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sstradlingon Dropbox starts using POST, and why this is poor API design

Agreed. Particularly "don't break the web". Points and kudos for a clean solution to complicated GET queries.

sstradlingon Ask HN: How do you handle maternity leave for a critical member on a tiny team?

(As a bonus, ask your departing teammate to take the opportunity to be away from work to NOT think about their current job. Get them to daydream about what they would love for their next step to be.)

sstradlingon Ask HN: How do you handle maternity leave for a critical member on a tiny team?

I think this is a good (but hard) opportunity for building the rest of your team. You're finding a real vulnerability in your team's structure, and being proactive like you are is a good way of fixing it.

First, figure out exactly what makes this person so critical - it may seem obvious, but break it down into specific tasks and skills. Maybe get them to write down the things they do for each of these that took the most time to figure out. Second, evaluate who else on your team can pick up a specific skill or task, or who would best be able to grow into that particular role element (rollette?). Finally, spend some time and sweat encouraging the rest of the team to grow into these areas - make sure to show them you appreciate their taking on the challenge. If no-one can step up for a specific rollette, you may need to start recruiting.

Kudos, by the way, (as anigbrowl pointed out) for wanting to do the morally right thing. Good luck

sstradlingon Side projects

> I really, really enjoy my sleep :). This is certainly very practical advice, but it requires that I'm disciplined enough to go to sleep earlier the preceding night. That's difficult but certainly possible.

Then work late and sleep in :-) I can't do a lick of useful work before 10 (which isn't great, since my job starts at 8:30), but I can cram 2-3 hours of good stuff in after my kids go to bed every night. Try different times to see when you're at your best. It's worth it to feel like you're making progress on something awesome.

And I've got to echo seiji - just get your product out there as quickly as you can. Let your coworkers look at it. Send it around. It may be that no-one wants to use it in its present form, but just looking at what you're doing may shake loose ideas and directions for the project that never occurred to you. Getting outsiders looking at your work is the difference between building something neat and building something great.