In this post, I delve into a variety of topics that caught my eye recently. From pondering whether Calm is indeed a tech company, to demystifying the complexities of being a better manager. I also explore the quirks of smart people, enhance my tech skills with Docker and Spotify, and take a scientific dive into tracing a COVID case back to its origins. On a lighter note, I’ve cataloged my vinyl collection using computer vision and debated the crisis surrounding the quality of sofas. There’s also a bit on leveraging PostgreSQL for geoanalytics, unmasking psychological biases, agile estimating tips, leading in the AI era, transforming habits, and creating a voice assistant with ESP32. Each piece provides insightful, practical advice or interesting reflections on technology, management, life hacks, and more.

• Ex-technology companies.: One of the most interesting questions I got after joining Calm in 2020 was whether Calm was a technology company. Most interestingly, this question wasn’t coming from friends or random strangers on the internet, it was coming from the engineers working there! In an attempt to answer those questions, I wrote up some notes, which summarize two perspectives on “being a technology company.” The first perspective is Ben Thompson’s “Software has zero marginal costs.
• Stop Overcomplicating It: The Simple Guidebook to Upping Your Management Game: Russ Laraway wades through all of the competing opinions, complex frameworks and advice out there on how to be a better manager, creating a simple, data-backed leadership toolkit.
• The Dumber Side of Smart People: Most people will die after three days without water.
• Speedtest Tracker: A Docker image to check your internet speed using Ookla’s Speedtest service. Build using Laravel and the Speedtest CLI.
• your_spotify: Self hosted Spotify tracking dashboard.
• How scientists traced a mysterious covid case back to six toilets: When wastewater surveillance turns into a hunt for a single infected individual, the ethics get tricky.
• Cataloguing my vinyl collection with computer vision: Every so often, a daunting thought comes to mind: I really should make a list of all of my vinyl records. I have previously recorded my collection in text files, but I always ran into the problem of context shifting (and, unrelated: I lost the file).
• How to use PostgreSQL for (military) geoanalytics tasks: Geoanalytics is crucial in military affairs, as a significant portion of military data contains geoattributes. In this article, I will discuss how to use PostgreSQL to process geospatial data and address common geoanalytical tasks. The information will cover methods for finding the nearest objects, distance calculations, and using geospatial indexes to enhance these processes. We will also explore techniques for determining a point within a polygon and geospatial aggregation. The goal of this article is to provide practical examples and tips to enhance working with geospatial data and contribute to the development of new solutions.
• Why Are (Most) Sofas So Bad?: The most important piece of furniture in your home is in need of assistance. How did we end up here? And how can we fix it?
• 25 Psychological Biases that Influence your Decision-Making: Here’s an overview of 25 psychological biases with a short explanation of each.
• Agile Estimating: 7 Tips for Accurate Estimates: How do you get the best estimate of story size when estimating? I explore seven ways to make estimates easier and more accurate. Find out more inside.
• Leading in the Age of AI: What Every CxO Needs to Know: Guide for CxOs in AI era: Master adaptability, vision, and ethics to harness AI for strategic advantage and sustainable growth.
• Elevate Your Day with the Habit Switcher: A worksheet to support you in replacing bad habits with good or better ones
• ESP32 based voice assistant with wake word: Last year (2023) was Home Assistant’s Year of the Voice so I thought there’d be no better way to start 2024 than by building my own Home Assistant powered smart speaker.