Joel on Software

Sins of Commissions

Joel on Software — Fri, 10 Oct 2008 16:34:00 GMT

“A couple of years ago, I went into a big-box shoe store and bought a pair of sneakers. At the checkout counter, the cashier grabbed a can of that bogus silicone spray stores always try to up-sell you. It's supposed to make sneakers shiny and...(read more)

Stack Overflow Podcast #25

Joel on Software — Thu, 09 Oct 2008 23:00:03 GMT

This week's Stack Overflow Podcast features special guest star and programming blogger superhero Steve Yegge . It's a terrific conversation about working at Google, marketing your ideas, and programming languages... one of the most interesting...(read more)

Hair on fire

Joel on Software — Wed, 08 Oct 2008 11:54:02 GMT

On August 17th, Jason, a student in our software management training program, read a post by Seth Godin , marketing guru extraordinaire: "Here's the challenge: Assemble your team (it might be just you) on Monday and focus like your hair is on...(read more)

Stack Overflow Podcast #24

Joel on Software — Wed, 01 Oct 2008 09:32:03 GMT

The whole Stack Overflow team got together in person at Fog Creek's shiny new office in New York City for a roundtable discussion about the future of StackOverflow.com, which is up as this week's podcast . Shanah Tovah u-Metuka! Not loving your...(read more)

Imaginary product

Joel on Software — Sat, 20 Sep 2008 00:41:03 GMT

Why doesn't somebody make this? It's a power strip It's a network hub It's a USB hub You clamp it onto the back of any desk This would make it easy to plug in laptops, USB peripherals, and all your rechargers at your desk without crawling...(read more)

Stack Overflow Podcast #22

Joel on Software — Fri, 19 Sep 2008 10:49:01 GMT

In Episode #22 of the Stack Overflow podcast, Jeff and I talk to guest Josh Millard of MetaFilter about moderating community sites. Not loving your job? Visit the Joel on Software Job Board : Great software jobs, great people. Read More......(read more)

Stack Overflow Launches

Joel on Software — Mon, 15 Sep 2008 09:00:02 GMT

You know what drives me crazy? Programmer Q&A websites. You know what I’m talking about. You type a very specific programming question into Google and you get back: A bunch of links to discussion forums where very unknowledgeable people are struggling...(read more)

Password management finally possible

Joel on Software — Thu, 11 Sep 2008 22:37:02 GMT

Now that DropBox is shipping, there's finally a good way to manage all your passwords. This system works no matter how many computers you use regularly; it works with Mac, Windows, and Linux; it's secure; it doesn't expose your passwords to...(read more)

Stack Overflow Podcast #21

Joel on Software — Thu, 11 Sep 2008 09:32:03 GMT

Episode #21 of the StackOverflow Podcast is up, in which Jeff and I talk about the anthropology of abusive users. “You’ve got a bunch of people playing Chess, but certain people want to play ‘throw the chess pieces all over the park...’” The site itself...(read more)

We're finally moving!

Joel on Software — Wed, 10 Sep 2008 17:09:02 GMT

This weekend, Fog Creek is finally moving into the big new office space we've been working on since last March . These things take FOREVER. The new office will be: twice as big as the old office in a better neighborhood costing about 5 times as much...(read more)

StackOverflow Podcast #20

Joel on Software — Fri, 05 Sep 2008 17:47:01 GMT

This week's StackOverflow Podcast is up: episode 20. We talked about the deadlock that was fixed, which was the last thing holding up the public beta... caused by a very small bug in third party libraries, which is exactly why I've always had...(read more)

StackOverflow Podcast #19

Joel on Software — Thu, 28 Aug 2008 09:02:05 GMT

This week's StackOverflow Podcast is up: episode 19. Jeff and I spent some time talking about the home page for StackOverflow. What goes there? What does it mean to vote on a question? We also talked about Aaron Swartz's article on How to Launch...(read more)

How I Learned to Love Middle Managers

Joel on Software — Tue, 26 Aug 2008 17:45:00 GMT

“Another programmer came to us. ‘I thought you should know that people are really unhappy,’ he said bluntly, ‘and it’s starting to make it so that people just complain all day, instead of doing their work, and that’s...(read more)

A review of the Nokia E71

Joel on Software — Fri, 22 Aug 2008 09:32:03 GMT

When Apple’s iPhone 3G came out, I was pretty sure I’d get one. It had all the features I was waiting for. But the lines just weren’t going away. I searched Twitter . For a week, then two, every day brought fresh reports of five-hour waits. And then the...(read more)

StackOverflow Podcast #18

Joel on Software — Thu, 21 Aug 2008 09:02:05 GMT

This week's StackOverflow Podcast is up: episode 18. It was the first chance I've gotten to speak to Jeff since the beta went live, which is, honestly, exceeding even my highest expectations. Performance is terrific. The site is crisp and clear...(read more)

Good System, Bad System

Joel on Software — Tue, 29 Jul 2008 22:59:04 GMT

“I pass six Starbucks every morning on my walk to work. Just to clarify, that's counting only the Starbucks that are actually on the west side of Eighth Avenue in midtown Manhattan. I think there are some branches on the east side, but that...(read more)

Pecha Kucha

Joel on Software — Fri, 18 Jul 2008 14:59:00 GMT

We've already got a great lineup of speakers for the Business of Software conference : Seth Godin Eric Sink Steve Johnson Richard Stallman Paul Kenny Tom Jennings Dharmesh Shah Mike Milinkovich Jessica Livingston Jason Fried and me! Neil Davidson...(read more)

Annual Fog Creek Open House

Joel on Software — Mon, 14 Jul 2008 11:12:05 GMT

Here at Fog Creek Software we get a lot of requests for a tour of the office, which we usually have to decline: we have this unusual obsession with giving programmers quiet working conditions. But once a year, we do have an open house. It's a rare...(read more)

Don't hide or disable menu items

Joel on Software — Tue, 01 Jul 2008 11:42:04 GMT

A long time ago, it became fashionable, even recommended, to disable menu items when they could not be used. Don't do this. Users see the disabled menu item that they want to click on, and are left entirely without a clue of what they are supposed...(read more)

Desks

Joel on Software — Fri, 06 Jun 2008 16:25:04 GMT

A reader wrote in to ask what kind of desks we're going to be using for the new office. The ergonomics experts always want you to have your feet flat on the floor. So you have to adjust your seat height first. Then, your arms are supposed to be horizontal...(read more)

StackOverflow podcasts moving to IT Conversations

Joel on Software — Thu, 05 Jun 2008 11:21:04 GMT

Yes! I'm still doing those weekly podcasts with Jeff . We've already done eight of them. We're moving, though, to IT Conversations , a huge network of terrific audio shows about technology. Just looking at all the great shows they have there...(read more)

Adventures in Office Space

Joel on Software — Mon, 02 Jun 2008 11:33:02 GMT

“We lost some time because a deal to expand at our current location fell through -- it turned out that the extra floor we wanted wasn’t actually, to use the real estate jargon, ‘available.’” From Adventures in Office Space...(read more)

Architecture astronauts take over

Joel on Software — Thu, 01 May 2008 00:01:05 GMT

It was seven years ago today when everybody was getting excited about Microsoft's bombastic announcement of Hailstorm, promising that "Hailstorm makes the technology in your life work together on your behalf and under your control." What...(read more)

Stack Overflow Podcast #2

Joel on Software — Tue, 22 Apr 2008 21:10:00 GMT

The next podcast is up . Today we talked about why we're doing a podcast in the first place, took some questions/suggestions from listeners, and got into a fight over whether programmers should learn C. Guess which side I took. There are some improvements...(read more)

stackoverflow.com

Joel on Software — Wed, 16 Apr 2008 21:43:03 GMT

What is stackoverflow.com ? Nothing, yet. But here's the concept: Programmers seem to have stopped reading books. The market for books on programming topics is miniscule compared to the number of working programmers. Instead, they happily program...(read more)