Something missing from this series on estimation, until now, has been a discussion of how to “break down” a project into a well-defined task list. I’d not previously written about this because, to me, it’s largely intuitive. But it isn’t for everyone, so this post fills the gap, and explains in detail how I break down projects into a task list.

1. Tagged with
2. programming
3. project management

• 📱 I've realized there's a few different habits I have from growing up without a whole lot. One of them is using things until they're falling apart... and then some. It's good because it means you're not always out spending money on things you just want and don't actually need. But sometimes using things for so long begins to introduce some (big or small) stresses and annoyances into your life that you just kinda get used to.
  
  Enter my iPhone XR. I bought it when it came out in 2018 to replace my iPhone 6+. I only bought the XR because of hardware fatigue on my 6+. One of the pins broke so I was no longer able to charge it...it was bitter sweet using it for it's final charge...knowing that it wouldn't wake up.
  
  It's been 5.5 years since I got my XR. I've replaced the battery on it...at least once and the current one is almost in needs servicing territory. As you can imagine software hasn't gotten any nimbler since its release. Launching the camera from the lock screen used to be instant-ish. Now it takes seconds, if it even works, causing me to miss opportunities or introduce some unneeded frustration and or friction into my day. Searching for apps takes ages. Every interaction on it has gotten slower.
  
  But It still technically works just fine. I can make calls on it and it charges. I don't need to worry about a pin breaking to charge it (I usually use a charging pad). It must be under-clocking itself because of the the battery health, so another new battery would probably eek out another couple of years on it.
  
  But I've noticed these aforementioned habits of mine and I'm going to try and change them. Buying a new phone isn't a financial burden (thankfully 🙏🏻). I don't even want a new phone, I'd be happy if my current phone just worked like it did when it was new. Either way, it is causing me stress and 'tis the season to use some of my hard earned yennies to remove stress.
  
  This is a very long-winded (public) justification just to say I ordered a yellow 256GB iPhone 14. I considered a t 15, but that yellow was not nearly yellow enough. I'm curious to see how it compares to my yellow XR. 
• 📡 Removing more stress, I'm looking at changing cell providers as well. I currently use OCN Mobile ONE. Two phones, both with voicemail and 10GB of data is around ¥4,000 a month. But it's an MVNO, so data is frequently slow during rush hour. We also run out of data towards the end of the month (you may remember a bullet point dedicated to this on our last visit to Disney in December). Whenever I go aboard I have to buy a sim card/e-sim and deal with that. 'tis the season to use some of my hard earned yennies to remove stress.
  
  I'm looking at switching to Docomo's ahamo. It will work out to be a bit more per month, but whatever. It has more data, the same docomo network quality I'm accustom to (excellent), and international data included, so I'm never without connectivity abroad.
• 🏢 I've been promoted to the global Head of Engineering for Comms (inbound/outbound emails/sms/phone calls etc..) at work. I'm excited by the new challenge of leading a much larger  team. Though this does mean my number of pull requests will likely significantly decrease...maybe more energy for Tanzawa? (Probably not)
• 💈 In preparation for graduating pre-school Leo got his hair cut. The barber asked me if I wanted them to shampoo his hair...my response was the same as usual, ask Leo (it's not my hair/head). To my surprise (and hence why it's being included), Leo got his hair washed for the first time while getting his haircut 💪.

• 👨‍🍳 Rather than cooking 2x-3x a day as we usually do, last week I did a bit more cooking either in advance (2 lasagnas instead of one) or also cooked dinner when I was making Leo's bento in the morning. It made the evenings so much easier and less rushed. I should try to do this every week.
• 🥖 I've been wanting a good chewy wheat bread for a while and I can't find it in these parts, so baked bread for the first time in ages. It turned out great. It's so easy to make bread that tastes 10x better than what you can buy in the store, why do I ever stop?  This time around Leo helped me weigh and mix the bread. I hope to continue getting him involved in baking so when he's older he has the confidence in the kitchen to give it a go...and maybe remember those days with Dad baking bread.
• 📘 I usually buy ebooks from Rakuten. The site's horrible and search sucks, but I can download the epub files (strip DRM) and load them into my Kindle. That way I'm not entirely locked into the Amazon ecosystem. I wanted something new to read and after deciding on the title, I thought how to get it. I briefly considered immediately sailing the seas to get it, but instead decided to buy it, expecting to be able to download it as I always have been so I'm "doing the right thing".  And for whatever reason they've removed the download button from the books page...so I ended up having to sail the seas so I could load the book I purchased onto my kindle 🤦. 
• 📕 Reading before bed has helped turn off my brain, allowing me to rest better. I tried to read some non-fiction ( Supercommunicators (the book purchased above)), but it kept me thinking about worky things. Rather I'm finding fiction (Lord of the Rings, currently) better to read before bed, even if it's just a couple of pages. I think this is important as I usually don't make time for reading fiction. That and I can slowly join the ranks of "people who've actually read the book and not just seen the movies", for whatever that's worth.

And what the latest swing from skinny to wide tells us about ourselves.

1. Tagged with
2. fashion