DPL Reading List – November 13, 2015

Here are some of the articles we’ve been reading around this office this week.

Here’s Why Half Your Employees Will Be Gone In Less Than A Year (Thanks to Jarrod Wubbels for recommending this article) – “Do the people who work for you like their jobs? If you’re like most employers, the answer is, absolutely not. That’s the dismal finding in a recent survey by employee recognition software company Achievers. Achievers surveyed about 800 employees, evenly divided between the United States and the U.K., and the results show that today’s work force is seriously underwhelmed with their employers’ attempts to get them engaged and motivated about their jobs.”

Why Code for iOS Over Android? It’s 30 Percent Less Expensive Says One App Shop (Thanks to Todd Guenther for recommending this article) – “The choice to develop apps for either iOS or Android isn’t just about which platform will make you more money. It’s also about which will take less effort, helping developers to get their software available quicker and cheaper. According to one app shop, it’s iOS and they have details on why.”

Integrating Feature Requests Without Destroying Your Product (Thanks to Brian Zimmer for recommending this article) – “When companies put a strong focus on integrating client feedback, sometimes their products can eventually become so feature laden that they sink. There are ways to integrate feature requests and take a user-centered approach without destroying your product.”

4 Reasons Minimal UI May Mean Minimal Users (Thanks to Jarrod Wubbels for recommending this article) – “The only studies I’ve seen over the past 12 months that support the use of minimalist chrome on larger screens are most definitely on the self-serving side. Numbers can (and are) manipulated to serve many an author’s purpose. So I take stock in what I see and experience in my work with clients and their users and customers — and the basic principles of design which have remained unassailably true for several hundred years now.”

The 666 Roadmap (Thanks to Todd Guenther for recommending this article) – “When I worked as a product manager at Facebook, some people in the team used to advocate thinking in two timelines: the next 6 months, and the next 20 years. 20 years was your vision, 6 months was your plan. I loved this, but for most startups, 20 years is too long for the vision, and 6 months is too long for the concrete plan.”

New Ruling Lets You Tinker With Car Software, Old Video Games – “Jailbreakers and tinkerers, rejoice! The Library of Congress this week granted several exemptions to the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA) that will let curious tech enthusiasts fiddle with their gadgets without the threat of prosecution. Basically, folks can now legally rip DVDs to make fair-use remixes, play out-of-support video games, jailbreak their mobile devices, and tinker with in-car software.”

Don’t Destroy Your Dev Team By Growing (Thanks to Brian Zimmer for recommending this article) – “Dev team growth is about expanding your teams working output while maintaining cohesion. Doing this properly is much harder than it sounds because of external pressures like ‘we’ll miss the sale of the year’.”