Cripple your prototypes, selling an engineering team and more
A quick reader’s guide: Version Control by Example, by Eric Sink
Version control is tricky business, especially if you’re trying to support between your different options out there. *Version Control by Example* is a fast introduction to the concept of version control, as well as some of the more popular tools. While Sink included plenty of code in the book, there are also plenty of diagrams that will help you get the mechanics of version control down cold.
*Version Control by Example* is an introductory-level book, however: it’s enough to get you started, but once you start getting into choosing an actual version control tool for your work and developing your own workflow, you’re going to need additional reading material — preferably system-specific. There may be a little bias in favor of Veracity within the book (SourceGear, which was founded by Sink, developed Veracity), but it’s still a good resource to get started with.
Development: Cripple the prototype
A prototype is based on a lot of best-case assumptions, put together in a pretty way to help a company get started. But it’s worth looking for more problems, even to the point where you may cripple your prototype. By introducing some of the flaws that you know you’ll have to deal with in the real world, you’ll be able to move through the prototyping process better, with a more useful end result.
Funding: Engineering team for sale
A failed startup’s engineering team is offering themselves up as a unit for acquisition. Nineteen people are on the team, including a director of operations, and they’re promoting themselves as a valuable acquisition because they’re already used to working in a unit. It’s an interesting approach to dealing with the failure of a startup, for sure.
Operations: GitStreams
If you use GitHub, you may have faced the same problem as Justin Abrahms: the focus on telling you what updates have been made to important repositories only tells you what’s happened recently — not what’s actually useful. Rather than sticking with the existing activity feeds, Abrahms created GitStreams to offer a clearer way to get the information he needs.
Marketing: Behind the scenes: 5 steps to a brand overhaul
Changing the name and brand of a website is tough, particularly if you’ve invested enough resources in it to build up a following in the first place. Sometimes, though, you just have to do it. Andy Hayes found himself in that position recently and has written up his experiences on his personal blog.
Beyond Tech: Startup visa could create at least 1.6 million U.S. jobs in next 10 years
The Kauffman Foundation issued a report the week that startup visas could bring an impressive number of new companies to the U.S, in addition to having the potential to create more than million jobs.
Our most popular link this week: How many programming languages do you really need to know?
And congratulations to Treasurer’s Briefcase on launching this week.
Posted: March 1, 2013, 5:30 AM