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Adam Collins

@m104@mastodon.social

mastodon 4.8.0-nightly.2026-10-06

We can strip it all down, element by element, piece by piece, and throw out everything we don't agree with, but we cannot build what we like that way, no matter how hard we try

☀️: Enduring the long, hot summer
📷: Capturing the world

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12 Posts

Joined April 20, 2017

Adam Collins @m104@mastodon.social

· 2mo ago

Replying to

@mcc@mastodon.social What's cooler is that doing so starts to teach Systems Theory by observation, which is not something that's (generally) formally taught and definitely not intuitive for people who are used to thinking about individual components

Adam Collins @m104@mastodon.social

· 3mo ago

Replying to

@mike_bowler@hachyderm.io Many years ago I had a coworker say, very astutely after a very long retro meeting, "we think that talking about it is the solution" and I've never heard a more concise definition of broken engineering retrospective culture

Adam Collins @m104@mastodon.social

· 7mo ago

@maco Upton Sinclair and something something about getting people to understand what their salary demands that they do not

Adam Collins @m104@mastodon.social

· 5mo ago

Replying to

@Daojoan@mastodon.social the other people (don’t have to name them) first convince these people that they don’t know how to do business properly, then start making the product bad, then fight the customer, then ask for a bailout

Adam Collins @m104@mastodon.social

· 6mo ago

Replying to

@jschauma@mstdn.social There's an ugly world where experienced staff are considered "essential workers" and therefore not allowed to not work in order to keep the pipes from bursting

Adam Collins @m104@mastodon.social

· 7mo ago

I lost a friend today and they don't know it yet.

They've become a mouthpiece for a dangerously incompetent government regime and are on video supporting said regime with their full-throated voice.

I don't think this ex-friend knows that they have split with reality. I don't think they know that they have caused damage. I'd *like* to think that they are just scared of losing their paycheck. Because they are paid to use their voice.

Regardless, this is the choice that they actively chose.

Adam Collins @m104@mastodon.social

· 5mo ago

Replying to

@grimalkina@mastodon.social Tech has become intensely PvP and too many people are paid way too much money to figure out how to undermine each other. It's has basically become a requirement to build PvP into our vocabulary just to have any chance of being heard or being taken seriously. I think it will take an overwhelming collective sense of loss before a more natural cooperative PvE mentality rises again, but the gears grind in the meantime, regardless.

Adam Collins @m104@mastodon.social

· 5mo ago

Replying to

@Robotistry@fediscience.org Yes! Going Postal is literally one of my book recs for people who either haven’t read Pratchett or who have lost their passion for reading altogether 😊

Adam Collins @m104@mastodon.social

· 6mo ago

Replying to

@jochenwolters@mastodon.social "mediocre at best" 💯 2D UX design really was solved, and we enjoyed it, but the pendulum swung back hard and now modern "clean" design aims to save us from information and functionality, because "friction" or something. Sympathetically, I know modern designers are saying and doing the things that ensure comfortable employment (similar to my AI-chugging software engineering friends), but I can't help but notice the lackluster output, defeatist vibes, and historical disconnect.

Adam Collins @m104@mastodon.social

· 6mo ago

Replying to

@jochenwolters@mastodon.social The 2010-2014 time frame was so good for UX design, particularly on multi-touch screens. There were so many apps from that time, pushing the industry forward, that do not exist today. Covering the entire screen with information and allowing for customization are just not common anymore. I shudder listening to UX / UX researcher friends obsess about button placement and interactivity refinement, while being unaware of the user friendly functionality available just 10 years ago.

Adam Collins @m104@mastodon.social

· 6mo ago

Replying to

@nikitonsky@mastodon.online when the pendulum swings back, someday, will we see no rounded rects?

Adam Collins @m104@mastodon.social

· 3mo ago

Replying to

@cwebber@social.coop wait, does this work?!