Darrell Wilkins

@VictorInFocus @helloitsolly This is such good insight. Not just for your dev hiring or PM process but for everything in your company. There aren’t right or wrong ways of doing things, but there are consequences (good or bad) to each choice. Leadership is choosing what to sacrifice for your goals.

At the end of the day it’s your company and success justifies the approach. Your’re not obligated to run a democracy or adopt other remote work norms if your method delivers results. That said you should monitor the negative externalities like attrition and adjust/adapt for your long term goals. In other words defend the process while it's winning, but stay ruthlessly honest about retention metrics. If the right engineers are staying and performing, keep going. If not, adapt and evolve (sounds like you’ve self reflected and are already doing this).

Yesterday was a horrible #buildinpublic day I got rinsed by 100s of engineers for being a micromanager I was defensive and overwhelmed, and trying to explain my own preferences for how Senja should be run I know I am not perfect and am working on myself But I also trying to build a tiny company where every team member works in the same way, and there are no exceptions for engineers I need to do a lot of reflecting and have already been working on my need for control with my therapist for several months That said I also think it's okay to have a working style many people would hate, even if it scares away certain talent Senja has always operated like a sports team where each Linear issue is rapidly being passed between team members like a ball Deep work is part of the day but typically we communicate beforehand that you will be out for x hours Even when working on an issue alone people are expected to document what they're doing regularly. Why? -> It produces better work when you're reflecting -> It cultivates high energy -> It stops people from asking what you're doing -> It reduces the need for meetings -> It makes sure no one else is blocked -> It allows others to take over the issue -> It allows me to understand how you think -> It gives the AI context I am being told to remove this expectation but I think this style is something I want to maintain but with a lighter touch and much slower ramp up You can also see this style in my own marketing work Document as you go

In 1943, Paris - a woman sits in a Gestapo interrogation room, her feet bleeding, her body broken. The officers across from her know she's holding secrets. Names of British agents. Locations of resistance safe houses. Intelligence that could dismantle entire networks across France. They've already started the torture. Her toenails are being removed, one at a time. Soon they'll use heated irons on her back. They'll lock her in darkness for weeks. They'll promise her life in exchange for just one name. She's a 30-year-old mother of three. Not a soldier. Not a spy by training. Just a French-born housewife who was living quietly in England until Hitler's armies swallowed her homeland. That's when Odette Sansom made a choice that most of us will never have to make. She left her three daughters behind and volunteered for Britain's Special Operations Executive, the shadow organization built to sabotage Nazi operations from within. The SOE didn't want career military. They wanted people who could disappear into occupied territory. People who spoke native French. People willing to accept that capture likely meant torture and execution. Odette knew the odds. She volunteered anyway. By 1942, she was operating in occupied France under the codename "Lise," coordinating resistance cells, organizing sabotage, funneling intelligence back to London. She worked alongside Captain Peter Churchill, building networks that struck at German supply lines and communications. For months, they were ghosts. Then a collaborator sold them out. Now she's in this room. In this chair. Facing men who have perfected the art of breaking human beings. And here's what they don't understand: Odette Sansom has already decided she won't break. Not for pain. Not for promises. Not even to save her own life. Because she knows that every name she gives means another agent tortured. Another resistance fighter executed. Another family destroyed. So she gives them nothing. Through months of interrogation. Through agony most of us can't fathom. Through solitary confinement and death threats. Nothing. The Gestapo eventually realizes they can't break her. They send her to Ravensbrück concentration camp, condemned under "Night and Fog" protocol, prisoners meant to vanish without trace. She survives more than a year there by convincing the commandant she's related to Winston Churchill. It's a complete lie, but it keeps her alive. When Allied forces arrive in 1945, that same commandant tries using her as a bargaining chip. The moment they reach American lines, Odette identifies him as a war criminal. He's arrested on the spot. Britain awarded her the George Cross, the highest civilian honor for courage. The citation was clear: for refusing to betray her comrades despite torture that would break nearly anyone. Then in 1951, someone stole the medal from her home. Months later, it arrived in the mail with an anonymous note. The thief had researched what it represented and couldn't live with keeping it. Even criminals recognized what that medal meant. Odette Sansom Hallowes lived to 82, spending decades honoring fallen comrades and embodying quiet strength. She always insisted she'd simply done what anyone should do. But that's not true. What she did was extraordinary. She proved that the most powerful resistance to tyranny isn't violence. It's the absolute refusal to break, no matter the cost. 📷© Imperial War Museums (Restored & Colorized) © Daughters of Time #drthehistories

@paulg Is Strava considered a social network? It’s for posting exercise like runs or rides (which we probably should be encouraging teenagers to do) but you also follow people and can post images and comments. Would that be banned? Should it?

While I generally support social network bans for teenagers, what if someone created a social network that actually helped them? They'd be forbidden to use this too.

The robots are coming and they will do your shopping. bernardmarr.com/selling-to-rob…

@csswizardry Yeah, but no fancy bike in the background any more!!!

🎞️ Here’s an example one:

🎥 I spent a few hours in the office this afternoon recording lots of short-form web perf tips and tricks. Keep an eye out!

@adamwathan It simplifies css.

Working on a new Tailwind CSS homepage so I’m curious — In your own words, why do you like using Tailwind in your projects?

@shanejones Do it.

Now that my fitness app is nearly complete, I think I've got a crazy side project challenge for the year. Build 12 apps in 2025, with an aim to generate £25k in revenue or acquisition costs. I currently have four ideas that have been on my ideas board for a while now. Might #buildinpublic too.

@shanejones Wel that is good news. Well done.

So thats me officially booked up with work until May 2025. 👀 Just in time for the Cricket season too 🎉 Should probably get a holiday booked in.

@dhh @lexfridman What about a @dhh teaches @lexfridman Rails livestream?

@lexfridman Couldn't have timed it better with Rails 8! Big leap forward, especially with Kamal 2. Happy to help with any questions.

Rails 8.0: The first release candidate has been pushed. We're getting close now! github.com/rails/rails/re…

@shanejones 56 off 37! Way to go Shane.

Finally back on midweek cricket form. 56 not out will do! #Cricket #CricketTwitter

@shanejones I don’t buy anything of value from a best-of list unless I’ve also watched several YouTube reviews which corroborate them. They rarely do. Google, like Amazon is rapidly losing trust through spamming us with crap.

Been wondering how long it would be before an article like this would get published. #seo housefresh.com/david-vs-digit…

@hobdaydesign Pay the $350 to @helloitsolly at Roast My Landing page. You'll get a 10min video of what is wrong and what you should fix. It's the best money you will ever spend.

@dwkns Thanks, this is useful. I'll make some changes based on this feedback.

The conversion rate on my paid design feedback service is awful. If you've got a moment, and can give constructive feedback, I'd like to know what you think of the offer. What would stop you from signing up? anthonyhobday.com/sideprojects/a…

@thatbenmiller @hobdaydesign That was my first thought too😂.

@hobdaydesign Wait is this sarcasm?

@hypeddev Decap (Netlify CMS) with @eleven_ty is great for when you just need to allow simple text and image updates.

If you were gonna make a super simple site that only needs one simple contact form and needs to be editable by a non-technical person, what would you use? I'm tempted to make a static site with Eleventy and then use Netlify Forms but editing content via GitHub isn't ideal..

@sinisaperovic @isralduke @eleven_ty @hygraph @sanity_io +1 for @sanity_io

@isralduke @eleven_ty @hygraph for complex content or clients and @sanity_io for the simpler ones.

if you were to use a CMS with #eleventy #11ty, what would you use? @eleven_ty

@simeonGriggs Come visit. You’re always welcome.

@dwkns Whoa looks amazing! 🤩

I love a good single-purpose domain name drillyourownwell.com

@adamsilverhq It’s not a mistake to ask what users want. It’s a mistake to blindly use those answers to influence your design. What the user says they want and what they actually need are (usually) very different things.

“If I had asked people what they wanted, they would have said faster horses.” - Henry Ford One of the biggest problems I see in user research is asking users what they want. But research is not about getting to a solution. It’s about understanding the problem.

Animate kids drawings. Brilliant stuff. fairanimateddrawings.com/site/home