Monday Links - Week 253

A Conversation with Kent Beck and Eric Ries

I haven’t had a chance to listen to this conversation between Mr eXtreme Programming and Mr Lean Startup, but I have high hopes for it. — JM

Government Digital Service: the best startup in Europe we can’t invest in

… there’s one incredibly disruptive startup based in London that is going after one of the biggest markets of all, and is so opaque it is largely unknown in the world of business – and, much to my chagrin, it’s also impossible to invest in.

It’s not a private company, it wasn’t started by “conventional” tech entrepreneurs and the market (though huge) is decidedly unsexy.

Its name is the Government Digital Service (GDS) and it is disrupting the British public sector in an energetic, creative and effective way. In less than two years GDS has hired over 200 staff (including some of the UK’s top digital talent), shipped an award-winning service, and begun the long and arduous journey of completely revolutionising the way that 62 million citizens interact with more than 700 services from 24 government departments and their 331 agencies.

It’s interesting to hear comments like this from a venture capitalist! — JM

Mountain rescue: ski co-operatives blazing a trail in Canada

Skiers in Canada are forming co-operatives to buy their local slopes – reconnecting with the true spirit of the sport.

This really appeals to me. I dislike all the modern paraphenalia of modern ski resorts. I’m really tempted to visit Shames Mountain and/or the Hankin-Evelyn back-country recreation area this winter. — JM

Airplane Time! Stretch time while flying

This appeared in my feed over the weekend and just kinda struck a chord. I’ve often found myself thinking about time when flying and there’s something really appealing about this idea of Airplane time. — CR

Viewdocs: Hosted Markdown project documentation (finally!)

I really like this idea as a simpler alternative to Github Pages. My only concern would be relying on the domain/service sticking around - fortunately it’s open source so it shouldn’t be too hard to host yourself if you were so inclined. — CR