Mark Miller on Developer Productivity - Episode 37

Today's guest is Mark Miller, a five-year C# MVP alumnus with strong expertise in decoupled design, plug-in architectures, and great user interfaces. He is the Chief Architect of the IDE Tools division at Developer Express, as well as the visionary force behind productivity tools like CodeRush. Mark is a top-ranked speaker at conferences around the world and has been creating tools for software for almost four decades. Mark is also the creator of "The Science of Great UI" and "Design Like a Pro" courses on DevIQ.com. On top of all that, Mark also streams live C# and typescript coding and design on Twitch.TV/CodeRushed!

In this episode, Jeffrey Palermo and Mark Miller are discussing developer productivity and UI. Mark explains what he believes makes for great design, the power of simple language, his three key approaches to maximizing productivity and creating appealing UI, the guidelines he sees getting broken the most often, what you should avoid, and where and how to learn more!

Topics of Discussion:

[:45] Jeffrey shares some news about the Microsoft Build Conference and his book, .NET DevOps for Azure.

[1:44] About today's episode and featured guest, Mark Miller!

[3:12] Mark speaks about how he originally got into software.

[8:43] How Mark's interest in the efficiency of motion ties into his work at CodeRush; and the two things he believes make up great design!

[11:37] Mark's thoughts on the power of simple language — both in UI and everyday conversation.

[14:14] What it comes down to when it comes to good design.

[16:55] Mark summarizes his three key approaches to maximizing productivity and creating appealing UI.

[17:20] Mark's favorite set of guidelines, where to find them, and the guidelines he most often sees broken.

[23:20] A word from Azure DevOps sponsor: Clear Measure.

[24:47] With these types of principles and guidelines, are there any templates or style sets Mark would recommend?

[27:43] Why Mark says to avoid combo boxes.

[30:47] Mark's view on general navigation in business applications.

[37:22] Mark's pitch on why you should try CodeRush!

[41:20] About Mark's Twitch channel, CodeRushed.

[44:00] What Mark recommends listeners should follow-up on.

Mentioned in this Episode:

Azure DevOps

Clear Measure (Sponsor) — Reach out if you have a user group or conference and would like some free copies of .NET DevOps for Azure!

Microsoft Build Conference

.NET DevOps for Azure, by Jeffrey Palermo

Mark Miller on Crunchbase

Developer Express

CodeRush

"The Science of Great UI" by Mark Miller (at DevIQ.com)

"Design Like a Pro" by Mark Miller (at DevIQ.com)

Twitch.TV/CodeRushed

.NET Rocks! Podcast

A/B Testing

SGUI.com

Want to Learn More?

Visit AzureDevOps.Show for show notes and additional episodes.