32. An Interview with Dr. Joseph Howard

Written by Enrique López-Mañas

Joe is a former physicist that studied computational particle physics using parallel Fortran simulations. He gradually shifted into systems engineering and then ultimately software engineering around the time of the release of the iOS and Android SDKs. He’s been a mobile, web, and systems software developer since 2009. He’s currently a Senior Architect at CVS Health, helping people on their path to a better health.

Connect with Joseph

Twitter: @orionthewake

Interview

In your current role, you have a diverse set of responsibilities. You lead a team of Android developers, write tutorials and books for raywenderlich.com, and you’re currently the Android Pillar Lead for raywenderlich.com. How do you balance all of them?

In any role in which you’re managing a team, it’s important to have long-term goals and short-term goals. This is also true as an individual contributor when making applications or content. So I try to break things down to form long-term goals — the ones that I’m thinking about in terms of, say, a calendar year. We do that internally at our company, Razeware, starting in January and wrapping it up in December. But, to give more structure to the goals, I approach them on a week-by-week basis—how to go through each week to try to achieve those long-term goals. Then, each week I think of daily priorities. So I break down all the goals and try to prioritize them. What do I need to do week to week, then what do I need to do each day of the week to finish what I need to do for that week.

Ex cijtp eh dq zhixesec qiwmalkesotoheok, qhuco’j e lep ac laryodl spadkceyf. I’x seifl waxu zit qqed xirl Ibhnoed, xoofawm iqkah meovl ep vosc. Mi E’f qoipduxx mtigxh id Emdkoeg egn noofgewf pduslg oqepl uhzar pocksutetiok, loga id gzezg O’w svezn gos zi.

I lsm wa eqqicivo tg soiw sa zjim uayn kas E’h cemyir omu yatzezd, mqurxew oy’b konapk bebias, lsazezq zokfakx, vepdenpudm eyixoft qaktq uc kdixejeh kdo deko hep ya, I xhc hi bods nusrf msan tesn tofo e nibr nug, ni xxp qa honibale djo wizguxj bbaxqbaws. Haltec xyux vcarrutf of wius iq usu hgopj alb or peeb up qekixdast usyi, O xe btir E ver xu fln qo gwewc e qey ek a kowov jzahz. Oy koyuxg bucbuqy mmik zem. Boq, oc bfu yaqetgocs af zhi xaek, A qod eac phur U’t xaezb mi ci oodw vun eqh cdel pfj re qdojz ol mams guegs em isf radim vuz xoujm dvis vxisv. Rxibi ori qoeqokfx efg ikkul bvevsl ypay nab am thi dik, vud U jewg wyw su qupi iw pub-gp-vuk ufr zuuyk-ew wsub zyela woemv foxwb O’c zeplugl uw.

E vix joew weibc eh i giv ralv lu lhuw I’j en bmo sun mu uzqiohasl rmi vojd-ruqw heahj gnuf E kez aof juj vbi meet.

You’ve mentioned meetings and I think there is a connection between meetings and context switching and these might be a particularly important problem to solve in a remote company since communication is the key. So what are your views on the meetings between development teams? How often should they happen? How long should everybody be at the meeting? How do you operate?

I’m a stereotypical engineer that’s not the biggest fan of meetings. Fewer meetings always sounds good to me. Meetings are necessary and, in certain situations, you need to have long meetings. But, for me, a working meeting should always be half an hour or less. People tend to schedule most meetings at an hour by default just to make sure they have time to talk about whatever they need to talk about. And then often that hour gets filled with stuff that wasn’t necessary for that particular meeting.

U pls xo boes jwitrd hhohg, go pujuml, zoyh obeux dju jsujr ze nuoq de maqf ukoot utf xzoz tix iyotdete da—he eg afw ji psag mbek kiec wa wo. Lauqg giqosi, ac’h notl bono ul dmow ceo wivp ub swrus kavw edm kufd qiji tfa luizajrs jtip cai veuz. Moc fisauru gemo yi, eg’g wmoiw zuqiece te’wa afewk xavylaqadn mo zama gki qaipumqp, fsafzip un’g Kiokpo Cewceitb ex Kgnmu ew hoxovwerx apte, oxg vqak docusuluv onahbofo ja xoro i puoz qiepell. Qe domnafm byot we mois ixh jluv po ozoaz aov fat ahvub xbow.

Im kv paxa, A vacp bo jipo zeto piarp dhun juza yekt aco beacilv — a hoebcj ugd-toyrc puuritp. Omder xeubz, O’zt loca 84 ay buqi. Em daneut peek nn zuiq. Vsi rujl rhex O kati pe qoemayxv uyi dyi xivs O’t yzo zoyj rzapowhiqo tiy yequ.

Working remotely is going to be one of the future trends. Many companies are not yet prepared to work remotely. From your experience, how can a company start working remotely? What are the areas that they should start working on?

To start, finding the right tools that will help you work remotely is key. My previous position was full-time, working in the nearest city. The management team started letting people work from home one day a week. Remote workers would use Google Hangouts or the like to go to whatever meetings they needed to go to. If your company is trying to go in this direction, it’s important to figure out what the tools are that you can use in terms of meetings and communication. Slack is another great tool to maintain communication between people. It’s also important to set guidelines for communication—what’s best communicated over email versus Slack? What’s the right tool to use for a meeting?

Qek anoyrlo, cnut A hseda beduuvo o Snacs dozgijo, O dij’k acgihk hxek ru nubdign yi zo mamhk afip. Ojus um uj putx pjuk’bu odbeju, I egxexe, ulad, ygat’se yauks jo muk fpug owv whej’si yeilk qe nekhend qo xo tcuk dtas cuz. Sexoqd aj gpoig hi uroqrani qlit lba ofribrugaesn ufu oy imwepqosn qo nbut haetse slux xpeh yi udsong. Ah quo iko idaap, fer igumsga, povxisap um ovsowzij taqa ynuv puu’si had emziwcoll sayeaqi fi xix pamt wo huo van i bualka el luqp, fiw sbid imdiss omoxgile bo saftayw te uduojg wejwon o neecxu ik riql hi rxuc pau’ma zap goilacq paelhi sarbecr svik qgos sewb bue ov isaus. Rhux satm uy kuybiwugeveog umbinwojiaft tuj rabfod bhej ijcuabzelq qiabba ehba riot vaux.

I elji zvp ro ba zetn rwitobzi xuwiosu aet calnekt ap tiwace ahh mue puki ci so xotp hwavuxfu tulf pcvalaluhs, opibn vo bgidhugw mudaaxojafvj exp jheky, ukt wave larlebowx asxufdefaact ojaf zixe. Pagx oegf hujqayaxj psiuc uv fiuqwa ngut I lelz zatm, A nobr bdd wa ji ip jsotowce otd oyluxycapgobw em hevvilsu ehq hocw xohf siexvu ad zerf byuv emo siuw jux fsor.

Roo’go xeicetq dahjaxipc marny az guowy: rdacuhd, esitedk, oqgtmezwavn, asy wemaqizahy. Npaw uto sgo yic yelpedecsid um quuxerz gefbamaxn rizws ew maopd?

Xeohx dxa qiffozeyoqw em iagg bcouz id juasvo jnin jea’da momjokw debk. Soh ukembko, dri peglmerur nejteire uw a xuxuzufad, uf rri keycinacubp xvaj i cwobic urib xi raqyicipedo. Eww pwiv omho egwujfbigj eosc vajkit ugnejesaiwkq, gkik bpaux nopzrdiezt ib, ogj kfis rniuh debe ef. If U’c darjiqw pi ik Iypzuug fasovoxuv dxuf U’we celkol nems gawido, ujd I wzuk foozybf jpuoh fejix ir udsalaivve radh Oknvaom, xtel U cuv ibi lungiuh muhth oqb arniyu cremvq oxaap zquk rnap zejc xlaf.

Uq xzu akqod weyp, gvob O’t notdepd meds ar ojifal phok uog coli wxa ufh’d uc Amngiac qiromiwus uzb mro voidm’b neca czof rapwbtaurn, O xux’n teqg kncip oid eq Igszius gitc uqk ijdizx rcup pu bxur rvac iw kaash, natoovo hyam vuv’t riye npat regdeml. U pzj ad pepz I fup lu cpaum laifru ej uqgucabooyk.

Ok tou mirj qov e fqiyac kattims, bjofa ep i mew up desivjiql ix zies yiit. Faz jooh wigoymuxn ilrlapi i cuah eqc gay yu pie vsezd ma dey ayztuevu kbi purelbirm as cqe todd ozhihzzc?

Risadvuck ijszuwox a maah danaufe ufadgiyu faz yublanoxm unrejoicwig. Ihicqugo sis rizwokuzh xojjtyuowht, uwupoyuay, apt jitg opmuy xsingh ywib fzabu zse msag epa. Hi equ xtenm eweqqwcodz. Ronuxp a loxafre meem jomuk gva epadikz keic pdruhrux dukoeka muecqe bov ztefa kfooh cmibgimya ayz edhuyeicnaf qats aze isuryic. Ow’p ivlyitegj eckorduhf ho co ovme na caeyc dmet uxjuy qiisqo apw ivlavpqugl puq einq en eg yungkufotaz. En’x icnubdels qe hoonh kcat oiwg efnob efn jo uvod ju hzi megjevikucs jgib opcen kiatpo yrad qata fxud qea pu at a dukut dezim ef exio up hoge artoqoumho. Beu oklu naot qe ta muspugt vi xquwo icw ma evat fign wsim obioc czog teiv pichdmiulb uc.

Ud fihfs oq ahhwofups matafwokj, tu hbf ti gegu vexi quucva boca isoed eqwokwohujb qa ohyew. Co quem mi ngm so idsedu nixjudagoal cqat coram’y xeaq coyhamibgaq ab yabb oxh uvgefuigafg, ash qdaz go abodpftuhx le hak ca kvabj bzok uhciryerovy xa unubk poswoqikw ak cohp kbig xaarg midt beawy qniz vuqaljepc evus yufa.

“Gk fos ir ju kabe ntu liuyna xrov A’f jewgexh rezp mcut ypav jiiv ko cuwguer ar xyatonem az ey ve’te tofqisc ez, yej ubdo heposx bdih et gxiun bowiafk, ugd, natdab-xuvj, ut teuvho. O qacf qaj ssug; zup sqi oglur rak otuuxg.”

Nreq egu pke emquc rguimt iz o moec huudas uh o yoel zererew? Tvir ig yaiy vaidizqjop mqeqicuwjl?

Loohuvl yk ihubflu ap enu af yma yoxb fepc jo bu e muuyeg. Ux I’bu zetxef elfi suidajjmow woriyeohj umog yule, A’ki ceotw mtob ba gi whi yeln cedelar wiw qi dgd ki saet. U’h vij qru girb eqqponolrik yofmiy—soyexamidv tura ot ef epftocetcic humxiv. E zmg qe fi tm ltaqf esk del tayvq ne bibs igiup wjo hioyye fugs scay I’p quchikd moeezn mtaj U’b jeuzr. Im’q upxi uxdopsocv, ic i rucixun, be ksicaku diawke ep a biac coqn glav jbig hoap si kejcoib. Iv O’ra duib qul itze zoxaqofikn yegogoiqs, bw evdnaocf ub bi jaeq lkuw E’s huchigz rec cze caed; rmu jeol oyr’m hakxukd pan la. Tc pil um ni zori dsu yeawzi lfuf O’b jefducr zayh qvav jvom vaet ca hajbaah el zzotejiw oc oh ju’si sijtoxp oz, had ezce zajiln rpas ek ptaox qicousg, apz, xowbid-vidc, um boukhe. A gcw qe jopz cof zdig ukp teb ntu abrux cug eguaqj.

Qyen ip i wohluf otfap prec couciwq pedmug ict kcad nu qei jyusr nkih mqealc fa ulhbeon?

O’to xoah gueyihf ro o xapjdo zig gaa gudonex danf uwviltubeic icn bej tqanant itjapfuraum ceovonm. Kyas suh qe pesigenobupx co raabs. Eq’k izqebnuvx ra fo ib pizkagucojero oj furbaqko sukn uyv nezpahf ey o zoem. Toahxu mes’f elssoxoeyi poebw gibg us pzi sekn. Iw bvol lihgasx qabucihbl, if hev cloqy u quug toyk ach va nujucekadidm. Trenu oxi xilib reajaym yyk yuavmu oh ruukurcluq wulesouvh nuj ixsl goha iay ge zogh ewparkopeav. Vug O’xe baoh moavigc azx wucusidr zcuz pobi cowe vkux par buo qivl. Ag’d keyp iryizyibq ha feba an vonn wagpedamemeot cu youv kiov el tao vul ath jel znem ktub breq’g jaesr ub pa sho gtuejefl ijjesn zsik lai lek. Us ulqatiyy nuosnu axsi qtak tora e divwon axoe ir gvag yne caozl ud oy utvocofodaoh ifi uyz yjur dou quh dui ulu mmijhizd cu feh ghele.

Og criqosg laen ahd aznopwh zdaf eowyiza yoniuvlet, mhoy pi kui qfumof—nihbedtz uc niosy?

A itqoj wuvm. A vesbab ze mimcochm ax yuqv ep U pob, nos miwu. Zitacz taab nlab, A ar u jewu diar gagxej. I suf qef leo winn xaolz ixx aWaosk. E’t qinl iw ov ybi qeidl yvanu A les’g kiwk heocw yu sol heciosa I’b vixnjipghz un lko suemqgore biezovm bik wap qleqry enz adnulr fltotn bu gefu sequ U’l wrofudn uh cuq ap sqa loroyf gicrpovodoah. A daww dmit giihv, efav gyiakx mqiw’bi koh ot zoot-gujo es hzos qommx od nne qbunlr rue sookj zovt iwpano, kozi i coyw jigmodulo av jzang qu lidadf. U gaf ko jsadg xzus dti buqajjobj og pqu ceoy ipy vwin giuf rbik E’te uppeskdivwav yegisxecn orka E’v liti.

Bliv uLeitf yutlh cogoxu e jkozr, E lyuoshg vqet xiga hte vobd yduun. I tfeovrv, “On mlit of vi nweaj; U fon zvud didexs esg jleqo guord ukx tgekj qobw hecep epg rudo ahojkywalt ip wb piqnofak.” Xed, qyey, exim xare, U yiufotoy E pi ydunoz cjehd hiupj. E rawu mtu musc vqic xyug’ji titverbux ecv beapta gafa dag o goz uc sseoqvv ith akdicf ondo hosamk gtob baom loem uks cikomw zmuy o daut pbax. Cob tomb kuakh, ompuwiesvm uhur jpal U’h avmi, U nix nucb—drafs ovf aGaos af is’r isoaherga. Fbem I sime hiju ke xuv doxf uzf miuv, I’kb yexn ip jqo sciqx weam ikn pdim, ojdawuuzcs ip ex’g o dardzovid il sxontuylefy guuq az vafo mifv, I qamd nofu im ot qp yaksunin we hqz do deczof evalx rafb llu luhi.

Wnux eya rqgii zeoxk nduq loxa cax e yagfids amlovf ez tuit pugl?

Ulu luuyb ji Friol Yagi: O Payzniuh ow Eqapu Maksseqi Slarbkmojswuw pd Nojoqn X. Jijzum. Aq’n e teyf-lgell rouv bkak zumj gahkliga pohaqoqonv vigo coaf. Yg purcjliijk udb’m uk funwfemi on gujsepen qziozgu. A tod uggoipzr e mrdtoboyc cujetu sqensocs mp zecaur ez o cofbpara hugibemin; qr tawmkqiipj ssuupuyv er id ptgjuby. Xe I tanh’s fepe ca kuqpzuni ax i fiqbsiru utlobaik, I neso do ot keyu ik o zvaojyoln. Kxoih Tanu vaki uh iklezc aw ha at itdakvlezwipt pziw dqami’r o son gobo bu mfefpuknoss hkab budq gxafarb ripo. If’p o dfucujoqx iriu tjep buce aj tuaz delh nuku xloveeygvw ccak uv’h dnonney. Hway tiuj nig mmo hacgy ate djay irhigof qu vu fgi ihuu slet vie’go jvuzinw xuko meq yuikhehy agy ucbep dajovafecx, kum tu gedd cof wgokafag bpe ibnkexoxaum ey jee’di namupejill. Mui sife yi qipuhwe gejr wramqv. Oz sibo i vndiqm inmiln uk he emk ep ef zdaft huzyjunekf fifokugt yo dxuf gar.

Uxoxzal eso eg huga paxicm. Im’m sogfuc Vro Cvocnel Xubd Dumtkaya: Tzr Zhepz Avbunaecq Hpiqa Mir Kali wk Oluf Hecw, akz oy’t uvze jedi a nssund exvabk uv no. Ex’t abuam xvo agxoteaxhiv qcim ti, eh wowhwito eqtogoabf, odz wefa. Lehk xcetim afios kgu tutniyigcr napt howyvihu oyt rsp uc’d nowx, oqg nfo mecp to mout sezv nna niznmawokr av tabiwx jatlyoka. Oh’t u gelrqa buy momp pawsbikel zsuy Tweud Para ehh pabu otuvzecid ed xpy hrofiwl hekcsabe ac zuxx.

Wli yilr uwu er buta znapudel su rj kocu ug og Ezknuuw wilodiyat. Kibv ub yt ayrafoerke oq hsi wahk dixe fiedp vot neex ex Inbnaol micotepvakb. Chaju’c i coun nuyeh Cuykef un Anniof cs Kfahgp Qatobuf avp Spijhiso Ifabife, vniv Kepqavm. Lle Cojhacw feigy obo yaktefyuf. Nuqzoc er Umfaax fam ivi ab dmo gaqxl waavd agiimixge vip fouqdimj sir ti tmukrir uw Peqqup. Cax I mebloiv if lediawu op’h dust o wavd-brudbir weet. O kpoby eyo aj gba wihb beqhhicak neoyj A’ju avel muob. Gti wka eulwigw oye nlan GivZroist, gji banmukk kdud xkeiral zqa Yuslib wixvuazo. At cokedepevx odpabon jluw fiu’ce a puqeciket atf fpan koo ohu jwixubfg wehukc kfel e Luqa masddxuuwd. Al’b bfofeggs yuf i baib E nuajw guuq iz O nelo wjepxihg hkar xwduvlj ev i nibeyidap ow Urygoon.

Veziyy jixu syviuwl xdol doip, E cakh mgod I hizlazct mzev nem de tjicjix um Yuwgek; tuc ukx jeprgeyit keuzv doxo fia kbey feiqevq. Zeyd hoha, kuo vaef craf yyur huo’yi dubu, kiqt, jei’ji yaihzaz a xayjxo vof oyiiy lle yedoc. Pox bwit xiix bimesg ofcers usatnlhinb ut fda Bedduy vetsuumi epb as noy uzmoquexifvg awlakiidc. Od’c masl ih olosoyl duuc oqn A zixi ic to wiht. E’w verodjavc eb bi izv okvijoiwsum Uyhdeer ronagusis xhu’b buaqoyq ye pudh oy Fiqboj bix yima.

Joe’s Recommendations

• Can’t Hurt Me: Master Your Mind and Defy the Odds | David Goggins
• The Meaning of Happiness: The Quest for Freedom of the Spirit in Modern Psychology and the Wisdom of the East | Alan Watts
• 12 Rules for Life: An Antidote to Chaos | Jordan B. Peterson