Matthew Lang

I’ve been trying to solve a problem for a software product that’s been at the back of my mind for the last few weeks. This morning I sat down with a coffee, tried a few things out and eventually worked out the solution. Feels good when you overcome a hurdle like this.

Lee Westwood has been talking about the image of golf. It’s not something I haven’t heard before, but it’s good to bring these issues to the forefront every now and again.

“I think golf takes too long, the speed of play when people watch the professionals play is very slow and I don’t think that helps the perception of golf.

I don’t think golf takes too long to play, but people do need to know that there’s a difference between a professional playing and everyone else. A typical round of golf should take about three and a half hours. Sure, you may get held up when the course is busy, but it is better to have an active golf club rather than one where hardly anyone plays.

Also, in a world where everything is a rush, and we have this problem of instant gratification, it’s good to have a sport that is all about playing at a steady pace. I love playing out on the course, especially when I’m playing with my sons. It’s one of the few moments where you can get their complete and undivided attention, of course, the same goes with me.

The instant gratification of the modern world shouldn’t change the game of golf. Sure, we should make the sport more accessible for kids and also make it easier for them to get started. Shorter tees and six or nine hole rounds are a good start, but given time, they too will be able to conquer typical junior tees and play a full round of 18 holes.

“I think it’s very expensive still to play golf, more could be done to make it a bit cheaper to play.

Expensive, yes, but not the most expensive sport to play. You can be up and running playing golf on a budget. As always with any new hobby, don’t invest too much in equipment at the beginning. Start with the basics and build it up over time.

I mountain biked for 15 years before I decided to give it up. While I did struggle with back pain when cycling, the main issue I had was the expense of the sport. I couldn’t justify the cost when it came to upgrading components regularly.

I started golfing with a cheap set of clubs and a cheap bag. Over time the last few years, I’ve gradually replaced some of my clubs and the bag, but everything I have bought has been perfectly affordable and within my budget, as I learn to play the game.

“I think more girls and women could be encouraged to play, I don’t think they’re encouraged as much as they could be.

I agree on this one, so much so I am still badgering my wife to have a go at playing. It’s encouraging to see that girls are coming through the ranks in some of our local clubs and there is an active county team, but there could be more down to encourage more girls and women to play.

As for Lee’s comments on golf being too hard. I’m not so sure that making the sport easier to play is the answer. I’ve been chipping away (pardon the pun) at the game for a few years now. I’m far from winning any club competitions, but I’ve got to a level where I can score pretty reasonably on the course.

Split-screen editing on the iPad? Wow. The iPad is fast becoming a serious alternative to a laptop.

In my internet travels today, I have came across two avatars that used Commander Keen images. Clearly the universe is trying to tell me something.

Kurt Harden shares some thoughts on his connection with nature.

Over the past 24 years I have grown attached to everything that has lived on this property. This place is a sanctuary for me. It is home. It is where I regularly refuel for the daily battle.

— A fallen friend

While our home does not benefit having a large garden with decade old trees, across the street, we did have three trees that this area was built around. In the last few years, we’ve lost one tree, and now there’s a second not looking too healthy.

Over the years, the boys have had great times playing around these giants across the street. I hope the last one remains standing long enough for our youngest Drew to enjoy.

Great night for some golf.

Installed Things 3 on my phone this afternoon. I’ve been struggling to make bullet journaling work since I stopped freelancing. I’m already finding it easier to consolidate a few different things under one roof now.

Always disappointing when you find a blog with good content and there’s no RSS feed.

This week we almost missed another school notice about an “own clothes day” for Drew. The reason why? The notice was put on the school’s Facebook page and nowhere else.

The school does have their own website, Twitter account and even an app for your smartphone. They rarely update them all with the same information at the same time, but Facebook is the preferred outlet for the school to communicate with parents.

Schools aren’t alone in this.

Being involved in the junior section at our local golf club, I’m always looking for updates from other clubs for junior events that our junior section can play in. The problem is that clubs have websites, but rarely update their website and instead choose a preferred social media platform (most likely Facebook), and then just share it there.

Community organisations like schools frequently miss the point of having a website and how they should use social media to maximise reach to all parents.

Miraz Jordan sums it up nicely.

Make your website your home. Put all your information on your own website, first and foremost. Put notices on Facebook and include the address to find that information on your own website. Now people have a choice: if they enjoy using Facebook then they’ll see your post (probably / possibly) and can visit your website if they choose. Those who aren’t on Facebook can freely access the information from your website.

If you wish, use other services, such as Twitter, the same way.

— Why not move a community group’s website to FB?

21st century problems. The traffic jam getting to the top of Everest.

Nicholas Bate with the definitive marketing strategy.

I try remind myself daily that I need to reduce my phone usage but it hasn’t really happened.

This post on how your smartphone should be like your toothbrush might help though.

Feedbin was down again this morning, but thankfully it’s back up and running now. This is the first time that I remember Feedbin having a prolonged service outage ever since I started using it when it was first launched.

The thing about service outages though, is that despite their interruption to your day, they can be an indicator of how effective the service provider is at dealing with it. For a service like Feedbin, it shouldn’t cause too much of an impact on a person’s day. It’s a consumer product, but what if you are a service provider for other businesses and organisations?

I remember Gitlab’s database outage a couple of years ago. They had a severe disruption to their service, but they dealt with it in the best way possible. By being transparent with the world and letting everyone know what went wrong, what they’re doing to fix it and finally a retrospective of what they have learnt from it.

Basecamp also had a severe outage not that long ago. Again, they handled it in the same way Gitlab did. By being transparent and learning from the disruption so that it doesn’t happen again. If you really want a deep dive in Basecamp’s service interruption they did a whole podcast episode on it.

Platform interruptions are mostly just a nuisance. As a consumer of both free and paid for platforms, I know that these outages are not that important and eventually, the platform in question will be up and running again. But for the service provider, they’re a great indicator of how good they are at getting back on their feet, and more importantly, how informed they’ll keep everyone during the process.

So even if a service provider does have a significant outage, it’s how they handle it that will be a factor on whether I sign up for it or not.

Played 18 holes with Ethan last night.

I started well, but as always when playing 18 holes, I fell apart on the back 9. I had a few good holes through the round though, and it’s these that keep me thinking that I can get better over time.

Just need to keep plugging away at it.

Just watched the last episode of The Big Bang Theory. That’s how you end a TV series.

Although I understand what technical debt is, I often find it difficult to explain it to others in simple terms. From now on though, I’ll just reference Martin Fowler’s brilliant explaination.

What most appeals to me about the debt metaphor is how it frames how I think about how to deal with this cruft. I could take five days to clean up the modular structure, removing that cruft, metaphorically paying off the principal. If I only do it for this one feature, that’s no gain, as I’d take nine days instead of six. But if I have two more similar features coming up, then I’ll end up faster by removing the cruft first.

— [bliki: TechnicalDebt](Martin Fowler)

Pete Corey’s Minimum Viable Phoenix is a great starting point for those looking to learn the Phoenix web framework.

Right, made it through this morning’s RSS feeds without seeing any spoilers from last night’s final episode of Game of Thrones. Just need to make it through to tonight when the rest of the UK are watching it.

Interesting programming problem I solved this morning. Rewrite a regex expression so that it doesn’t use any escape characters that would break the Yaml file it is being saved in.

Also, added Regex101 to my list of great online tools for web development.

Scott Hanselman nails it with his advice for a young university student attending the Microsoft BUILD conference.

For the young person I spoke to, yes .NET Core may be a little different from .NET Framework, and they might both be different from Ruby or JavaScript, but strings are strings, loops are loops, memory is memory, disk I/O is what it is, and we all share the same networks. Processes and threads, ports, TCP/IP, and DNS - understanding the basic building blocks are important.

— Systems Thinking as important as ever for new coders

It’s all just building blocks. Whatever the language or framework is, the building blocks are still the same. Great advice for those just starting their careers in software development, but also a reminder for the older or more experienced software developers who are struggling with the ever changing landscape of programming.

Starting to think I might just have enough features in place for a new landing page for Markcase.

The personal website is back.

The importance of doing nothing.

I don’t use GitLab, but the way the company is run and managed is really refreshing. Everyone remote, and the company is transparent with just about everything.

A shame to see that Eastwood golf club is facing closure. A nice course with great views on the outskirts of Glasgow.

Golf clubs are facing challenging times ahead. I can see most clubs making it through these challenges, but there will be a number of clubs who won’t make it.