Architecture Weekly #188 - 29th July 2024

Welcome to the new week!

In the last release, I mentioned that I’m taking a two-week-long detox from the Internet. And guess what? I’ve made it. It’s doable; the world is still spinning around, and my keyboard and computer are where I left them.

I know that this newsletter's topic is Software Architecture, so most resources are related to the technical aspect of it. Still, the human aspect is as important when building software systems.

Taking a rest and cutting the noise is important for hygiene. Without having time to bore yourself and catch the distance, you won’t be effective and creative, and that’s an important aspect of designing systems.

That relates to many aspects of our work. Also, selecting or switching jobs. In the past, I’ve made numerous times the same mistake of not allowing myself to take the rest between jobs. I rushed to start the new one. What’s more, I switched them a few times during the summer. Does that mean I wasn’t taking a summer break? It wouldn’t look great if I took two weeks of vacation just after starting a new job, right? That also means that I didn’t recharge after the previous endeavour. Which is super important for gathering lessons learned, doing retrospectives and starting a new chapter with a fresh mind.

Another example is rushing ourselves with a huge pile of work before vacations and returning to it right after resting. That ends with going to vacation exhausted and quickly forgetting that you were on vacation. Your energy quickly evaporates, and vacations are just a quick break from overworking yourself. Also, it is not the most efficient, as typically you also think about the work during that short span.

I’m not perfect, and I also did again the mistake of working my ass right before the holidays and delivering two big updates for Emmett and Pongo:

• Delivered inline projections for Emmett - that means that now you can have read models being updated in the same transaction as appended events, which is a huge milestone,

• I did a big Pongo release, adding bigger coverage for MongoDB API and the possibility to inject connection with transactions.

Yet, luckily, I didn’t make a second mistake.

I cut myself off from work. Didn’t check socials (LinkedIn, Discord, etc.). I didn’t read anything work-related (although I finished 3 regular books). And that felt good and right. I needed such detox to recharge my mindset.

The consequence is that I don’t have much news for you today!

Of course, I could gather some random links and pack them without reading. Still, that wouldn’t be right. This newsletter is sincere, and I’m honest. Each week, I spent over a day preparing a release, plus all the time to gather the links and review them to deliver you the best content you can trust. You don’t have to agree with me or the link content, but at least it should be quality content triggering your brain cells.

And hey, maybe this unusual edition is also a mark of what will happen with Architecture Weekly; I’m still considering reshaping its format. I’d like to make it both interesting for you and sustainable for me. I feel that we can get better synergy and value for both sides. Thank you a lot if you already filled out the survey. Feedback helps a lot.

See you next week, and remember to take your time and recharge. Without that, it’s hard to make the right decisions.

Cheers

Oskar

p.s. I invite you to join the paid version of Architecture Weekly. It already contains the exclusive Discord channel for subscribers (and my GitHub sponsors), monthly webinars, etc. It is a vibrant space for knowledge sharing. Don’t wait to be a part of it!

p.s.2. Ukraine is still under brutal Russian invasion. A lot of Ukrainian people are hurt, without shelter and need help. You can help in various ways, for instance, directly helping refugees, spreading awareness, and putting pressure on your local government or companies. You can also support Ukraine by donating, e.g. to the Ukraine humanitarian organisation, Ambulances for Ukraine or Red Cross.