Test.Bash(); 2021 - How Do You Stay Tool Aware? - Ajay Balamurugadas & Rahul Parwal

Ajay Balamurugadas & Rahul Parwal have taken the time to share with us how they go about staying tool aware.

We’ll use this Club thread to share resources mentioned during the session and answer any questions we don’t get to during the live session.

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Questions answered during the talk:

  1. Which tools are your “guilty pleasure” Perhaps it is not the best of the best but you do have a sentimental attachment?

  2. This was mentioned in the chat by Mark Tomlinson (just to give the true credit!) Do either of you have banned/do not use tools lists?

  3. How do you stop yourself from going beyond that excellent five minute constraint to explore tools? I imagine it can be tricky if you find something cool.

Questions we didn’t get to:

  1. Do you give the “failed tools” a second chance upon their updates?

  2. Do you ever run into the problem that over time you are using multiple tools for the same function, ending up with a spot of tooling tech debt?

Resources mentioned:

https://twitter.com/parwalrahul
https://twitter.com/ajay184f

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Do you give the “failed tools” a second chance upon their updates?

Ajay: Sometimes, I do give it a second chance. Sometimes, I don’t. Maybe, a lot of it depends on how fresh the bad memory is. Also, how badly I need the tool.

Rahul: Depends on the level of fail, experience with alternative tools, how promising is the update, etc. However, it should really have something great in the update otherwise I generally don’t give a second chance to the same tool.

Do you ever run into the problem that over time you are using multiple tools for the same function, ending up with a spot of tooling tech debt?

Ajay: Using multiple tools for the same task, yes, it has happened multiple times. XMind, MindMeister, FreeMind and so on. The trick is to identify the unique value add of each tool and see if the value add is a must in this context. If not, any tool is ok.

Rahul: Know at least three tools for one task, Use the best as per your context. Tooling Tech Debt is one extreme thing, On the other extreme is being in a situation where you just know/use one tool for a task. The problem with this other extreme is that: If all you know is a hammer, then everything looks like a nail. Strike the balance between these two extremes. Use the Rule of Three to guide you (when in doubt)!