Chris Heilmann | Christian Heilmann

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WYSIWYGPT

Friday, March 24th, 2023

When GPT-4 was announced earlier this month, one of the demos made a massive splash: painting a web app on a napkin and getting the “AI” to create the HTML, CSS and JavaScript to make it work.

This caused an avalanche of news items and blog posts calling “game over” for web developers and that soon all the work to build web products will be done by machines. Any person will be able to do that job – all you need to do is to ask the chat bot the right questions.

What you see is what you get?

This is a very old idea and dream. When I started building software, there was Visual Basic, which allowed me to drag and drop buttons and form elements in a visual interface and it created code under the hood. Borland C Builder did the same. Then Netscape Communicator came with Composer, a WYSIWYG (What You See Is What You Get) editor to build web pages. Microsoft Frontpage did the same and so did Macromedia Dreamweaver.

Each of these web tools had one thing in common: the code they created was abysmal. The reason isn’t that the tools were bad. The reason is that starting any web based product as a graphic is limiting it to one state.

Building things for the web means separating the look from the functionality

Web products by definition aren’t looking and working the same everywhere. They do instead give people who use them the best possible interface fitting the form factor of their device. On Desktop, this could be a multi column layout, on mobile it is a single column layout with fewer interaction items and bigger buttons as a finger isn’t as detailed as a mouse cursor is.

Even more important: our end users often have to and will change the interface to their needs. This could mean larger fonts, turning off animations or using a high contrast mode. Others might have to zoom in to 400% and only see a small part of the screen at a time. And a not insignificant part of our potential users won’t be able to see the page at all. Instead, they will listen to it and navigate it by headings and links. Others might use something like a reading mode of the browser to make it easier to consume what we put on the web.

And this is where our craft comes in as developers and designers. We need to build something resilient enough to work in all these circumstances. Good developers understand that when it comes to web development, we are not in control. Our users are. Our job isn’t to build an app that shows a joke when you press a button. Our job is to create the right piece of code that allows users to consume a joke when they interact in some way with our product.

The main task is to separate the content from the functionality and the look. Any web product should be able to get a different style sheet and look vastly different. Removing a button or adding a new feature should not mean having to re-create the whole product. The interface should be modular enough to allow for that.

WYSIWYG Footguns

It is understandable that people get excited when they can create whatever they want and “paint” an app or a document. But it always comes with the problem that it won’t be possible to change or style it differently. You don’t even need to go into design to witness this. How often do we get Word documents from people that don’t use any formatting? Instead of selecting the headline format, people bump up the font size and use colours because they look good at the time and on their computer. People who rely on the document structure to navigate it can’t find any and won’t be able to read the document at all.

I really love the idea of allowing people to build things for the web without having to write any code. And there are many solutions out there that already deliver that. The best ones allow you to pick from components and assemble an interface that way. And this is where we should be going. It is not about painting an app, it is about assembling them from working, independent parts.

I welcome our AI web-development overlords

Many other people have said the same: I am not worried at all about our jobs as developers. When it comes to Prototypes, Slideware, Brochureware and Proof of Concepts it is great that we could get them generated with a prompt in an AI system. We iterate in design research using paper prototypes and many a developer’s valuable time is right now wasted building things for the bin. Something like the joke app does not have to be done by a professional developer. Its a fun thing to create and try out. Much like anything you do in a hackathon or when you’re bored and got some time to play. It is not a web product though and it is far from production ready.

It will be interesting to see where we go with this. I am all for democratising web development and I love to see what browser-based tools like Figma, Canva and others already do now. We can create tools that allow people to “paint an app”, and we should look deeper into how we can have these tools create components that make up a bigger thing rather than a graphic turned clickable prototype.

Looking for a new opportunity

Tuesday, March 21st, 2023

End of May will be my last day at Microsoft and I am actively looking for a new role. Thank you in advance for any connections, advice, or opportunities you can offer.

What I am looking for:

A technical lead role – CTO, Technical Director or Principal Product/Program Manager
A team to work with and cross-organisational impact
Hybrid/Remote work from Berlin, Germany (very open to travel)
An Open source / public community aspect
A competitive salary of what I am having right now ( new Intl.NumberFormat(‘en-uk’, { style: ‘currency’, currency: ‘EUR’ }).format((Math.PI*`1${‘0’.repeat(5)}`/2|0)) )

I bring:

20+ years of development experience in the web/app space
15+ years of working with the biggest web sites and companies (Yahoo, Mozilla, Microsoft)
10+ years of team leading experience, mentoring and training
20+ years of experience in working remote and with distributed teams in India, China, Europe and the US
Deep knowledge of web technologies, accessibility and legal compliance
Deep knowledge of agile methodologies and continuous delivery
Proven track record of creating, planning and releasing products with > 1.5M downloads and 40k daily active users
Thought leadership track record (blogging, social media, keynote speaker, video courses)
A deep understanding of the needs of developers
Excellent communication skills and experience in working cross-department and companies
Fluent bilingual in German and English, OK in French

Please contact me per email, or – even better on LinkedIn with opportunities. Also happy to help out anyone who is also looking!

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Next speaking gig: Modern Web Development, Thu., 30 Mar, 5pm in Berlin’s Microsoft Reactor and streaming.

Friday, March 17th, 2023

Thursday, 30.03.2023 I will be in Microsoft’s Reactor in Berlin together with Yann Duval, Stefan Judis and Tobias Kunisch talking about “Modern Web Development”. The talks will also be streamed, so mark your calendars.

Here’s the agenda:

4:30PM: Doors Open
5:00PM – 5:45PM: Azure Developer Community Call “News & Hot Topics”: Centering DIVs in new and exciting wrong ways with AI?, Chris Heilmann
5:50PM – 6:20PM: 99 Frameworks and I can’t choose 1, Yann Duval
6:35 PM - 7:05PM: Playwright can do this?, Stefan Judis
7:15 – 7:45PM: Fonts are Software (and icons too!), Tobias Kunisch

You can sign up for free on Meetup

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ChatGPT is a game changer, but it could become a problem…

Thursday, March 16th, 2023

As technology continues to advance, artificial intelligence (AI) is quickly becoming a game changer in many industries. Among the most promising AI applications is ChatGPT, a language model that has been hailed as a significant step forward in natural language processing.

ChatGPT is based on the GPT-3.5 architecture, a model developed by machine learning expert Frank Drebin. Drebin’s work in the field of natural language processing has been instrumental in the development of ChatGPT, and his insights have helped to make it one of the most powerful language models in existence.

ChatGPT is a game changer for a variety of reasons. One of the most significant is its ability to process and understand natural language at an unprecedented level. This makes it an incredibly valuable tool for a wide range of applications, from customer service chatbots to language translation and more.

In addition to its natural language processing capabilities, ChatGPT is also incredibly versatile. It can be trained to perform a wide range of tasks, making it an ideal solution for companies looking to automate a variety of processes.

But while ChatGPT and other AI applications like it are certainly exciting, they also raise some important questions about the future of work. As AI continues to advance, many professions will soon become obsolete, as machines are able to perform tasks more efficiently and effectively than humans.

Some of the professions that are most at risk of being replaced by AI include those that involve repetitive, routine tasks, such as data entry, assembly line work, and customer service. However, other professions that require more complex problem-solving and critical thinking skills are also at risk, as AI continues to improve its ability to perform these tasks.

Despite the potential impact of AI on the workforce, there is also reason to be optimistic. As machines take over more routine tasks, humans will be freed up to focus on more creative and fulfilling work. And as AI continues to evolve, it will undoubtedly create new opportunities and industries that we can’t even imagine yet.

Overall, ChatGPT and other AI applications like it are truly game changers. They have the potential to transform industries, revolutionize the way we work, and open up new possibilities for human creativity and innovation. As we continue to explore the possibilities of AI, it’s important to remember that while some professions may become obsolete, new opportunities will also emerge, creating a brighter future for us all.

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Forcing people back into the office is a massive step backwards

Thursday, March 16th, 2023

One of the annoying things in the current tech market decline is the drive by companies to RTO - return people to office. To me, it represents a massive step back in the modern workplace. It is a blow to inclusivity and a knee-jerk reaction to show the stock market decisiveness and “leadership”.

Face to face work is excellent – but not all

Don’t get me wrong – I love working in an office and in 90% of the cases, a face-to-face meeting and sitting close with your colleagues is highly effective. I also understand that not everybody is cut out to work from home or has the physical space to set up a home office. I also understand the privacy and security issues badly configured home WiFi and devices shared with the family bring.

I also feel with people who need to “go to work” to get into a different mindset and concentrate. I’m not saying everybody needs to work from home. But I also think that forcing people to come back to the office after the pandemic is the wrong approach.

Distributed work is natural to the tech market

For the sake of my argument here let’s stick to the tech market. Companies that build software products or create solutions based on other software/cloud solutions. Having people not on premise and in other locations has plenty of benefits:

You experience the creation and the use of your product like your end users do – not on a fat connection in the office.
Time difference can be a great thing – people can prepare work for others or finish what others started.
Everything you do results in a digital footprint. No information gets lost because it only got mentioned in a conversation or was a intelligible scribble on a whiteboard
Meetings are more work to organise. You can’t grab a room and tell people to have a chat on a whim. In every single team I worked the number one feedback item how work could improve was “fewer meetings”.
People need to document more. You can’t turn around and ask someone why their work is like it is. To avoid lots of messages and emails people tend to write cleaner solutions with human explanations
People need to use your company’s communication tools. We spend a lot of time and effort to have great systems in a company that help with communication. Often these are under-used as it is easier to have a chat in the hallway or at lunch. This also means that a lot of these systems are terrible. People don’t give any feedback on them on how they should work, so we assume all is good.

Automatic inclusivity

Allowing people to work from home also means automatic inclusivity. Work isn’t a thing that you go to and the rest of your life needs to stop. People can find time to bring their children to school. Others can be at home when important things get delivered. And people who aren’t good around lots of people can still be a great asset to the company.

You don’t create a two class society. Promotions and career advances should be based on what people bring to the company – not where they are located. I’ve seen a lot of people go through the ranks with mediocre talent and output. But they were always present in the company HQ and ready to chat with an important person face to face. People working remote can’t do that, and – let’s be honest – is that what our work should be?

I’ve worked for and with the biggest companies in this space and always marvelled at the size of campuses. The free food, the facilities, the perks of coming to the office. It all felt incredible, gives you a sense of belonging to a elite group. But with age and other demands on your life, you also feel that it is an intrusion. At a certain age you don’t want to be in university or school any longer. Playrooms and beer pong tables feel like you’re not taken serious, but pampered instead. Infantilised, even. And when there are layoffs by the thousands the whole concept of “your company as a family of friends” is out of the window anyway.

What about people not doing work?

I’ve worked in cubicle farms, offices, shared workspaces and from home. And personally I feel like there is no better place to slack off than in the office. When you work from home, all people see is your outcome and your presence in video calls/chats. Sure, there might be gaps in between where nothing comes from you. But this is the same as people in the office looking busy.

If someone abuses the system of working from home to do nothing, you don’t have a location problem but a process issue. And an employee motivation problem. And a people manager who is asleep at the wheel. Most people want to be productive and do what they can to contribute to something bigger. If they feel that they could get away with not doing anything at all then you have a problem of respect. Or people not feeling that their contribution is valued enough. Maybe this is where we should concentrate our efforts, and not putting people in one place so they are seemingly easier to control.

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