Aja Hammerly

I'm asking myself questions like

Does Carlos have enough opportunities to shine?
Does my grandboss know about the amazing work Lewis is doing?
Would a class or a mentor help Alex do better in some areas where he's struggling?
Would Lando or Oscar be a good fit for this project?

A director I had years ago (you know who you are) referred to himself as "the talent agent of the team". At the time I thought it was nice.

As the manager of a team of high performers it is something I think about every day. I thought it may be a DevRel thing, but I think it is beyond that.

I think I found my very first programming book. It was likely “Basic Fun”.

Im utterly failing to find out French textbooks from early elementary.

I’m not sure what is says about me that I’m trying to find textbooks and nonfiction from my childhood using Gemini.

Google is helping girls “scout” a path to digital wellbeing. As part of our efforts to help kids develop safe and productive relationships with technology, we’re supporting Girl Scouts of the USA with the launch of the new "Be Int…

One of my very first events at Google was hosting some local Girl Scouts who came to check out our office and show us robots they had made. This article talks about some of the other work Google is doing to help children have a healthy relationship with tech.

blog.google/outreach-ini...

Do we have a term for the AI equivalent of SEO yet?

Thank you

The Duolingo is working. Slowly. Caught myself talking to my cat in French today.

It wasn’t complex, but it happened.

Tu as les oreilles grises avec un peu d’orange. Tu as des rayures grises sur les jambes. Tu es très mignonne! Tu veux le petit déjeuner!

Don't get me started on the fact that folks with strong TDD and BDD backgrounds have a great background for writing prompts.

a cartoon drawing of a llama wearing a purple shirt with a blue and green logo on it ALT: a cartoon drawing of a llama wearing a purple shirt with a blue and green logo on it

What if I told you that development has spec-driven for decades?

No really, I was writing specs as an intern back in like 2002 that developers used to create features in products.

One of my partners work friends came over last night and complimented me on my content because she didn’t know I could do that stuff.

It’s kind of weird that I have a whole group of tech friends that have never heard me speak, never read my blog, and don’t know I make videos.

I'm also finding the concepts translate well to the LLM/AI era where you can't fully predict what an API call to an LLM will do.

Treat that call as legacy code, apply the ideas in the book and put some Characterization Tests around that call. You'll be glad you did.

Also...that's just eval.

Goodreads Discover and share books you love on Goodreads.

Also, since I'm apparently in a somewhat random mood this morning...this is still probably the best tech book in existence:

Working Effectively with Legacy Code by Michael Feathers

www.goodreads.com/book/show/44...

Remember: Legacy Code is just code you wrote last week :-)

Thinking about this more...its all about situational awareness. And situational awareness requires understanding what's going on around you, both seen and unseen.

And understanding or at least *knowing* what's going on around you comes from curiosity.

The longer I'm in tech the more I believe that the most valuable thing you can bring to work every day is genuine curiosity.

Why did someone make that architectural decision?

What is the person from another team working on?

How would your peers approach this problem you are struggling with?

Oh, I didn't realize.

And somedays my job involves pricing out 3D pancake printers and custom latte art machines.

Cheaper than I expected.

Why do I stay in DevRel?

I have a novelty drive. There is no typical day in DevRel. Hence. Pancake Bots.

Also I genuinely like people.

For example, the big cat had her checkup about a month ago, but it was too soon for some vaccine boosters.

So she goes back this week for a nurse visit for that. They'll take her back, give the shots, feed her a Churu or three, and then bring her back to me. Usually with a goody bag.

I've been pretty happy with Atlantic Vet on Rainier.

A couple minor blips, but generally we've been able to sort things out quickly.

They're also generally really, really clear on followups and what is a vet visit versus a nurse visit.

The best managers I've had know when to slow down and just let people ruminate and think and be upset and ask questions and ask them again.

And I try to be that manager too. I don't always succeed.

I don't always get the timing right.

I'm not prefect, but I can try to be okay.

But before I offer the plan I want to make sure that folks have had time to be upset, sad, disappointed, frustrated, happy, or whatever else they're feeling. I want to make sure they feel heard.

I've even said things like "today is for feelings, there is a plan and we can talk about it tomorrow."

Making time for feelings and respecting feelings and listening to feelings has become a huge part of how I approach management.

I'm a fixer. I want to be trusted and respected. Its instinctual for me to jump immediately to solutions and planning.

And sometimes having a plan is what people need.

I've probably shared this before but its worth sharing again. u

There was a re-org early in my management career. I was frustrated with how folks were reacting. Not my finest moment.

A mentor pulled me aside and told me that I had to make time for people's feelings.

Make Time For Feelings.

New favorite addition to prompts.

"You are my extremely terse assistant."

One thing I do when working with others is try to identify the invisible work. Both mine and theirs.

Here's a hint, it is often hidden around the word "just" as in "Why can't you just..."

Compromise is easier when you feel seen and respected.

Sometimes its invisible because the work doesn't produce artifacts folks can see. The time I spend researching for video is one example.

Sometimes its invisible because you make it look so easy they don't understand how hard it was.

A while back a mentor told me when I was working with another team...

"They think they did 80% and we did 20%. We think we did 80% and they did 20%. The truth is in the middle."

Why? Because there are large parts of our jobs that are "invisible" to others. They don't see all of your 80%.

Orca and Killer Whale?

Tonight’s Duolingo French lesson made me wonder if “whale” in French included Toothed Whales as we call them. It appears not.

Also I learned that Orcas have two names in French: orque and épaulard.