Managing a Starship
managingastarship.bsky.social
Managing a Starship
@managingastarship.bsky.social
Developer for a long time
Manager for a long time
Worn all the hats, did the things
Ask me about managing folks
https://substack.com/@gruici
Currently playing Fallout: Sonora, a mod for Fallout 2. There is an English translation of it now. It is really good.

It's also funny to wander about because I am from Arizona and Sonora's Phoenix is filled with cultists and Flagstaff is a penal colony.
April 6, 2025 at 5:00 PM
Hi!

Would you like someone to talk to about being a manager? Or to ask questions about how interview effectively? Or about careers in software development? Or how to talk to a manager?

I'm opening office hours! Ask me anything.
calendly.com/managingasta...
March 31, 2025 at 6:34 PM
Watching Willy's Wonderland again.

Such a dumb, fun movie.
March 25, 2025 at 1:58 AM
Look how cute my notification icon is!

Also, Android, please, make the code for setting up notifications better. Between how permissions are verified and handled, and the lack of good documentation on it, it can use some help.
March 23, 2025 at 4:56 PM
Turns out you can summon me by saying you use LeetCode tests in your interviews.

I will come out of the shadows and admonish your company for not investing in actual interviewing practices.
March 23, 2025 at 3:27 AM
Tonight's refactor is brought to you by Gamer Supps flavor Copium!

Working alone on this stuff sure makes the first pass really bad. At least we aren't passing view models around everywhere now.
March 19, 2025 at 7:46 AM
I forgot how terrible it is setting up notifications in Android...
March 18, 2025 at 11:42 PM
Excellent! All those years of management haven't made me incapable of building apps.

I can now track days and have automatic UI updates.

Now if I can get the notification to remind folks to track the cycle, I have something ready for an alpha on Android.
a cartoon character with the words it 's all coming together on the bottom
ALT: a cartoon character with the words it 's all coming together on the bottom
media.tenor.com
March 18, 2025 at 9:21 PM
If you have someone writing the text for your UX, please thank them or thank yourself if you are having to be the everything for your product.

I'm trying to think of what to call a CTA for four states on a button and desperately missing my friends in product design who know how to make this clear.
March 18, 2025 at 2:51 PM
It's funny. I just was replying to another thread about how hard it is to deal with time and I was trying to find a specific article about it. Found one called "UTC is enough for everyone, right?" and in the beginning it mentions to never build a calendar... Which I happen to be doing.
March 17, 2025 at 4:03 PM
Just watching my Gamer Supps package go from KY to WA (where I am) and then get sent to GA for some reason...

Now it is in CO. It is late and I want my stuff please. I drink the caffeine free one to keep me from drinking soda and I am all out. Soda is lookin' real good right now...
March 10, 2025 at 7:45 PM
I gotta say, 100-150 line commits daily is better than even my highest expectations.

If your team isn't on daily commits, we should figure out how to get you there because this is _nice_.
March 10, 2025 at 3:24 AM
Reposted by Managing a Starship
From an IBM file decades ago. A good reminder.
March 7, 2025 at 12:42 AM
Fun reminder that your managers should be working for you, not the other way around.

You work for the company. Your output is the reason the company can operate.

Your manager also works for the company. They don't have a job if you and your team don't exist.

Make them work for you.
March 5, 2025 at 9:20 PM
Working with SQL is always neat, but it is one of those things I do once every two years or so. Every time I try to remember how to do something it's like pulling a half formed stone tablet out that has some syntax, but is actually a joke about the time a yak entered my wheat fields.
March 4, 2025 at 11:02 PM
Yaaaay
Building schemas for tables...
At least I only have to do it once and not deal with Core Data.
March 2, 2025 at 2:10 PM
The Quick and the Dead is PEAK Raimi.

Wild zoom-ins like Army of Darkness? Yes.
Actors absolutely chewing up the scenery? Yes.

I don't know how he got Sharon Stone, Leonardo DiCaprio, Gene Hackman, Vice-President Keith David, and MANY OTHER NAMES you would recognize.

Go watch it.
Gene Hackman dying seems a good time to tell you that Sam Raimi made a western called The Quick and the Dead, absolutely every cool actor is in it, Hackman destroys in every scene as the Big Bad, and for weird reasons 1995 America decided it was bad and erased it from memory
February 27, 2025 at 8:36 PM
There are ways to be specific with questions without leading. Like feedback, you want your questions to also be targeted and specific.

The more you move away from that specificity, the more broad or long the answer will become.
February 27, 2025 at 6:37 PM
Reposted by Managing a Starship
AAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHH
February 23, 2025 at 2:30 PM
I've been asked recently in interviews how I check for culture fit when I hire folks and it makes me unhappy to hear.

I've seen culture used as an excuse for not allowing remote work and for reasons to pass on a candidate. Not great.

This means I am going to do research then write about it.
February 23, 2025 at 7:33 PM
I had the subject of portfolios for software developers come up quite a few times the past couple of months, mostly around their use in an interview process. I wrote a whole thing about it.

TL;DR: I don't use them to evaluate candidates for a good reason. That reason is equity. Link below!
February 21, 2025 at 6:44 PM
Today’s Question: You’re facing resource reallocation mid-project. How do you balance team and client expectations effectively?

Quick message to stakeholders first that the reallocation happened that updates are coming.

Next, we focus on the team. The reallocation affects teams more than anyone.
February 13, 2025 at 11:40 PM
I'm answering LinkedIn questions to work on being less verbose. Today's is: You're struggling to meet project deadlines. How can you ensure stability without sacrificing innovation?

I already don't like the question.

You’re in a bad place if you are focusing on how not to sacrifice “innovation.”
February 13, 2025 at 12:14 AM
It's been awhile since I last watched Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood. Normally I skip the end credits because the preview at the end of anime is not my thing.

Why did no one tell me that the narrator for Fullmetal has a borderline black metal line read at the end of each episode? It's so good.
February 12, 2025 at 2:52 AM
Playing a rogue in Diablo IV for the first time.
I have somehow lucked into a build that, when fighting an elite or boss level enemy, has no cooldown on the Smoke Grenade skill. The grenades do a bunch of extra stuff as well from tempering and unique items. I can rapid fire grenades.
February 2, 2025 at 11:52 PM