Desafinado

In other trades we often speak about experience in terms of 'mastering' a trade, but in software it's usually phrased in ambiguous corporate goals like '10x productivity'.

If we set aside productivity and view software as a trade and craft, which skills do you think are inherent in someone who's reached a level of mastery in the field?

I'm at a bit of a crossroads these days. Meta is a repulsive company and I prefer not to share any data with them or engage with their products, but there is a whole slough of distant connections I'd permanently lose touch with if I stopped using those products.

A bit of a cliche topic but I'm interested in hearing what others think of relationships like this. How do you feel about these distant contacts who are undeniably friends but who don't have enough time for us.

Lately I'm wondering if the whole game of social media is to leverage people's FOMO. Social media feels like the tribe that we'll lose if we leave. But is it true?

The general gist I keep reading throughout the industry these days is that estimating tasks with story points is no longer recommended. On one side of it taking the time to make the estimate is a waste of time because the estimate is usually wrong, and on the other side of it, by obsessing over velocity we have developers trying to hit speed rather than quality metrics.

All that being said, I'm interested to hear from others who are a part of teams that aren't using story points to plan sprints. Which methods have you used? What worked, what didn't?