Top Reads of the Week — 12/19/20
We are almost at the end of 2020 and what a year it’s been, I think everyone can agree on that. I’ve been reading a lot lately — both books and articles.
Here’s my top reads for the week, including what I’ve learned along the way.
#1 — The Storybook Add-on ecosystem is impressive.
It’s been a few months since I’ve checked out what’s new at Storybook, the last big news was version 6.0 — at work we are using 5.0, so it’s time to upgrade now that it’s been out a few months.
Now there are over 200+ add-ons, two that caught my are are:
- Accessibility: https://www.npmjs.com/package/@storybook/addon-a11y
- Performance: https://www.npmjs.com/package/storybook-addon-performance
Two areas that I’m hoping will get more of a focus in 2021. With Google’s change to how they index based on Web Vitals, having more ways to measure and improve performance of web apps is definitely helpful.
#2– Trends for a better customer experience in 2021
Full Story is one of my top apps for the year, there is so much data that you can pull from their app on customer behavior and it has been invaluable for finding bugs within our websites.
This list from Full Story of trends is excellent, there has been lots happening with the pandemic this year — it’s really pushed Digital Transformation along for many companies. It will be interesting to see how 2021 pans out, as the article mentions — customers expectations are changing rapidly.
#3 — Shape Up: Stop Running in Circles and Ship Work that Matters
I discovered this free online book by the team behind Basecamp.com. It’s called Shape Up, and like their other books it’s an easy read. I love the way they attack projects, from the problem statement to setting boundaries. This is told from the point of view of having clients, but it can definitely be applied to in-house teams servicing a marketing plan.
Definitely worth a read!
Music for the week
Trey Anastasio, The Beacon Jams
I’m a huge Phish fan, seen them over 40 times since becoming a fan in 1994, I’d never heard this song. I just figured it was off a solo album, but its actually off his “Ghosts of the Forests” album which I’d heard him talk about in an interview that he dedicated it to a friend he lost. It’s my new obsession for this week, I’ve been listening to the album on repeat. It’s so well done, so grown up for Trey.
Drift While Your Sleeping
It’s love, it’s love
It always was
And it is and it always will be loveWe move through stormy weather
We know that our days are few
We dream and we struggle together
And love will carry us through
