Five for Friday – February 14, 2025

Back again for another week of semi-interesting links.

• I don’t even know where to start with DOGE. They don’t appear to know what they’re doing, nor how relational databases work. And apparently – anyone can edit their website. What a fucking mess.
• On a more positive (but not that postive) note, it’s performance review season at a lot of companies. This guide on Owning the Tough Conversations is full of excellent advice for managers.
• I’ve never been a fan of staging (or testing) environments. This article sums up many of my thoughts – You might not need staging
• I’ve been asked about a billion times in the last few weeks how to measure the productivity boost from ai coding assistants. This article has some reasons why I hate this question as well as some tips (warning – it’s a product site, but the points are valid).
• And speaking of head-nodders with AI, let me drop a double to end the post this week. Tech’s Dumbest Mistake: Why Firing Programmers for AI Will Destroy Everything, and AI is Stifling Tech Adoption.

Enjoy.