My mom, Leilani Wright, passed away suddenly and unexpectedly on June 14, 2023. Below is the eulogy I read at her wake on June 21, 2023. It pales in comparison to the beautiful words my sister read prior to me, and doesn’t even begin to do justice to the wonderful, caring, brilliant, and selfless person my mother was.
Continue reading “Leilani Wright”Prod-U-Weather Forecast: Seasonably Cold Winter Results in Code Freezes
This post was originally published on the Button blog on 2022-10-06.
Checks Weather: Mid-60s°F in NYC…
It’s only barely autumn. The leaves just started turning and I haven’t even gone apple picking yet. Why are we talking about this? To some extent, planning for our various roadmaps is continuous. But accounting for predictable events should happen at least a couple of months out. We’re just about one and a half months away from Black Friday and Cyber Monday, some of the biggest days for Button and our partners.
Continue reading “Prod-U-Weather Forecast: Seasonably Cold Winter Results in Code Freezes”Crafting Great OKRs
I’ve had truly awful experiences with OKRs. I’ve had truly great experiences with OKRs. When crafted with care, the OKR model for goal setting is an effective tool for making sure you have the right resources and support to achieve what you want. My guide below can help develop OKRs that help you grow, achieve your goals, and communicate to others what your priorities are.
Continue reading “Crafting Great OKRs”Quick Thoughts on Story Points
Over my history as a manager, I’ve seen multiple teams attempt to adopt story points to varying degrees of success. The real key to making story points work when estimating work is persistence. But keep in mind the below.
Continue reading “Quick Thoughts on Story Points”Installing Wi-Fi Smart Switches
Smart Switches vs. Smart Bulbs
In my ongoing quest to turn my house into a smart home, I decided to replace many of the important light switches with Leviton Wi-Fi Smart Switches or Dimmers. I chose to use Wi-Fi switches/dimmers instead of smart bulbs for a few reasons:
- Bulbs require forfeiture of the usage of any existing light switch functionality
- Light switches allow you to control other motors/appliances, like ceiling fans (which our house has)
- Smart bulbs require an additional hub (one per 9 bulbs for Philips Hue), using up precious real estate
- I wanted to replace the existing switches with Decora style switches anyways
- Fewer always-on devices constantly drawing power
- Smart switches require a neutral (white wire), since they need to draw power, which is available most if not all of our light switch boxes