Michael T. Starks

Category: Software

  • Flash Boys

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    Today, I finished reading the book Flash Boys, by Michael Lewis. It’s one of my favorites! We all know that our financial system is susceptible to undue influence by “bad actors”. There are many reasons we feel like things are stacked against us. And sometimes, they are. Michael Lewis identifies a fascinating time in the…

  • The Benefits of Software

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    The benefits of software are often one or more steps removed from the software developers who actually do the work. Here are a few examples from my career as a software developer. Why does this matter? Software developers feel good about their work when it is well designed. This is an intrinsic motivator. That being…

  • RHIC to EIC!

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    Wow! It’s the end of an era, one that I was able to sample over 25 years ago. This article tells part of the story. I suppose some people can work on a single project throughout their entire careers, but this has not been my experience. One of my first “work” adventures happened while I…

  • Projects First!

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    I haven’t written a blog post for a while, and I’m okay with that. Working on meaningful projects is more important than writing daily (or even weekly) blog posts. So yes, this is my declaration that I’ve been working on a meaningful project! And no, I’m not ready to disclose any specific details. Some books…

  • Human Authored

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    I stumbled upon the following link today. https://authorsguild.org/human-authored Are people going to care “…in an increasingly AI-saturated market” that books are still being written by humans without AI assistance? I’m curious how copyright law is going to change in the coming years. For companies that use AI to write software, I’m pretty sure they’re going…

  • Nostalgia

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    As I get older, I like to reflect on what’s been important in my life. It’s a long list. I probably don’t share enough of the stories that have made me who I am. While we are always changing, we can’t ignore the impact of our earlier selves. As a kid, I was afraid of…

  • Work Patterns

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    I was a physics instructor for about five years. I was an aerospace engineer for about five years. I was a video game developer for about five years. I wrote software for various companies for another five years. I’ve been at Terumo BCT for about six years, which is the longest time I’ve ever worked…

  • How Do I Contribute?

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    While I find many ways to contribute, I want to consider the more constricted view of contribution as making money for someone. As a kid, I sometimes sold lemonade at a popup lemonade stand on hot summer days. My mom provided the half-cut lemons, water, sugar, bowl, ladle, and plastic cups. I did the mixing,…

  • Chickens and Pigs

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    There is a concept from Scrum, a methodology useful in software development, with wider implications. Here’s Ken Schwaber’s The Chicken and Pig story. While both are necessary, there is a difference between being involved in a project and being committed to a project. Involvement is great. You can inspire the team doing the work, you…

  • Software Consultants

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    Writing software is not easy. Getting a large group of software developers to write quality software together is particularly challenging. For this reason, many people have come up with ways to help groups of software engineers improve how they write software together. Software Consultants can also be process innovators. They advise teams to try new…