Previous Articles
It’s not often that you come across a developer (or more generally – a person) with whom you have complete trust and admiration. I’ve worked with just such a person on several occasions in the past and present, and am happy to finally bring Mr. Josh Vickery in under the friendly yFactorial umbrella.
Josh joins yFactorial as my equal and I’m really looking forward to having his experience and productivity at hand for our next phase. Plus, I no longer have to lay awake at night trying to wrestle with this conundrum.
Welcome aboard, Josh!
Posted by Ryan Daigle
I’ve noticed that many of the high-profile technical figures within our field (Ruby specifically, but software development in general) hail from what I would call creative backgrounds. You’ve got musicians, artists and linguists represented – with a small undertow of philosophical interests. That got me thinking of the link between a creative mind and that of an exceptional software development mind. It seems to me that the workings of a creative mind, with its ability to think abstractly and to extend beyond the confines of a more conventional mind, provides for fertile ground in the foundation and adoption of impeccable software development talent.
But here’s the rub. I don’t consider myself to be creative, at all. Does that mean that nature has somehow left me ill-equipped to be in the upper-echelon of technical minds?
Posted by Ryan Daigle
I recently had the opportunity to publish a mini-book on new Rails 2 features within the Peepcode media empire. I won't bore you with any more self-aggrandizing, but I want to offer a free copy of the mini-book to 5 of you loyal readers. If you're at all interested, sign up for the really generically named yFactorial book club:
Signup for the yFactorial Bookclub here
and in a few days I'll pick a few recipients. Fair?
Posted by Ryan Daigle
I recently had the opportunity to work on a nice little job. It was for a company with whom I had a good rapport and the application itself was well-defined – all things that are important to me. However, once I started contributing to the development effort I quickly found that I was not achieving the productivity and efficiency I usually do and for which I base my rates on. As productivity is one of the main motivating factors for me this resulted in a spiral of lessening effectiveness and increasing client dissent.
Fortunately, the client and I had very open, honest and frequent communication (something I expect to achieve in all my engagements) and we were able to dissect what about the project was causing this situation. Thanks to these frank discussions, in addition to good communication and well-defined requirements I’ve added the following to the list of characteristics I look for in the ideal job:
Posted by Ryan Daigle
Wow. Every once in awhile something really gets you thinking.
I just went to download Radiohead's new album, In Rainbows, and was presented with a form on the checkout page to let *me* enter the price I was willing to pay for the album. And it wasn't an auction type sale at all. I entered 12 pounds (silly brits and their currency) and that's what I paid.
What a great way to empower the consumers and what a great way to generate buzz in today's age of the music industry's piss-poor marketing. Each subsequent download costs a negligible amount, so why not let the consumer decide what it's worth to them? Any amount paid for a download is pure profit and drives the real revenue stream of live shows and memorabilia. Just beautiful.
I wonder how the market would respond to yFactorial letting them set the hourly rate? Not at all the same market dynamics at play, but it's something I want to chew on. Perhaps there's a variant of the same concept that would be applicable?
Juicy stuff.
Posted by Ryan Daigle
I am fortunate enough to have a personal blog that gets a decent amount of readership. It deals mostly with new features in Rails and has been great motivation for me to stay on top of the technology and forced me to self-educate, lest I disappoint the community. One of the better, unexpected, side-effects is that people who are active within the Rails community tend to at least recognize my name. When I initially launched yFactorial, this recognition was invaluable as several potential clients were much more receptive to me as a freelancer because of it. But… there’s something a little unsettling here.
People are assuming expertise based on publicity.
Don’t get me wrong, I think I’m good at what I do and others tend to agree. But it makes me uncomfortable when people assume a level of competence solely from superficial factors.
Posted by Ryan Daigle
As I start to espouse the qualities and characteristics I hope to foster in yFactorial, I realize that doing so without acknowledging the existing body of literature that has influenced me would be negligent at best and deceitful at worst. While much of what I've read are already widely known books by well known authors, I know I find it interesting to hear what other entrepreneurs are reading and what has shaped their perspectives.
To that end I'm going to start documenting what's found its way onto my business bookshelf along with the chance for you to get a free copy of the book, compliments of yFactorial. After all, it's in my best interest for there to more people like me, right?
Signup for the yFactorial Bookclub here
The first book I want to acknowledge (and give away 10 copies of) is The Cluetrain Manifesto. I know, who hasn't heard of cluetrain? Well, until a recent barcamp I had heard of it but never found the time or motivation to read it. Thankfully, I remedied this a few weeks ago, and you shall benefit from it.
Posted by Ryan Daigle
yFactorial is a small software development shop. How small? One person, me. So why is the word “we” plastered all over the website and blog? I strongly subscribe to the notion that you shouldn’t try to present a company as being more than it really is, yet here I am using “we” when I should be speaking in the first person.
The truth of the matter is that it’s tough admitting to the world that your company is but one person. There’s a vulnerability associated with singularity in the business world and that’s always in the back of my mind as I craft these monologues. But, this misdirection of the word “we” directly conflicts with the transparency I’m trying to establish on The Naked Company blog. And so, it must go.
Posted by Ryan Daigle