We Will Do Anything to Get You to Work for Us Except Pay You Enough

Eli Grober writes tongue-in-cheek, but the essay is clearly funny because there is some truth behind it. Companies go to great lengths to not raise wages and raise side benefits instead, while pretending that you should be happy about it. Side benefits are cheaper, and also much easier to cut without too much protest.

The other side, of course, is that employees accept this bargain.

Bartosz Ciechanowski presents an excellent guide on the physics of boats. Most diagrams are interactive, allowing the reader to simulate different conditions. It makes it easier to grasp the underlying concepts. The author starts from first principles and builds, exposing a lot of complexity in naval design. Not a small feat. It even covers the basics of propulsion. Kudos.

Better coordination, or better software?

Jessica Kerr (aka Jessitron) thesis is that better coordination between software teams leads to more coordination work. The alternative is establishing better boundaries better boundaries between software, to make it unnecessary to have that much coordination work.