Tinned Fruit Missives September 2019
For those of you who don’t know me, I’ve been very much out of the world of web development in the last year, so I’ve been able to take a slightly more, well, detached interest. I am not currently working on a product or in a product team, but I do speak to a lot of people who are. We almost never talk about front-end tech in isolation. Even technical conversations quickly turn to the social or societal context in which they’re embedded. Hot dramas in tech (such as last month’s #ReactGate) reveal much about our sense of identity and group attachment. It’s fascinating that these emotional and social factors are so strongly attached to something as seemingly rational and concrete as a code library. It’s almost as if there’s more to it than writing code…
Have a great month!
React - Why I have a problem with React the library and spend a lot of time talking to my therapist - Charlie Owen
Many called this controversial, but I don’t see much to object to here. If you don’t believe a code library can have such a big impact on group dynamics at scale you haven’t been paying enough attention.
The truth about the ROI of Web Accessibility - Karl Groves
There are plenty of articles about making the return-on-investment (ROI) case for web accessibility, but this post takes it a little further. For example, your best results are likely to come from deliberately using accessibility as a market differentiator.
Product vs. Feature Teams - Marty Cagan
Of increasing relevance in my mostly non-front-end-development work of late, Marty describes the difference between feature teams and empowered product teams. This should be useful to you if you feel that your team(s) doesn’t have the right inputs and incentives to do their best work.
Some other World Wide Web hyperlinks I have enjoyed this month
Fast Software, the Best Software - Craig Mod
Less Data Doesn’t Mean a Lesser Experience - Tim Kadlec
The Browser Monopoly - Blair Reeves
The Ugly Truth about Design Systems (Video) - Mark Boulton
Nobody really owns product work - Jonas Downey
Why a cookie-cutter design system won’t work for your organization - Jordan Staniscia
Native lazy-loading for the web - Houssein Djirdeh, Addy Osmani & Mathias Bynens
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Tinned Fruit Missives is a monthly newsletter about web product development and front-end practices published by Jim Newbery, an independent coach and consultant from Edinburgh in Scotland.
I help growing B2B SaaS companies create profitable and sustainable web products. Find out more.
