Episode 355 | Jamon Holmgren - Context, Effort, Feedback

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Jamon Holmgren talks with Dave Rael about the joys of software, early exposure to business, figuring things out, open source, and the importance of context

Jamon (pronounced JAY-mun) is one of the founders and Chief Operating Officer of Infinite Red, a fully distributed app design and development agency based out of Portland, Oregon. He's been coding since he was twelve and professionally for over 14 years, working on projects across a broad range of industries. Jamon has spoken at conferences and meetups about technology topics and is also one of the hosts of "Building Infinite Red", a podcast with his cofounders that explains the philosophy and challenges of running a digital agency. Jamon lives in Vancouver, Washington, with his wife and four kids, and enjoys family, church, basketball, weightlifting, PC gaming, and contributing to open source software.

Chapters: 0:36 - Dave introduces the show and Jamon Holmgren3:01 - Jamon's early exposure to running a business and the distinction between working on the business vs working in the business5:55 - Jamon's business history and the history of Infinite Red9:38 - Jamon's daily activities - business work and opportunities to write some code14:09 - Business and family15:52 - Jamon on remote teams21:39 - Creating a conference24:18 - Jamon's motivations for involvement in conferences25:39 - What Infinite Red does27:13 - Jamon on podcasting30:21 - How Jamon got starting in software36:28 - Jamon's story of failure - deficiency of setting expectations, failure to share important context42:54 - Jamon's book recommendation44:25 - Jamon's top 3 tips for delivering more value47:23 - Keeping up with Jamon

Resources: Infinite Red Building Infinite Red - Jamon's podcast, co-hosted with his co-founders Chain React - The React Native Conference Mike Tyson – “everyone has a plan until they get punched in the mouth”. David Heinemeier Hansson on Developer On Fire Basecamp Shawni Danner Ryan Linton Darin Wilson Woody Zuill on Developer On Fire Labor Theory of Value Kyle Shevlin on Developer On Fire

Jamon's book recommendation: Antifragile: Things That Gain from Disorder (Incerto) - Nassim Nicholas Taleb Jason Fried Books David Heinemeier Hansson Books

Jamon's top 3 tips for delivering more value: Realize that value is often very disconnected from effort Gather as much context as possible Establish a feedback loop