.NET
Implementing Modern API Versioning in .NET (via Nick Chapsas)
- The typical way to version is to disambiguate by calling the first “v1/foo” and second “v2/foo”
- Use the Nuget package Asp.Versioning.Http. At startup use .AddApiVersioning() and .NewApiVersionSet(). The endpoint gets .WithApiVersionSet(…).MapToApiVersion(n). From here the URL looks like /foo?api-version=x. If no version is specified, you get a BadRequest. You can specify a default, though. You can add .ReportApiVersions() at setup to have the body return which ones are supported.
- You can send via the content type header as well.
- You can also integrate with OpenAPI and Swagger.
Career
How to Answer “Tell Me About a Time You Failed” in a Job Interview (via HBR)
This question is more about what you learned and how you prevailed. This article lays out eight areas to highlight with example responses.
Collaboration
A Better Approach to After-Action Reviews (via HBR)
In the Agile realm, AARs typically take the form of retrospectives and post mortems. This article describes several myths that people believe around ARRs as well as suggestions on how to make AARs more engaging and effective.
Communication
Writing Is Magic (via SWLW)
Clarity, time, scale, authority, and memory. I also like the idea of instilling a reading culture.
Group Dynamics
Today’s Most Critical Workplace Challenges Are About Systems (via HBR)
Most interventions to problems focus on individuals rather than their environment. We would do better to use a systems thinking approach to understand why certain less-than-desirable behaviors are easier and more tolerated.
Managing Your Team’s Emotional Dynamic (via HBR)
“Collective emotion, when a group of people shares an emotion, is often stronger than a single individual feeling that same emotion alone. So, how can leaders manage emotions, particularly negative ones, from taking over a team? Four strategies from psychology — situation modification, shifting attention or creating distraction, reappraisal, and response modulation — can help bring down the temperature.”
Managing Others
Managers, Stop Distracting Your Employees (via HBR)
Thankfully many of these tips I use. I especially like the aspect where managers need to open a dialogue about distractions, given they may be the source of them.
Managing Yourself
How to Make Peace with Feeling Less Ambitious (via HBR)
The author mentions the increased level of work stress and that people are having difficulty being okay with not giving their all. Suggested approaches are (1) change up your strategy when it’s not serving you, (2) avoid comparing yourself with others, (3) realizing that sometimes you don’t need more, you need different. My personal take (from a US perspective) is that there is a fear or lack of trust that if we aren’t ambitious, we won’t make it. It’s difficult to be adequate when there’s another potential employee out there who will exceed adequacy for the same or lower pay.
Reflection
Looking Back — and Ahead — to Set Your Team Up for Success (via HBR)
This article describes the process for conducting pre-mortems (how a project could go) and post-mortems (how a completed project went). I specifically liked the advice of getting an outside facilitator.