fornax.net

On Quality

andrew@fornax.net (Andrew Hill) — Thu, 11 Dec 2008 13:32:40 +0000

"Quality goes down and technical debt increases with every corner cut. When prioritized against the next feature promising to deliver business value, debt never gets repaid."
"[Business decision makers] understand the cost of goods returned, the cost of rework, and the loss of customers but they choose to remain ignorant of the fact that these are typically the consequences of not valuing quality."

How very true!

Terrible!

andrew@fornax.net (Andrew Hill) — Fri, 17 Oct 2008 12:34:12 +0000

Worst. Joke. Ever.

Shame, Jake, shame!

Experimentation

andrew@fornax.net (Andrew Hill) — Mon, 29 Sep 2008 09:47:21 +0000

I'm certainly not opposed to experimentation on the general public - in fact, I think it's a good idea.

But this is just crazy.

OpenX Going Strong

andrew@fornax.net (Andrew Hill) — Sat, 20 Sep 2008 12:53:11 +0000

Yeah yeah, I know, I know. The main problem is that work is going well, apart from the fact that we're all flat out getting the next beta release ready for public use. It's a rather big one! Oh, that and the change of address.

I'll start posting again once the desk comes for the spare room, and I can set up my computer again. Promise!

In the mean time, Demian has some nice things to say:

"OpenX don’t have as much to worry about as I first thought."

Thanks!

Best Confirmation Message Ever

andrew@fornax.net (Andrew Hill) — Sat, 08 Mar 2008 18:13:54 +0000

"Your request was indeed sent, you will receive an answer as soon as possible. Thank you for your confidence."

Updates are planned

andrew@fornax.net (Andrew Hill) — Wed, 14 Nov 2007 17:39:02 +0000

Ha!

Who am I kidding?

On normality...

andrew@fornax.net (Andrew Hill) — Tue, 30 Oct 2007 14:21:22 +0000

A question for Matt Dubsky:

We have run out of decent sized drinking glasses at work, so I am drinking water from a coffee mug, with a handle and everything. As a result, I somehow feel like I am a geologist.

Is this normal?

The battle for quality assurance rages on...

andrew@fornax.net (Andrew Hill) — Fri, 26 Oct 2007 17:14:00 +0000

Last episode, our hero purchased some cards from Paperchase. Let's see what happens this week!

Our hero: "Hi, yes, I bought this pack of five cards, and I'd like to swap two of the cards because they are incomplete."

He offers the two cards up for inspection, where, sure enough, the cards are found to each have a corner missing.

Staff member: "Oh, well, see, that's because these cards are hand-made."

Our hero: "Yes, well, I understand that. However, I'm not sure that's an excuse for the cards being incomplete. In fact, surely the fact that they are made by hand suggests that there is an opportunity for the person making the cards to ensure that they are, for want of a better phrase, finished?"

And so, once again, justice is done! Tune in next week for another exciting episode....

(Yes, I am back! My parents have visited, I have travelled widely, and I have married. Who would have thought it? Well, I would have, but only recently. Updates to this site are planned!)

Dead or Alive?

andrew@fornax.net (Andrew Hill) — Tue, 04 Sep 2007 07:41:24 +0000

Todd Hoff on the High Scalability site writes:

Amazon's EC2 sounds good, but how do you make use of all that throbbing CPU power?

Clearly Todd has only read about EC2, not used it. Don't get me wrong, EC2 is great. But throbbing CPU power?

Do you have any idea how many server instances you have to fire up before you even get a pulse?

... and why not?

andrew@fornax.net (Andrew Hill) — Thu, 16 Aug 2007 12:09:38 +0000

Here's a brilliant idea: Test social policies through the use of RCTs.

A free lunch...

andrew@fornax.net (Andrew Hill) — Tue, 07 Aug 2007 09:52:34 +0000

No such thing.

Timezones

andrew@fornax.net (Andrew Hill) — Tue, 10 Jul 2007 07:59:48 +0000

Joel writes:

"The biggest surprise was how much work it took so that every user sees things in their own time zone."

Oh yeah, I hear you. Now imagine that your software has to do that not because you are hosting it for your clients all over the world, but because your clients all over the world are hosting it themselves, but on boxes controlled by someone else, in a different part of the world to where they are. Also imagine that these hosting companies refuse to set up the box in the timezone of the client.

Now, try and get your software to work in five different versions of PHP, with major differences in how timezones work. Deal with the fact that the hosting companies haven't configured the PHP timezone correctly for the server's timezone either.

And then throw in some bugs as well.

Joel has it easy.

More...

andrew@fornax.net (Andrew Hill) — Wed, 20 Jun 2007 16:53:10 +0000

Speaking of features...

The gallery now has locations for photos, and I've added MyBlogLog.

Yes, I am alive...

andrew@fornax.net (Andrew Hill) — Wed, 13 Jun 2007 15:28:30 +0000

No, I haven't died.

I've been busy.

New feature! A page of news I've been reading that I think is interesting.

That's when the shift changes...

andrew@fornax.net (Andrew Hill) — Tue, 17 Apr 2007 15:52:00 +0000

Okay, last post on service for a while, I promise

This sign is on a pub near the Ealing Broadway tube station.