Mark Shead has worked as a system administrator, network administrator, IT director, and software engineer in a variety of industries. Currently, he works with startups and on startup style projects within larger organizations. His focus is on getting better business results by improving software engineering processes–paying particular attention to the human element. This includes helping teams follow Agile principles, using DevOps to drive the delivery of business value, and engineering process improvements.
(Posted here so I can find it again next time I need it.)
Hi Mark:
I just finished reading your article about state machines (from Feb 2011)–I found it very helpful and very well written, if I may say.
I am a senior-level and “fairly techy” technical writer (so my compliment about your writing should have more meaning (LOL)). I write documentation for an industry consortium that develops data exchange standards for the oil and gas industry. I get to work with a lot of “scary-smart” people. I myself am not “scary smart” but I consider myself “smart enough” to hang on the fringes of the “scary smart” to write the documentation.
I took intro to comp sci and other technical courses many years ago, so I had previously heard of state machines and knew the general concept. It’s an important concept for a relatively new data-transmission protocol our group is developing, so I needed to find out more. Your article was exactly what I needed: more detailed and written clearly and succinctly. I am now bookmarking your page for my future needs.
I like to take the time to thank people for their good and helpful work.
Sincere kind regards,
Donna
Thanks Donna. I appreciate hearing that you found the article useful.
Hi Mark,
Thank you for all your efforts, highly appreciated. I am a scrum master and would love to start a small scale coaching platform but love your use of cartoon illustrations and was wondering if you would not mind pointing me in the right direction on the tools and learning the skills required to get started. I can see you will be too busy for some serious hand-holding or mentoring so any help will be greatly appreciated. Most importantly thank you once again for all the things you are doing here!