Episode 139 | Amitai Schlair - Making Lives Better

Guest: Amitai Schlair @schmonz Amitai Schlair talks with Dave Rael about bringing out the best in people, expectations, relationships, simplicity, and that it's never too late Amitai Schlair (@schmonz) is a software development coach, legacy code wrestler, non-award-winning musician, and award-winning bad poet. He publishes fixed-length micropodcasts at Agile in 3 Minutes, writes variable-length articles at schmonz.com, and contributes code and direction to notable open-source projects such as NetBSD, pkgsrc, and ikiwiki. Amitai’s ideas, prose, music, and puns have manifested at multiple conference including, the International Rachmaninoff Conference, and the Alfred Joyce Kilmer Memorial Bad Poetry Contest. Chapters: 1:20 - Dave introduces the show and Amitai Schlair3:11 - The nature of "bad poetry5:05 - The Agile in 3 Minutes podcast11:13 - Amitai's definition of value13:46 - The things that "light Amitai up"18:11 - How Amitai got started in software24:29 - Amitai's story of failure - Identity tied to academic success and a crisis in self-concept29:45 - Amitai's relationship with Erik Dietrich32:10 - Amitai's use of Twitter to grow and learn and participate36:36 - Amitai's success story - becoming a coach and bringing out the best in people39:30 - "It's nice if somebody gets better at test-driving; it's wonderful if somebody's life is better"40:35 - How Amitai stays current with what he needs to know41:39 - The things that have Amitai most excited42:53 - Amitai's causes of pain and suffering45:57 - The things about which Amitai likes to geek out49:36 - Amitai's prediction for the future of software52:08 - Amitai's top 3 tips for delivering more value54:05 - Keeping up with Amitai Resources: Amitai's Blog Agile in 3 Minutes - The simplest podcast that could possibly work Amitai's "Bad Poetry" Mark Seemann on Test Driven Development Mark Seemann on Developer On Fire Richard Campbell on Developer On Fire ticalc.org TI-82 TI-92 Macintosh Plus Erik Dietrich on Developer On Fire Linda Rising on Developer On Fire Carol Dweck Growth Mindset vs Fixed Mindset Is TDD Dead? Uncle Bob Martin at Software Craftsmanship North America 2013 Uncle Bob Martin on Developer On Fire Amitai's book recommendation: Twitter Amitai's top 3 tips for delivering more value: Know why it matters Know yourself Make your teammates great