The Essential Links article series is about publishing a collection of inspiring, interesting & good-to-know articles of the previous month as a kind of recap of what happened in the world. And boy, what a month this was. I thought a lot about posting some political content today, but I finally voted against it (pun intended).
I am sure you already had your share.
In February I read Mike Kus' The Pocket Photographer, a tiny but very inspirational book about taking pictures with your smartphone, it was recommended by Marc Thiele somewhere. It's very small, you will read it in an hour, but it has beautiful pictures and 7 very insightful principles for composition, that I will from now on always keep in my mind. I will create a phone background with them, they are so helpful that I don't want to forget them - recommended.
Let's get started.
A.I.
- Joscha Falk has a great introduction into prompting for educators in his blog (German). Even if you are not a teacher, there are a lot of insights and some deep knowledge to take way.
- With the uprising of reasoning models we will probably see progress in ai-supported code development, too. Here is Birgitta Böckeler with her first thoughts on code generation with reasoning models.
- Martin Fowler and Bharani Subramaniam are experimenting with patterns emerging from practices using generated code in software development. These are great reports to follow to deeper understand possibilities and risks.
- Harper Reed shares his development workflow using LLMs - a very interesting read.
- Remember: AI is killing our climate, too. It is for me one of the most important reasons to not use it atm. Here is a talk in German language on the consequences and effects of AI usage.
- I remember Napster times when copying was a crime. Fact is, it still is. Obviously not for the Meta corp.
Agile
- On SAFe (via Felix Stein)
Product Development
- Hirotaka Takeuchi and Ikujiro Nonaka in an old HBR article from 1986 about the new new product development game.
- Kris Köhntopp on experimenting while developing booking.com.
Digital Sovereignty
I had to think about the title of this category. I wanted it to be generic enough to contain many different items that will help you to build your own little digital sovereignty in the internet. The internet is not facebook, is not x, is not AAA corps selling your profile to the highest bidder. Be sure to have that in mind and help to keep the web open.
- Here's Tim analysing what happens if you open an app with in-app advertisement in your phone. TL;DR: You will be tracked in a detailed level you are not prepared for.
- Mike Kuketz' blog is one of the most important resources in German language when it comes to setting up your own digital environment. They now founded the hashtag #UnplugTrump that you can follow in the fediverse to receive tipps, tools and insights how to become more independent from the big players.
- There are many alternatives to U.S. based services here in Europe. The list is growing and you should definitely have a look - there is a wide range of services from web analytics to microblogging, translation and time tracking that you can use based on European regulations (without publishing your personal data and your profile out into the world).
- You do not need Amazon. You will find many alternatives for ordering stuff here in Europe (German).
- Framasoft tries to help you de-googleising your internet. They offer a lot of browser-based tools find alternatives for your usage of the Google portfolio.
- Into the Fediverse: Become an independent digital citizen and use fedi.tips as a starting point to learn.
- savesocial.eu tries to preserve social media as democratic instruments.
- open.nrw is the open data / open info portal of the government in Northrhine-Westfalia
- A podcasting cheatsheet for FOSS (free and open source-software) is helping you to get started with podcasts in the fediverse.
Tools
- HackMD.io is a tool to collaborate on markdown files for documentation & writing purposes.
- There is a simple Pomodoro timer for MacOS that is not plastered with ads. Wikipedia knows about the pomodoro technique - for me one of the most helpful timeboxing method for my own work.
- There is a great introduction into using iA presenter as your presentation tool. If you are looking into a lightweight presentation helper that focusses on storytelling, check out these videos. Maybe iA presenter is something for you.
- Codeberg is a git and other tools open source hosting organisation. No tracking, no profiling.
- Mattermost is a collaboration platform for mission-critical ventures. Interesting business case.
- Ghostty is a simple terminal emulator. Yes, the second t is there for a reason.
- If you want to see learning roadmaps for software development, look no further.
Software development
- How to create a so-called GIF today
- On the Figma blog there is a great article about Why developers should embrace creative coding again and hints at the overwhelming capabilities our browsers have gained over the last decade.
- How to calculate lifetime costs for software development
- This is probably the most beautiful story about developing a calculator app that I have read so far.
Organizations & Strategy
Roger Martin overload.
- Why execution is strategy and strategy is execution. By Roger Martin.
- Roger Martin on Where to start with strategy?
- Do you remember Frederic Laloux and his book Reinventing Organisations? Well, turns out he has a YouTube channel with a gazillion videos on details of his concept (Thanks, Max). Very recommended.