Planning for Unexpected Absentees

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The Art of Vacations

Taking a good vacation is as important as getting a good night's sleep (*very important*).  It may sound silly on its face, but planning a vacation and planning around your vacation is extremely important to ensure that you are in the right headspace the rest of the year.  This is especially true in the COVID era where many of us are working from home.  In this episode, we dive into why vacations are so important, how to plan a relaxing vacation, and how to make sure that your team is supported while you are out.

Intro topic: 
Virgin Galactic and Virgin Orbit and Blue Origin

News/Links:

• TextStyleBrush: Transfer of Text Aesthetics from a Single Example
  • https://deepai.org/publication/textstylebrush-transfer-of-text-aesthetics-from-a-single-example
• Berkshire Hathaway Stock Price integer overflow
  • https://www.theregister.com/2021/05/07/bug_warren_buffett_rollover_nasdaq/
• LineageOS
  • https://lineageos.org/
• Crafting Interpreters is now an actual book
  • https://craftinginterpreters.com/

Book of the Show

• Jason: How to lead in product management
  • https://amzn.to/2UcPzPK
• Patrick: Holy Sister (Book of the Ancestor #3) by Mark Lawrence
  • https://amzn.to/3fVZscn

Audible Plug http://www.audibletrial.com/programmingthrowdown

Patreon Plug https://www.patreon.com/programmingthrowdown?ty=h

Tool of the Show

• Jason: 7 Billion Humans
• Patrick: Moss (Oculus VR, PC VR, PS VR)

Topic: Vacations

• Why
  • 7 types of rest https://ideas.ted.com/the-7-types-of-rest-that-every-person-needs/
  • Gives you energy for the next crunch
  • Stepping back provides perspective
  • Preparing the team for unexpected absences
• Why not
  • Can lose context
  • Missed opportunities
  • Slipped deadlines
• How to set up the perfect vacation
  • Handing off responsibility
  • Documenting code
  • Decide how much to work on vacation
• How to be on vacation
  • Pre-cation
  • Handling crises / unexpected events
  • Post-cation
• How to come back from vacation
  • Create email filters / smart folders
  • Skim new pull requests / scrum documents
  • Review chat logs 
• Types of vacations
  • 1-3 days: delay results
  • 1-2 weeks: Deputize
  • 3+ weeks: Replace

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