iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

Jono Yeong @jonathanyeong.com · 03/02/2026

Found this where it won't let you unlike a package. Would it better to create a Github issue? Awesome stuff with likes though. Can't wait to see it being adopted more widely!

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Jono Yeong @jonathanyeong.com · 27/01/2026

Doggo enjoyed today’s snow day ❄️

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Jono Yeong @jonathanyeong.com · 21/01/2026

Confirmed TERM_PROGRAM env var exists when you open the integrated terminal in VSCode.

Running env | grep 'TERM' in VSCode shows that the TERM_PROGRAM env var exists and is set to VSCode

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Jono Yeong @jonathanyeong.com · 19/01/2026

I’m bad at word puzzles but I found the pangram! Pretty great workday

Screenshot of playing pangrum. Where you can build a set of words that have to included the highlighted letter “T” in the screenshot. The other letters are H, F, L, Y I, G.

Finding the pangram (which uses all 7 letters) give you a star. I found the pangram and I’m happy

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Jono Yeong @jonathanyeong.com · 18/12/2025

I hate this too! I disabled copilot entirely, it's seemed to have helped.

VSCode setting to disable AI features. The box is checked with the hopes that it will stop the chat window from appearing on vscode launch.

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Jono Yeong @jonathanyeong.com · 02/12/2025

Omg adorable! Here’s my pup, he’s a red heeler mix!

My pup Albie an Aussie cattle dog mix. He’s a red heeler, with brown and white spots.

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Jono Yeong @jonathanyeong.com · 29/11/2025

The art on these coffee bags are so cute! From Yamabiko coffee roasters based in Quebec, Canada yamabikocoffeeroasters.com

Three coffee bags with very cute art. The left bag is green with an image of a young girl dressed all in red sipping coffee amongst trees. There's a red fox peeking out from behind one of those trees. The second bag is a a pic of two white cats holding a blue plate with a red background behind them. And the third bag is a yellow vase with eyes, one of them winking. It has two handles that look like ears and inside the vase are some branches with what looks like blueberries, raspberry, strawberry and cranberry.

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Jono Yeong @jonathanyeong.com · 20/11/2025

All the laundry is belong to him

My Australian cattle dog Albie making himself comfortable by laying down on some laundry

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Jono Yeong @jonathanyeong.com · 23/07/2025

Well I was going to say this… but looks like you need to pay

Message settings to select who can send you messages. Default is everybody. But you can’t change setting unless you have premium.

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Jono Yeong @jonathanyeong.com · 08/07/2025

Was dreaming of Japan so I made some Shokupan, Japanese milk bread.

Two loafs of Shokupan, Japanese milk bread, one cut in half to show the crumb. IT WAS SO FLUFFY

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Jono Yeong @jonathanyeong.com · 05/07/2025

Decompressing after a long week with new keyboard switches and MSI 😮‍💨

Work in progress pic changing over my switches from silent switches to something more tocky. With GenG and AL league of legends match in the background

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Jono Yeong @jonathanyeong.com · 29/06/2025

Baked some bread today! Crumb turned out better than expected. Crust is much chewer then expected. And didn’t open up in the oven.

Loaf of poolish white bread. Baked today by me! Followed the recipe from Flour, Water, Salt,Yeast. Crumb looks good. But it didn’t open up in the oven.

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Jono Yeong @jonathanyeong.com · 25/06/2025

Couple of cats I saw in Japan + a mug I made. The mug is the only piece I liked from the latest pottery course I did 😭

I made this green striped mug. It's about the size of my fist so it doesn't hold too much liquid. But the base is flat so it doesn't wobble, and it's drinkable.

An orange brown cat that looked old but well fed in a bread pose.

Black chonky cat it's looking at the camera with its back turned. I can imagine it being annoyed that I'm taking pictures of it without its permission.

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Jono Yeong @jonathanyeong.com · 08/05/2025

Been pretty quiet since my site relaunch. Decided to do something random. Should I push it? Maybe it's better as a Codepen 🤔

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Jono Yeong @jonathanyeong.com · 07/05/2025

Oh my @elliotjaystocks.bsky.social your book is beautiful and full of information. I’m thoroughly enjoying it. And so is my cat!

Holding up the book Universal Principles of Typography by Elliot Jay Stocks. With my cat Nami, who’s brown with black stripes in the background looking on.

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Jono Yeong @jonathanyeong.com · 23/04/2025

Cat is sleeping on my legs. I legally cannot get up right now. Tell my boss I'm not coming in.

My cat Nami, I have no idea what breed sorry! She's grey with brown stripes. And shes covering her face while sleeping on my legs.

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Jono Yeong @jonathanyeong.com · 20/03/2025

I got a new camera. Why? To take pet pictures of course! The pets are loving the sun.

Glowy photo of my cat Indie in the foreground, a white ragdoll. And a picture of my pup, Albie, in the background - a red heeler. They're both loving the sun.

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Jono Yeong @jonathanyeong.com · 11/03/2025

Post a photo you took with no context to bring some zen to the timeline.

Sleeping Australian cattle dog on the couch that looks incredibly comfy. Like comfier than I could ever be.

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Jono Yeong @jonathanyeong.com · 10/03/2025

Halp I'm stuck in a loop of redesigning my website.

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Jono Yeong @jonathanyeong.com · 28/02/2025

Wait did anyone else know that you can star repos to a list in @github.com? I don't think I've ever noticed or clicked the little dropdown arrow to the right of star.

Github Repository star dropdown. It shows a popover with the title "Lists". There are three checkboxes to select "Future ideas", "My stack", "Inspiration", and a "create list" button.

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Jono Yeong @jonathanyeong.com · 19/02/2025

Implemented markdown links in my bsky app! #buildinpublic

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Jono Yeong @jonathanyeong.com · 15/02/2025

Found a cute snowman in a snow cave on a walk today.

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Jono Yeong @jonathanyeong.com · 11/02/2025

If a game comes out during your birthday week, you have to buy it. That is a fact. Good bye sleep, it was good knowing you.

Title screenshot of a game, the text says "Sid Meier's: Civilization VII".

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Jono Yeong @jonathanyeong.com · 10/02/2025

Biskay update: Implemented a mention dropdown with working facet. I'm really enjoying getting hands on with stimulus and turbostreams! #buildinpublic #rails

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Jono Yeong @jonathanyeong.com · 10/02/2025

Here's a WIP screenshot. Need to figure out the design but tackling that after I implement some more functionality. #buildinpublic

WIP screenshot of my Bluesky skeet composer interface called 'Biskay'. The screen shows a post composition area at the top with 181 characters remaining, date/time selectors set to February 9, 2025, 09:20 PM, and 'Save Draft' and 'Post' buttons. Below is a 'Drafts' section containing a draft post that reads 'Hey this is a draft post!' with a 'Share now' button. The current post being composed mentions an update about the 'bsky app' with client-side validation working and plans to add facets next.

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Jono Yeong @jonathanyeong.com · 09/02/2025

Here’s the end results! Picked the two I liked the most. Plenty of things to improve on but happy with my progress so far.

Me holding my small mug. It’s in a light green glaze. That’s a little translucent so you can see the raw clay colour underneath. The handle fits two of my fingers quite comfortably.

Mug with a cobalt glaze. The picture is trying to highlight the width of the rim. It’s the thinnest rim I’ve thrown so far!

Same cobalt mug held up to my cat, indie, for inspection. Indie is a white / gray ragdoll. He does not seem impressed by my mug.

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Jono Yeong @jonathanyeong.com · 07/02/2025

My work posse today 🐱🐱

Three chairs around a table facing a work laptop. My two cats are on the far and near chair. The middle chair is where I would sit. It’s not totally clear but the cats kept stealing my seat so I had to continually add more chairs to be able to work.

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Jono Yeong @jonathanyeong.com · 22/01/2025

Scheduled a new edition of DX Dissected for tomorrow! Wanted to share my experiences pitching a new DX team at my company. Here's a sneak peak of the proposal doc template I used.

Proposal Doc template

All of the above points I put into a proposal doc. Here was the template I used, I hope it helps!

- What problem are we trying to solve?
- Keep it succinct. Metrics help. Have examples ready.
- Proposal
- Highlight that this team is an experiment.
- Success Criteria
- What does success of this team / experiment look like?
- Logistics
- How will this team operate?
- FAQ
- Answer common questions or concerns you've heard when talking to other people. This section is where I listed the alternatives, or what happens if the experiment fails.

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Jono Yeong @jonathanyeong.com · 22/01/2025

First time adding handles to pots! Next week is glazing and last week of the beginners course 😢

Two pots (which hopefully will be mugs) that have handles attached to them. There’s a bigger mug with a square handle. And a smaller mug with a more rounded handle.

Same two pots from the last picture. But showing the handle straight on. The smaller mug on the left has a less uniform handle. But one on the right has a more uniform handle

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Jono Yeong @jonathanyeong.com · 18/01/2025

Omg whatttttt, this is what happens when you keep scrolling in the footer. Kinda hurts my eyes, but I still kept scrolling.

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Jono Yeong @jonathanyeong.com · 17/01/2025

Kinda random but I made dis, and I'm pretty happy with it!

Design poster with the word "DESIGN" at the top and bottom. The inside of the poster has a set of repeating abstract lilypad shapes in pastel colours. It's a 4 x 7 grid of lilypads.

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Jono Yeong @jonathanyeong.com · 15/01/2025

Finished week 2 of a 4 week beginners pottery course! I’m stoked that my bowls are almost similar shape and size.

Bowls I made from a beginners pottery course. They’re almost the same shape and size!

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Jono Yeong @jonathanyeong.com · 09/01/2025

Benefits of physical journalling - making crude graphs 😅 These graphs show how I’m currently thinking about my energy and where I want it to be.

Sharing an excerpt from my physical journal. The focus is on two charts. They show how I think about my energy, my current state vs ideal state.

The current state is that my energy peaks and drops to zero. Before peaking again.

The ideal state is more of a sine curve. Where my energy wanes but it never reaches that zero point.

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Jono Yeong @jonathanyeong.com · 08/01/2025

Day 5: Three principles to beat shiny object syndrome I get hardcore FOMO, so I'm trying these three principles to help me get deep with one tech stack. The plan is to build more projects than last year. #ship30for30

Day 5: Three principles to beat shiny object syndrome
2025 is the year I face my shiny object syndrome.

There's so much fun technology out there, and it's hard not to explore every one of them. I've jumped around my fair share, and while going broad is part of being a T shape developer. I never gave myself a chance to go deep.

It feels important now more than ever to go deep. Especially with AI making it so easy to get started with new frameworks. The real power is solving the weird edge cases that AI hasn't been trained on yet.

To beat my shiny object syndrome, I'm going to follow these three principles.

1. Embrace simplicity for side projects

As much as I love mixing and matching different tech stacks. I want to a full stack framework that gives me everything out of the box. Ruby and Rails is my preferred choice. (Phoenix/Elixir I'll always ❤️ you)

2. Doubling down on building

The siren call of new technology grows stronger when I'm not building. I'm giving myself some lofty side project goals this year. And to hit these goals, I won't have time to keep relearning new stacks.

3. Lean on community

I get so much energy from being in a community. I'm going to spend more time connecting in communities, both online and in person. I found the Ruby Toronto meetup last year, and I can't wait to attend more sessions.

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Jono Yeong @jonathanyeong.com · 06/01/2025

Day 4: 3 questions to validate impactful work After working with Product Managers for a long time, I was always asked these questions. And now that I don't have one on my team, I've realised how important these questions are to validate impactful work. #ship30for30

3 Questions To Validate Impactful Work
It's easy to fall into the trap of build first and ask questions later.

I know I've done it plenty of times. Sometimes at a company it's even encouraged. One way to show that you're making an "impact" is to churn out features or projects without a second thought.

But there's a difference between building *something* and building *the right thing*. I like to ask myself these three questions before starting a new project.

1. Will this impact the user?

Work on the project that will have a tangible benefit to the user. It could be refactoring this code path will reduce the number of bugs that affect a user.

2. Can I achieve the same result but simpler?

There are those pie in the sky projects where the impact to the user is unknown. We *expect* change but not sure what. For these projects, we want to reduce the scope and get the idea into the real world as fast as possible.

3. What are my success metrics?

Everything comes back down to metrics. We need to know whether the project is successful or not. If these metrics aren't available, then getting access to them is the first step.

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Jono Yeong @jonathanyeong.com · 05/01/2025

Day 2: The biggest mistake to avoid when starting a new side project I wanted to write about a lesson I learnt when I recently finished a side project. Focus on the learnings instead of the end product. #ship30for30

Day 2: The biggest mistake to avoid when starting a new side project
A few years back, I started building a social media clone side project. I didn't make it past the setup.

Same thing happened with a todo list project, a CLI project management tool, a timeblock planner. I have an endless list of projects that I've set up and never completed. Each of them started strong, but my motivation quickly fizzled out before getting to the meat of the project.

Looking back on these projects, I kept repeating the same mistake.

I hyper-focused on the end goal, and lost sight of what I was trying to learn.

When focusing on the end goal like "build a todo list app". I was met with so many decisions and questions along the way. And by the time I worked through these decisions, I was completely drained.

Here's what I should've done instead:

1. Find the one lesson I wanted to get out of that project.
2. Get to that lesson as fast as possible. Ignoring all other distractions along the way.
3. Once learning that lesson, reflect on whether I should continue with the side project.

If there's more to learn, I repeat steps 1-3. If not, I mark my side project as finished.

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Jono Yeong @jonathanyeong.com · 03/01/2025

I started #ship30for30 course. The idea is that I'll publish 30 Atomic Essays over 30 days. I'm not sure how I feel posting text as images. But going all in, to hopefully improve my writing. Here's day 1: Why I write.

Writing is the foundation to basically everything that I do.

Even so, it takes me ages to write anything substantial. My process is plagued with indecisiveness, over-editing, and thesaurus hunting. AI speeds up the process a little, mainly because I ask it "what is the word for..." or "does this sound right?".

It's a struggle, but I still want to write, and here are three reasons why.

1. It allows me to refine ideas

My brain is really good at ignoring holes in an idea. Writing it down helps me discover those gaps.

2. It allows me to scale and connect with people

When someone's writing resonates with me, it feels like they're talking to me through their words. That human connection is the main driver of why I write.

3. It allows me to time travel

Looking back on my writing is always a fun time. Sometimes cringey, but also insightful. I write so I can time travel to what I cared about most years ago.

I'm taking a course, Ship 30 for 30, where I'm going to write Atomic Essays for the next 30 days. I hope you'll join me on this journey!

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Jono Yeong @jonathanyeong.com · 31/12/2024

Achievement to cap off the year. I finished a side project 🎉! Rails 8 app that uses Stimulus, rails auth generator, PWA, deployed to Digital Ocean using Kamal. Not close to being production-grade, but it showed me how quickly I can create with Rails.

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Jono Yeong @jonathanyeong.com · 26/12/2024

My first YouTube video in a very long time is dropping tomorrow. Nervous and excited to be releasing it! I'll show how we can use dev containers to prototype without needing to manage dependencies. Will share the link when it gets released.

Screenshot of YouTube video that I'm releasing tomorrow. Titled "Dev Containers: Coding with Zero* Dependencies" (except Docker)

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Jono Yeong @jonathanyeong.com · 22/12/2024

Braving -14 degrees what a trooper.

My dog Albie sitting for a treat all bundled up for the cold

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Jono Yeong @jonathanyeong.com · 22/12/2024

Homepage mobile design ✅

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Jono Yeong @jonathanyeong.com · 22/12/2024

Added Telescope plugin for fuzzy finding!

telescope fuzzy finding has been added to my neovim setup!

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Jono Yeong @jonathanyeong.com · 21/12/2024

Checking out Neovim 👀. Making this my holiday break project.

Working on Neovim setup. I've setup nvim-tree and catpuccin theme so far. Using lazy.nvim plugin manager

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Jono Yeong @jonathanyeong.com · 20/12/2024

Yes! Here’s a couple of pics! The mug holds liquid which I was proud of haha

Some pots I made! 2 bowls and 1 mug. Lots of blue green and cream colours with speckles.

Mug that I made holds coffee and is about the size of my hand.

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Jono Yeong @jonathanyeong.com · 19/12/2024

I've been heads down this past week redesigning my personal site. Super happy with the progress so far! Will be sharing all my learnings and walkthrough soon. Next step is code 🚀 Here's a WIP with a before pic as well! What do you all think? NOTE: Some text is a placeholder

Before pic of my homepage. It's what is currently shown on jonathanyeong.com. Pretty simple, and a little boring. About paragraph as well as a list of posts with dates.

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