According to the FindingAda website – 

Ada Lovelace Day (ALD) is an international celebration of the achievements of women in science, technology, engineering and maths (STEM) 

– back in 2010 I wrote about the influence Kathy Sierra had on my career (this still holds) and now 10 years later I’m finally drafting a sequel (still quicker than Avatar II).

If you are reading this there is every chance you are aware that usually I end the calendar year with my little (no) awards ceremony ‘The Jukesies’ and one of the categories is favourite blogger – another is favourite blogpost. 

In 2019 Anna Shipman was my favourite blogger and Rachel Coldicutt wrote my favourite blogpost. One of the reasons I am intending to skip the 2020 (no) awards is at the time of writing Anna and Rachel are neck and neck again and I thought it would be nice to just acknowledge that on today of all days.

Since Rachel stepped down as CEO of Doteveryone she has been blogging up a storm and as any illusion of technology not being political has been crushed in recent months she has become a consistent and thoughtful guide through the chaos of tech and data ethics that is entangled in every aspect of modern life. Time and again I find myself sharing her posts in-lieu of stumbling through another conversation about why I am uncomfortable with the latest decision that has been made with no thought of the consequences.

Here are three of my favourite posts that I really recommend you read;

Scream If You Want to Go Faster! Why Government Technology Needs (Much) Better Governance

Let’s occupy technology with love

Magical thinking and maintenance

Everytime Anna writes a new blogpost there is an extremely high possibility that I will become a better manager. Throughout 2019 and 2020 she has documented lesson after lesson she has learned in her role as Technical Director at the FT. Occasionally she writes something that reminds me she is a software developer at heart (like this one) but she regularly writes about becoming a better leader, books that have inspired her, processes she has implemented and skills she has learned and those posts always teach me something that I know I’ll come back to.

Here are three posts by Anna I totally recommend;

The difficult teenage years: Setting tech strategy after a launch

Unlocking value with durable teams

Why and how to do annual performance reviews

So thank you both for all the inspiration over the the last couple of years – your insights have taught me loads and given what a terrible student I am that is some achievement!

If anybody is interested in what is currently my favourite post of the year it is another FT related one Beyond quizzes: Streaming a radio show for your team remote social by Alice Bartlett et al