Say It Ain’t So, Joel
When it comes to software development and programming, few people have been read, linked to, tweeted, quoted or plagiarized more than Joel Spolsky (@spolsky). But despite his adoring fans, the widely known blogger and entrepreneur has decided to give up the former (his wildly popular blog) to focus on the latter (his growing business).
Joel’s final farewell – Let’s Take This Offline – appeared on Inc.com a few days ago, where he discussed the fallacy of blogging as business strategy, time commitment and the common mistakes of most company blogs. Of course, he also addressed his reasons for “retiring”:
So, having become an Internet celebrity in the narrow, niche world of programming, I’ve decided that it’s time to retire from blogging. March 17, the 10th anniversary of Joel on Software, will mark my last major post. This also will be my last column for Inc. For the most part, I will also quit podcasting and public speaking. Twitter? “Awful, evil, must die, CB radio, sorry with only 140 chars I can’t tell you why.”
The truth is, as much as I’ve enjoyed it, blogging has become increasingly impossible to do the way I want to as Fog Creek has become a larger company. We now have 32 employees and at least six substantial product lines. We have so many customers that I can’t always write freely without inadvertently insulting one of them. And my daily duties now take so much time that it has become a major effort to post something thoughtful even once or twice a month.
Hopefully, this retirement will be of the Brett Favre variety. If not, here are a few of his memorable posts on software testing, in tribute.
- Why Testers?: Joel explains why testers should be a part of any software organization, and offer tips as to what qualities make some testers better than others. (Hint: a background in programming is not one of them).
- Top Twelve Tips for Running a Beta Test: Open betas don’t work and they can’t be completed in under ten weeks. These are just a few of his tips for running beta tests.
- Top Five (Wrong) Reasons You Don’t Have Testers: There’s a lot you don’t know about why you don’t have testers. Confused? You should be. You better read this article.
- Painless Bug Tracking: “One of the biggest incorrect facts that programmers consistently seem to believe is that they can remember all their bugs or keep them on post-it notes.”
Good luck Joel. Your views and insights will be missed.
After reading Why Testers?, I wanted to apply for the testing position at his company. Oh, wait, is he reading this?
Haha. Not sure if he’s retired from reading blogs as well
I wrote about that “Why Testers” article a few weeks back – and you’re right, the man knows his stuff.
Great post. I hadn’t heard. I agree it’s a shame. Joel’s extremely insightful and entertaining as well.
I just RT’d a tweet by @michaelbolton yesterday about a fantastic post Joel wrote in 2008 about Microsoft’s impending browser compatibility conundrum (in particular) and the challenge of balancing the competing needs of “consistent standards” on the one hand vs. “backwards compatibility” on the other hand (in general).
” hexawise: +1 Great article on browser compatibility conundrum – RT @michaelbolton BRILLIANT post by Joel Spolsky from 2008. http://bit.ly/7DRKOx “
Thanks for the comment Justin. And the link.
You’re right about him being insightful AND entertaining. That’s an extremely rare trait among technology writers (hence his popularity).
Who will fill the void?
I predict Mike Brown will fill this gaping void left by Joel’s sudden silence… but I’m probably biased
You think anyone will notice if I just cut-and-paste all of his old articles?
Mike does kind of look like a blond Joel Spolsky.