Mike Swieton on Atomic Spin

Why You Can’t Just “Do Better” on Code Quality

If your code is not a good model of the problem anymore, it's time to take a comprehensive review of the problem-space and think about what has to change.

DevOps & System Admin.

Simpler Deploys with git Subtrees: A Retrospective

Using subtrees like this did work fairly well, but I would think twice before using them again for this type of problem.

Development Practices

Breaking Things Is the Best Way to Fix Them

Stuck while debugging? A little creative destruction can shed some light on the shape of the problem and narrow down your options.

Development Practices

Try All the Easy Fixes First

Next time you see something inexplicable happen, try to take in the whole problem first before you get lost in the weeds.

Project & Team Management

Customers – Out of Sight, But Still in Mind

Your customer should be engaged, whether off-site or on. Keep communication channels open, and don't be afraid to reach out.

Project & Team Management

Post-Mortem of a Failed Project

I was struck by just how mundane and familiar their issues were: changing requirements, tight deadlines, shifting schedule and priorities.

Evolving the Industry

Connecting Technology to the Real World

Smart software helps us make connections between the abstract world in our computer or phone and the physical world around us.

DevOps & System Admin.

Simpler Deploys with git Subtrees

Using subtrees can help work around specific limitations in Heroku and enforce proper separation of concerns.

Extracurricular Activities

Connecting GMail and Mutt

I was recently setting up a new laptop, and I decided to set up the old email client mutt. I'd used it productively in the past and liked it, but hadn't ever bothered to get it con

iOS / OS X

Bundler Hangs when Building Native Extensions on OS X

The bottom line: don't try to build OS X C libraries on a FAT file system. Here are the gory details.

jRuby

Using OpenSAML from JRuby

Rails may not be the right tool for every job, but combined with the huge ecosystem of mature Java libraries, it can be a powerful tool.

Development Practices

4 Pitfalls of Developing with APIs

If you are the first or sole consumer of an API or some data outside of your organization, you can very easily run into trouble.

Mike Swieton

Keep up with our latest posts.