work internally, and occasionally informally advocate for larger changes you'd like to makeCrucially: don't ask for permission to do this! Find some existing system you can cram it into and just start writing
(DIR) Post #ASAtPHWRcPNoEAyFma by simon@fedi.simonwillison.net
2023-01-30T16:47:13Z
0 likes, 0 repeats
Systems I've used for this include:- a Slack channel, where you post long messages, maybe using the Slqck "posts" feature- Confluence has a blog feature which isn't great but it's definitely Good Enough- A GitHub repo within your organization works fine too, you can write content there in Markdown files
(DIR) Post #ASAtkBnG74tSXcnyvA by tk@social.apreslanu.it
2023-01-30T16:50:43Z
0 likes, 0 repeats
@simon Notion is an easy target for that matter.
(DIR) Post #ASAu6p0uyQSQYGzCUq by simon@fedi.simonwillison.net
2023-01-30T16:51:12Z
0 likes, 0 repeats
A couple of years ago I did this while I was working for VaccinateCA (the non-profit that was gathering and publishing information about where to get Covid vaccines in California in the early days of availability)After that organization wrapped up I imported my content from the private GitHub wiki onto my regular blog. You can check that out here (I redacted a few small details): https://simonwillison.net/series/vaccinateca/
(DIR) Post #ASAuM4YxReBl7VBEFk by witewulf@mastodonapp.uk
2023-01-30T16:53:17Z
0 likes, 0 repeats
@simon I tried to do this and was stumped by a) trying to write about stuff that was potentially sensitive, and b) not being able to restrict access to it unless I used an internal tool 🤔
(DIR) Post #ASAuaSSlNjFDIb8sRE by simon@fedi.simonwillison.net
2023-01-30T16:53:53Z
0 likes, 0 repeats
One thing to consider with this: if you want your content to live in after you leave the organization (I certainly do) it's a good idea to pick a platform for it that's not likely to vanish in a puff of smoke when the IT team shuts down your organizational accountsThat's one of the things I like about Confluence, Slack and private GitHub repos for this
(DIR) Post #ASAuaXbSGqATF0FOBE by simon@fedi.simonwillison.net
2023-01-30T16:58:49Z
0 likes, 0 repeats
The most liberating thing about having a personal internal blog is that it gives you somewhere to drop informal system documentation, without making a commitment to keep it updated in the futureUnlike out-of-date official documentation there's no harm caused by a clearly dated blog post from two years ago that describes how the system worked at that point in time
(DIR) Post #ASAuos7OnBM0vE1RFw by tedivm@hachyderm.io
2023-01-30T16:53:54Z
0 likes, 0 repeats
@simon this reminds me of when I was at Malwarebytes and launched an internal wordpress blog just for engineering updates
(DIR) Post #ASAv1ZR7YvkekIInlA by simon@fedi.simonwillison.net
2023-01-30T16:54:55Z
0 likes, 0 repeats
@witewulf yeah that's why platform selection is important: you want something like Slack or Confluence that already has access control if tu red out, and that's already been implicitly approved by the organization
(DIR) Post #ASAw0QyDeb4s9Xo0fo by rockylhotka@fosstodon.org
2023-01-30T17:06:25Z
0 likes, 0 repeats
@simon Good suggestion! Nearly every org has M365 and/or Google suite, and both have internal blogging features built in.
(DIR) Post #ASAwDhlaW6zC0hE2kK by numist@xoxo.zone
2023-01-30T17:07:03Z
0 likes, 0 repeats
@simon If anything, putting a clear date on internal docs is the most honest thing you can do when writing them!
(DIR) Post #ASAwROy1D4OFl6ZSUa by m750@better.boston
2023-01-30T17:10:38Z
0 likes, 0 repeats
@simon during my current work transition, my boss asked about my content. Oh, that's all in the shared space confluence section. The entire team can see/ edit own it going forward. Proud of this enablement
(DIR) Post #ASAxbqA13lScwpixCS by phillmv@hachyderm.io
2023-01-30T17:34:14Z
0 likes, 0 repeats
@simon i’ve been aggressively training coworkers to dump docs into our team repos & can attest to their greater longevity vs more ephemeral or harder to search platforms where information goes to die (*cough*googledocs*cough*)
(DIR) Post #ASAzObkzV6HwQ4pwi8 by 22@octodon.social
2023-01-30T17:54:05Z
0 likes, 0 repeats
@simon it’s truly inspiring to see your prodigious devotion to in-the-moment documentation, I love it! I’m maybe 95th percentile when it comes to post hoc documentation (once the project is done) but I do notice I’m very median when it comes to day/week-cadence writing (like your TILs and weekly release notes), and I’m now fired up to try more regular writing, and not on social media, as easy as that is.
(DIR) Post #ASAzeIOdFbXj0UrKRk by ak@mastodon.social
2023-01-30T17:55:36Z
0 likes, 0 repeats
@simon My old manager used to do this for our team. It was very helpful to keep people informed on our progress and raise visibility for our efforts.
(DIR) Post #ASAzwPsEBlU3PULJzM by czottmann@norden.social
2023-01-30T17:56:34Z
0 likes, 0 repeats
@simon Didn't you do this back at Y!, or is my memory playing tricks on me?
(DIR) Post #ASB0Qc4LPXU9vAPQm0 by bc3tech@hachyderm.io
2023-01-30T18:01:10Z
0 likes, 0 repeats
@simon The last time I did this, I was nearly fired because - on the INTERNAL SHAREPOINT - i started a blog and one of my posts was which #s from your badge you can punch into the keypad next to the reader if you, say, forgot it.Scolded for "exposing a security hole" 😳
(DIR) Post #ASB0gnonUlbmzgrBvk by ben@werd.social
2023-01-30T18:02:43Z
0 likes, 0 repeats
@simon YES! I do this too, and I second the "don't ask permission, just use an existing channel" approach. Not everyone will read it, by any means, but it's super-useful for the people who will.
(DIR) Post #ASB0zJaI827uj8tohc by simon@fedi.simonwillison.net
2023-01-30T18:04:43Z
0 likes, 0 repeats
@czottmann I genuinely can't remember if I did or not! Not sure what platform I would have used there for it, but that was more than 15 years ago now
(DIR) Post #ASB1CgGn606aqj9Rtw by dalias@hachyderm.io
2023-01-30T18:05:13Z
0 likes, 0 repeats
@simon This parallels why I prefer detailed commit messages over comments or docs. They're temporally/sequentially linked to the state of the project & change they go with, and don't require maintenance themselves.
(DIR) Post #ASB1Q0zLNMXQs6Lh1U by thisismissem@hachyderm.io
2023-01-30T18:07:25Z
0 likes, 0 repeats
@simon the only thing I will note is that doing this requires having the time to write and do that knowledge sharing.
(DIR) Post #ASB1criDAzOhrlSlTE by simon@fedi.simonwillison.net
2023-01-30T18:07:41Z
0 likes, 0 repeats
@dalias yeah i had a period of time where I would write essays in my commit messages - then a friend suggested that I was effectively writing documentation so I should instead put that in the repo itself as a documentation update that was captured in the same commit as the changeI also started leaning much harder on links to a related issue thread, see https://simonwillison.net/2022/Oct/29/the-perfect-commit/
(DIR) Post #ASB1ndTmQwleuRqfia by simon@fedi.simonwillison.net
2023-01-30T18:09:25Z
0 likes, 0 repeats
@thisismissem that's true - I'm a staff-plus level engineer so I tend to end up in roles where I have enough autonomy to carve out time for this kind of thingI do find that as you practice at it though you can get /really/ fast - I can often write up a TIL post in 5-10 minutes now
(DIR) Post #ASB251cZvaKmhuFv60 by dan613@mstdn.ca
2023-01-30T18:17:18Z
0 likes, 0 repeats
@simon When I was at Nortel (RIP) we had a searchable library anyone could publish documents to. IIRC we could share links to the documents. It was for generally useful things like internal templates, tools, data, etc. It might not be perfect for what you describe since I don’t think it had an update capability, but this type of repository is certainly useful.
(DIR) Post #ASB2I7aB4itExbNT5U by manas@mstdn.ca
2023-01-30T18:22:23Z
0 likes, 0 repeats
@simon @josh I used to keep a daily, public log of all of my activities at work. I don't know if anyone bothered to look at any of it, but it helped me to stay organized and aware of tasks/projects I was working on and the challenges that came up. Incidentally, it is also beneficial for the team should I get run over by a bus, or should the colleagues there decide to dump a load of trauma upon me :)
(DIR) Post #ASB3R9E8Qk2OcYw39s by theotherlinh@hachyderm.io
2023-01-30T18:39:24Z
0 likes, 0 repeats
@simon @film_girl I literally have this as a topic to talk to with my team. Hadn’t considered a blog but now I just want to spin up a quick Hugo site for this.
(DIR) Post #ASB5at7nLvvZU7k4Ui by mjibrower@mastodon.social
2023-01-30T19:03:53Z
0 likes, 0 repeats
@simon 💯 for not asking permission.
(DIR) Post #ASB6aAI68yT6OCmRUG by AndrewO@rls.social
2023-01-30T19:13:29Z
0 likes, 0 repeats
@simon There are times when I think my most lasting effect on the Fortune 100 I just left may be all of the posts I left on Confluence about how to install the corp SSL certs and setups the right proxy variables for all kinds of not entirely supported languages and package managers. 🙃
(DIR) Post #ASB8TSOwbwq8RHualU by codinghorror@infosec.exchange
2023-01-30T19:35:52Z
0 likes, 0 repeats
@simon preach brother! that's exactly what we try to evangelized at https://discourse.org -- your data, your code, everything belongs to you
(DIR) Post #ASB8iVmyIZQpHzKSFU by codinghorror@infosec.exchange
2023-01-30T19:36:27Z
0 likes, 0 repeats
@simon within Discourse, send a PM to yourself. Similar patterns in other systems, it's not special to us.
(DIR) Post #ASB8vQ66lo5LP0R292 by czottmann@norden.social
2023-01-30T19:37:15Z
0 likes, 0 repeats
@simon We're old LOL 🤷🏼♂️
(DIR) Post #ASBADDrf5gXod3jMa8 by ketmorco@fosstodon.org
2023-01-30T19:55:55Z
0 likes, 0 repeats
@simon the best way I've found is just use Git.Push to an internal gitlab/hub whatever if you want to get fancy MD rendering.
(DIR) Post #ASBB2YoswIbeOBuafI by vatine@mendeddrum.org
2023-01-30T20:04:58Z
0 likes, 0 repeats
@simon I am slowly expanding my collection of "well, I might as well rant about it here" things on scaling computery things, managing configurations, and other things that catch my fancy, on github. Your (fsvo "you") org probably has version control too.
(DIR) Post #ASBBGoNps2E6iI3TEW by geewee@fosstodon.org
2023-01-30T20:06:34Z
0 likes, 0 repeats
@simon This is good advice. I often write articles if I'm tired of having the same debate or I have some points I'd like to dwell a bit more on!
(DIR) Post #ASBBSJUuWsXQOhqgka by fanf@mendeddrum.org
2023-01-30T20:08:07Z
0 likes, 0 repeats
@simon yeah i like having a work blog - mostly using my personal blog at the moment (work is open source)i am not entirely sure how much longer my old work blog will last, the ssg is peculiar … https://www.dns.cam.ac.uk/news/all-toc.html
(DIR) Post #ASBDikEJ6hntqc2sCm by kstewart@hachyderm.io
2023-01-30T20:35:04Z
0 likes, 0 repeats
@simon @anildash I’ve been using the updated GitHub Discussions for this. Works great! 💯
(DIR) Post #ASBGFg4TmzL2PmHPkW by hapax@scripted.social
2023-01-30T21:03:10Z
0 likes, 0 repeats
@simon this is such a great idea!! I kinda already do this with private notes in Notion, now gotta move them to somewhere publicly accessible in our Notion space!
(DIR) Post #ASBHbEyFKRoOgmD5pw by bradsiefert@mas.to
2023-01-30T21:16:15Z
0 likes, 0 repeats
@simon This is so so smart. Thanks for sharing.
(DIR) Post #ASBJTHA1VDmV4Z34yG by mdm@mcnamarii.town
2023-01-30T21:23:45Z
0 likes, 0 repeats
@simon "Find some existing system you can cram it into and just start writing"Commit comments. You got it. Already doing it.
(DIR) Post #ASBKCmw6D1QUeaEo3k by simon@fedi.simonwillison.net
2023-01-30T21:29:24Z
0 likes, 0 repeats
@mdm I love commit messages, but I don't think they're quite the right venue for a lot of this kind of material:- They should stay relative to the commit at hand - so not the best place for a rambling essay that touches on other topics- They're not great for discoverability: engineers may see them in "blame", but product managers and designers are very unlikely to ever run into them- You can't include screenshots in them! I love peppering my internal blog content with screenshots of things
(DIR) Post #ASBLdDLqihKg3wRmHw by tiagoafpereira@mastodon.social
2023-01-30T21:44:03Z
0 likes, 0 repeats
@simon I’ve been doing that for a few years now using a combination of VimWiki and a private GitLab repo. The format is very close to this: https://nesslabs.com/interstitial-journaling. At my company I decided to create an internal development blog. It’s a repository of out-of-band tips, guides or TILs that won’t fit the project’s own docs or span multiple internal projects. Anyone can post and then share a link on relevant Workplace groups. I find it incredibly useful.
(DIR) Post #ASBM1HjW52mgbOzkJs by knwlkr@universeodon.com
2023-01-30T21:53:30Z
0 likes, 0 repeats
@simon @film_girl Hear, hear. I’ve been keeping analysis, training and data model documentation on our team wiki for about a year. Nobody asked for it, but I send links from it several times a week and have racked up a few hundred unique visitors across my company. Writing about work is powerful in that it scales your brain for the people who need to lean on your experience and insights.
(DIR) Post #ASBMUnp7qccoWjh488 by bassim@mastodon.social
2023-01-30T22:04:55Z
0 likes, 0 repeats
@simon That is really good advice with lots and lots of beneficial side-effects.
(DIR) Post #ASBMgmlFck0GhsaxkG by bassim@mastodon.social
2023-01-30T22:06:05Z
0 likes, 0 repeats
@simon 💯
(DIR) Post #ASBNVhJPduZMZkqo9g by Miko@federate.social
2023-01-30T22:13:34Z
0 likes, 0 repeats
@simon I love this idea. I’ve kind of done this but not to this extent.
(DIR) Post #ASBNvYjOAYp3UWKghE by george@a2mi.social
2023-01-30T22:16:09Z
0 likes, 0 repeats
@simon this is similar to how Automattic works with an internal blog network called P2. The big difference is that blogs are set up for teams/projects/affinity groups instead of individuals. In practice, if I were going to write a technical post I'd either put it on my team's blog or the general code blog.I think the most important part of its success is that the leadership has pushed a culture of using blog posts instead of emails/Google Docs.https://wordpress.com/p2/
(DIR) Post #ASBO7syMjml3kDDR6u by simon@fedi.simonwillison.net
2023-01-30T22:19:23Z
0 likes, 0 repeats
@george I'd love to work somewhere that had that strong a culture of internal bloggingMy efforts have always been pretty skunkworks - without a top-down culture of internal writing you kind of have to Just Do It and hope that other people might join you later on
(DIR) Post #ASBPIYxRanPIoDRKGO by josephholsten@mstdn.social
2023-01-30T22:34:55Z
0 likes, 0 repeats
@simon that sounds way smarter than maintaining the FAQs for the retirement/investing benefits and learning benefits for Oracle US employees. Hypothetically.
(DIR) Post #ASBPWjlSD76QNZaf6u by george@a2mi.social
2023-01-30T22:36:23Z
0 likes, 0 repeats
@simon it's pretty wild. Having 5 year old conversations show up in searches can be really helpful for understanding a decision. It's much more valuable to the company than having those conversations locked up in email threads, while still being asynchronous enough to allow for some thought.
(DIR) Post #ASBS8Dt5NOA8QYA81I by ross@fosstodon.org
2023-01-30T23:16:35Z
0 likes, 0 repeats
@simon @cehwitham Dang this is good. I kinda have a Slack channel. But I might just do this! Thanks!
(DIR) Post #ASBUoIG7iGIG3Y7uN6 by betsybookworm@cloudisland.nz
2023-01-30T23:43:51Z
0 likes, 0 repeats
@simon I was just thinking about this yesterday! I will definitely have a go, thanks for sharing your experience and encouragement
(DIR) Post #ASBdhYW9lT5W2eUJSS by thisismissem@hachyderm.io
2023-01-31T01:26:17Z
0 likes, 0 repeats
@simon I'm a similar level, but have a little too much to do with too few hands, so only can write when time is properly allocated for it.
(DIR) Post #ASBeExrMZ3bSC9KzXU by jnalley@techhub.social
2023-01-31T01:32:14Z
0 likes, 0 repeats
@simon that’s a great idea. I’ve used Slack channels for this mostly
(DIR) Post #ASBgqpsQtNfsLj1YYK by revolt3d@kolektiva.social
2023-01-31T01:57:51Z
0 likes, 0 repeats
@simon That's 90 percent of what I publish, stuff that I find useful right now to me, but is it useful to someone else in 3 years? Probably not.
(DIR) Post #ASBl4oIZxNIjKEAmGG by susiemagoo@mstdn.social
2023-01-31T02:48:54Z
0 likes, 0 repeats
@simon ♥️♥️♥️ I love this.
(DIR) Post #ASBlHoAzis94i6p6LA by jdub@hachyderm.io
2023-01-31T02:50:54Z
0 likes, 0 repeats
@simon Sharepoint, and teams support these things!!! yes to internal blogs
(DIR) Post #ASCegjoWZeqFtoDHPM by acowley@mastodon.social
2023-01-31T13:11:46Z
0 likes, 0 repeats
@simon We use GitHub Wikis and Notion for written things. Something I've done recently that I'm happy about is that I broadened the scope of our monthly reading group to include more internal research / tutorial content. If you don't have the cycles to put together a usefully readable document, or the content is too nascent, you can get a time slot to present and have a Q&A with the team.
(DIR) Post #ASCr6rpsZQx3l24ZbU by simon@fedi.simonwillison.net
2023-01-31T15:27:30Z
0 likes, 0 repeats
@acowley that's such a great idea! I've been part of internal reading groups before, but never thought to encourage those to look inwards as well as outwards
(DIR) Post #ASDlyJQcJ7y07DJlSa by brimstone@mastodon.social
2023-02-01T02:08:09Z
0 likes, 0 repeats
this sounds like a @shapr fact
(DIR) Post #ASGPlARdmKznz5rLrE by paninid@mastodon.world
2023-02-02T08:43:13Z
0 likes, 0 repeats
@simon this strikes me as a digital #commonplacebook
(DIR) Post #ASGscNjbtZd3GaQZRw by lacraia@mastodon.social
2023-02-02T14:06:23Z
0 likes, 0 repeats
@simon What are you trying to achieve with this? It’s a hack to do… what?
(DIR) Post #ASH1hbdIY5QtPG2biq by adnan@1210.nl
2023-02-02T15:47:56Z
0 likes, 0 repeats
@simon Great idea. Going to figure out how to do this.
(DIR) Post #ASH3fXY2xrFg4DjA80 by simon@fedi.simonwillison.net
2023-02-02T16:10:48Z
0 likes, 0 repeats
@lacraia the selfish reason to do this us that it can greatly amplify your influence within an organizationThe unselfish reason is that this is a really good, scalable way to share the knowledge you have built with your coworkers
(DIR) Post #ASHH1mTHSaIy7pQwVM by lacraia@mastodon.social
2023-02-02T18:38:53Z
0 likes, 0 repeats
@simon I’m on parental leave now, but I’ll give it a whirl when I’m back in August. Thanks for sharing!
(DIR) Post #ASIG4aNUyPMCgvSkBk by julian@social.synesthesia.co.uk
2023-02-03T06:02:23Z
0 likes, 0 repeats
@thisismissem @simon I can relate to both sides of this - related thought - I’ve eventually learned that (especially when busy) I have to write my own notes else be doomed to relearn a couple of months later. Once you get into that groove re-purposing for a blog is a very small step.
(DIR) Post #ASIG4auoyW0oMH3M80 by simon@fedi.simonwillison.net
2023-02-03T06:04:28Z
0 likes, 0 repeats
@julian @thisismissem that's the principle I use for my own TIL blog - most of the entries on there start as notes, e.g. I turned this thread of notes https://github.com/simonw/public-notes/issues/11 into this TIL post: https://til.simonwillison.net/llms/nanogpt-shakespeare-m2
(DIR) Post #ASJ8MSEnNAmCBKMSDw by julian@social.synesthesia.co.uk
2023-02-03T16:12:13Z
0 likes, 0 repeats
@simon @dalias perfect timing Simon, was having that exact conversation with a team member this morning!
(DIR) Post #ASN8BEXKkXMX8TWOMy by coldclimate@hachyderm.io
2023-02-05T14:29:48Z
0 likes, 0 repeats
@simon that's what I used the useless "my homepage" of the company Confluence wiki for at my last place.