Joel Spolsky
CEO of Stack Overflow, co-founder of Fog Creek Software and creator of Trello
Discussion
M
Joel Spolsky
@spolsky · CEO and Co-founder, Stack Overflow
Hi! I'm Joel Spolsky. You may know me from my old blog Joel on Software, or as the creator of FogBugz or inventor and co-founder of Trello, but most people know me as the co-founder and CEO of Stack Overflow. I'm delighted to be here -- ask me anything!
upvotesharetweet・
Melissa Joy Kong
@melissajoykong · Content, Product Hunt
What are the 2-3 ways Trello power users best utilize the tool? In other words, what are most users missing out on?
M
Joel Spolsky
@spolsky · CEO and Co-founder, Stack Overflow
@melissajoykong One of the nice things about Trello is that there really aren't a lot of obscure secrets. That said, my favorite hidden feature is drag 'n' drop -- dragging URLs or files onto boards. Depending on where you're dragging from you often get something surprisingly useful. Also, the "q" keyboard shortcut (press "q" to see your own cards), and the "space" keyboard shortcut (hover your cursor over a card and press space to add yourself to it). Finally, did you know you can paste entire lists of things (from text, html, etc) into Trello and it will make them into multiple cards? I love that one
abb-8
@hairboat · Community Growth, Stack Overflow
@spolsky @melissajoykong My favorite thing is pasting a bunch of lines of something into a single checklist box and watching them cascade down boopboopboop into their own checklist items.
Melissa Joy Kong
@melissajoykong · Content, Product Hunt
@spolsky This is AWESOME. Thanks, Joel.
Barry Clark
@barrycnyc · VP of Engineering, Trello
@melissajoykong You might also enjoy the "How to use Trello like a pro" series on our blog: http://blog.trello.com/how-to-us...
John Eberly
@jeberly · Founder, Chatlio, live chat for slack
@spolsky I have been using Trello for years, and never knew about "q" and "space" shorts, thanks! I love Trello's simplicity and this helps sift through the cards. My only complaint is using search to find a card on a big board. It is hard to know where the found card really lives. I end up using cmd-F instead of built in search. I would prefer that that search results filter down the cards as fast and nicely as the "q" shortcut. #randomfeedback
Yann Bertrand
@_yannbertrand · Pokémon Master
You wrote the Joel Test ~16 years ago(!). Would you change anything about it if you had to write it today?
M
Joel Spolsky
@spolsky · CEO and Co-founder, Stack Overflow
@_yannbertrand I'd spell creat with an 'e'.
Eric Leschinski
@eric_leschinski
@spolsky @_yannbertrand I spoke of the joel test to a company in boston and they said: "the joel test???" Well jeez there's a blast from the past". I didn't push the issue further. I still think the joel test is totally reasonable and applicable today as it was 16 years ago. What do you say to people who regard it as they regard biting into a lemon?
M
Joel Spolsky
@spolsky · CEO and Co-founder, Stack Overflow
@_yannbertrand OK here's the non-glib answer; I would add something about whether you have "command and conquer" style management or some kind of "servant leadership" approach. In other words are the technical people the final decision makers.
M
Joel Spolsky
@spolsky · CEO and Co-founder, Stack Overflow
@eric_leschinski it is a blast from the past but, seriously, I don't think the profession of managing software engineering teams has really changed as much as people might think it has
Maxim Kazantsev
@mkazantsev · Software Engineer
Hi Joel! Looks like you've significantly decreased your public presence after all the things Joel on Software (the blog and the books). Why so? Do you have any plans on getting back to reflecting on your own experience and sharing your insights?
M
Joel Spolsky
@spolsky · CEO and Co-founder, Stack Overflow
@mkazantsev Ugh. Well, mostly it was because I wanted to be Jerry Seinfeld and go out at the top of my game, instead of being the Simpsons, which, I heard, they are STILL MAKING for some crazy reason. :-)
Also -- the bigger my companies got and the more influence I had, the harder it was to find things to write about without causing trouble. For example when I was a little twerp that nobody had ever heard of, I could make fun of a company like Cue:Cat. Now if I so much as SNEEZE at someone's cat babysitting startup app, entire groups of people will be plunged into depression.
M
Joel Spolsky
@spolsky · CEO and Co-founder, Stack Overflow
@mkazantsev also... it's SUPER HARD to have an experience, then blog about it, when the person sharing the experience with you is going to read your blog post the next day. Kinda makes relationships a bit tricky. I could have written 30 blog posts about "Stupid things VCs say in board meetings" for example
Michael Moeller
@mikewmoeller
Hi Joel, Stack Overflow has become a household name, so much so that non-developers are familiar with Stack Overflow. What were the key success factors in scaling Stack Overflow into such a successful and vibrant community?
M
Joel Spolsky
@spolsky · CEO and Co-founder, Stack Overflow
@mikewmoeller wow, so many things! But mostly:
* loading fast
* using Google as the front page
* tags instead of sub-communities
* wiki-style editing
* reputation
* badges
* community policing / scalable moderation
* voting
* Q + A instead of threaded discussion format
* sustainable business model with Careers
abb-8
@hairboat · Community Growth, Stack Overflow
What other names did you consider for your dog before you settled on Taco?
Jordan Scales
@jdan · Developer – Khan Academy
Hey Joel!
Your blog posts have been super informative for me as I start my career - the "New Developer" list is just pure gold. What was it like developing a habit for blogging? Did it just come naturally?
What sorts of tips can you offer for me, a total newbie, who wants to increase their blogging output and one day inspire many others?
Mike Coutermarsh
@mscccc · Code @ Product Hunt
JOEL! So excited that you're here on PH. 😀. We emailed ~10 years ago and your advice way back then had a huge influence on why I'm a dev now. Thank you <3 :)
I'd love to know, what's the one thing you've done in your professional career that scared you the most?
Thanks Joel 😀
Colin Devroe
@cdevroe · Co-founder, Plain
Hi Joel. With multiple projects going on at once, how do you decide how to split up your attention?
Ben Halpern
@bendhalpern · CTO of argohq.com and creator of dev.to
What do you think about the community's reaction to the new Stack Overflow code licensing policies and how do you think this change will be looked back on in a year or two?
M
Joel Spolsky
@spolsky · CEO and Co-founder, Stack Overflow
@bhalp1 I'll be the first to admit that the way we worked with the community on that particular issue wasn't the best, and our communication wasn't always clear. That said, we've gone back to step one and are working through this step by step with the full participation of the community and I'm sure we'll come to a conclusion that addresses most of the concerns and is the right answer.