Out of Pocket

I heard a colleague of mine use the term "out of pocket" in our MS Team group to mean that he was away from his desk and not as available. I had never heard the term. 

I found this definition, "‘Out of pocket’ is out of range" from https://www.quickanddirtytips.com/articles/3-meanings-of-out-of-pocket/ 

I read somewhere else that said it meant that he was using his mobile device to answer any queries. That he was not at his computer. I like this meaning the best. It is what I mean when I use this phrase. 

Run a Program as Administrator

Do the following steps while logged in as a user with admin rights. 

• If the program is pinned to the taskbar, right click on it
• Right-click on the program listed in the context menu
• Select Properties
• Click on the Advanced Button
• Check the box "Run as administrator"

Using Gmail for SMTP

This shows how to use Gmail as an SMTP Server. https://www.gmass.co/blog/gmail-smtp/

Using an App Password, you can use your account even with Two Factor Authentication.

It Works on My Machine

It works on my machine
Then we'll ship your machine
And that is how docker was born.

Install Latest Version of Zoom

 Uninstall the current version.

Download the latest version at https://zoom.us/download and install using admin privileges. 

Maker's schedule, Manager's schedule

 From 2009. http://www.paulgraham.com/makersschedule.html

As a programmer, context switching costs more. 

Android App Recommendations

 "The 12 best local music players on Android in 2022"

https://www.androidpolice.com/best-local-music-players-android/amp/ 

Silence is Golden

"It is better to remain silent at the risk of being thought a fool, than to talk and remove all doubt of it." Maurice Switzer

Stakeholders, Engineering, Platforms and Products

Tension between Stakeholder and Engineering

Stakeholders always want more features, faster

Engineers always want to use the best engineering practices. 

In the long run, there needs to be a balance between the two. If the stakeholders always get their way in the short-term, engineering must cut corners and will pay for it in the future. If engineering always gets their way, features do not get completed in a timely manner. 

We must always pick two.

Tension between the mindset of Platform and Products

CBRE has has a push toward a platform mindset rather and a product. There are some questions that I have thought of that relate to this. 

What is team X responsible to create in the reusable component?

What is team Y responsible to create in the app that hosts the reusable component?

--

Whenever you have a question, refer to the principles at https://agilemanifesto.org/

Making Everything Bigger in Windows 10

From "Fonts, sizes and color settings of the Outlook interface"

Windows 10

- Right click on an empty spot on your Desktop and choose “Display Settings”.

- In the “Scale and layout section”, use the “Change the size of text, apps, and other items” dropdown list to set your preferred zoom level.

- To set a custom zoom level, press the Custom scaling link (Windows 10 Version 1709) or the “Advanced scaling settings” link (Windows 10 Version 1803). Since Version 1803, Windows can also detect desktop apps which don’t zoom and improve their graphics output via the option: Let Windows try to fix apps so they’re not blurry.

Another way to adjust this is the Ctrl + and - in your browser. If things are too big, you can always adjust things in browsers. 

What is the Location of Saved Images in Android from the Facebook App?

What is the Location of Saved Images in Android from the Facebook App?
On my phone it is "DCIM/Facebook/" 

I got this from Stack Exchange

An Infinite Onion

Sometimes it seems that there is an infinite onion of layers to explain about what the software systems do that I support. This last week, I didn't realize a function that it does. It reminded me of the phrase “turtles all the way down”. 

'"Turtles all the way down" is an expression of the problem of infinite regress. The saying alludes to the mythological idea of a World Turtle that supports a flat Earth on its back. It suggests that this turtle rests on the back of an even larger turtle, which itself is part of a column of increasingly large turtles that continues indefinitely.' (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Turtles_all_the_way_down)

Beyond Compare: Filter older / newer than: why are the files shown?

 Here is how you use the "exclude files" newer/older than X feature in Beyond Compare

https://www.scootersoftware.com/vbulletin/forum/beyond-compare-4-discussion/general/13333-filter-older-newer-than-why-are-the-files-shown

Agile or the CBRE way?

Years ago a scrum master at CBRE started to say that that is not the "agile way". She corrected herself and said "I mean the CBRE way". We all laughed because they certainly are not always the same thing. As I have reflected on the last few years, I have come to understand that, at least in my team we are agile. Agile means continuous improvement. We are even better at agile practices than we used to be. The definition of agile. 

With that in mind we should always be aware of where the goal is. To me it is simply encapsulated in the https://agilemanifesto.org/

Figma tips and tricks

In Windows:

 - space bar+ mouse to pan

- ctrl+mouse wheel to zoom 

The Project Management Triangle

From The Developer Society

The triangle works like this. There are three key points: good, fast, and cheap. Your project can be any two of these but never all three. 

That means there’s always a trade off:

Cheap + fast = lower quality work

Fast + good = expensive

Good + cheap = not happening anytime soon

What are your priorities?

How to remove code coverage highlighting from your code

In Visual Studio, there is an option called "Analyze Code Coverage for All Tests" in the Test menu. After running that, the code is colored to allow you to see which sections are covered by tests or not. 

You can view previous code coverage results from the Test\Code Coverage Results menu item. In this pane, you can turn off the coloring by clicking the "Show Code Coverage Coloring" button.

See also https://stackoverflow.com/questions/29947836/dotcover-how-to-remove-code-coverage-highlighting-from-your-code

and https://developercommunity.visualstudio.com/idea/908105/remove-highlighting-after-analyze-code-coverage.html

What is the difference between a software product and platform?

This seems to be succinct

"Products produce a single revenue stream, while platforms—which we define as intermediaries that connect two or more distinct groups of users and enable their direct interaction—can generate many." ("Products to Platforms: Making the Leap Four steps to successful transformation" by Feng Zhu and Nathan Furr)

OpenDNS set up and testing

How to setup and secure your home network using OpenDNS - Video 2020
https://youtu.be/6S-87vV0Ezc

For Google Nest Wifi

Once you have the Nest configured then you can just switch to the OpenDNS servers.

 

How do I change my DNS server address?

1. Open the Google Home app .
2. Tap Wifi Settings. Advanced Networking.
3. Tap DNS.
4. Choose your desired public DNS server. If you choose a custom DNS server, enter a primary and secondary server address.
5. Tap Save .

Note: the OpenDNS servers are:

• 208.67.222.222
• 208.67.220.220

Ambient Display Message on Android

 On my OnePlus 6T Android phone, there is a setting that allows you to provide a message to display when you tap the screen. Find it at Settings->Display->Ambient Display->Display Message. 

This will help me find this if I need to later.