Using Vim as a PHP IDE

Jon Cairns wrote “Using Vim as a PHP IDE” blog post a good five years ago, but a lot of it still relevant and useful. It covers all the usual – syntax highlighting, syntax checking/linting, tags and auto-completion, coding style and mess detecting, unit testing and debugging. As many other similar guides, he links to a variety of plugins and provides configuration tips.

The Engineer/Manager Pendulum

“The Engineer/Manager Pendulum” is a great article about a career shift from engineering to management.  Anybody who’s in engineering now and plans or even just wants to become a manager should read this.  Anybody responsible for “promoting” engineers to managers must read this too.

What Is WP-CLI? A Beginner’s Guide

WP-CLI is a super useful tool, which I use on a daily basis, and I wish more people knew about.  Gladly, there is now “What Is WP-CLI? A Beginner’s Guide“, which explains what it is, how to install it, how to use it, and where to go from there.

Eight Rules for Effective Software Production

Timofey Nevolin wrote an excellent article “Eight Rules for Effective Software Production” over at Toptal.com.  The whole thing is well worth a read, but here are the 8 rules to get you started:

  1. Understand the IT Mentality
  2. Do Not Mix Software Production and Development Methodologies
  3. Use Persistent Storage as an Extension to Human Memory
  4. Stop Wasting Time on Formal Time Estimation
  5. Understand the Cost of Switching Tasks and Juggling Priorities
  6. Use Architecture Reviews as a Way to Improve System Design
  7. Value Team Players
  8. Focus on Teamwork Organization

All of these are good and true, but if I had to pick one, I’d say that rule 4 is my personal favorite.  Sometimes I feel like I’ve spent a good quarter of my life in meetings, discussions, and other estimation sessions.  And looking back at all of them, I have to honestly say that they all of them were a waste of time.  The only useful part of an estimation session is a high-level project plan, but that can be achieved with a project planning session – much narrower goal, much more measurable, and much easier to achieve.