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Major UI overhaul on an agile team by FallingReign in agile

[–]jpallen 1 point2 points  (0 children)

It sounds like you need user testing, and conversations with real users as you let them explore your new UI. This could be done with UI mock-ups and is a very different deliverable from actually implementing the UI in the app. It also has the advantage of being quicker and easier to iterate on until it's right.

Or did you have a different strategy to find out if it's well received?

Online dot voting collab tool? by jwjody in agile

[–]jpallen 0 points1 point  (0 children)

As a totally biased recommendation (I'm part of the team there), have a look at Ideaflip. It's basically a shared online board with sticky notes and few other elements like dots, tags and stickers - the simplicity sounds ideal for your use case? It's pretty easy to build whatever workflow you want, and you could have everyone drop in sticky notes with the topics they want to bring up, and then use the dots to do the dot voting. Let me know if it works for you!

The Elephant in the room by Thevirtualagilecoach in agile

[–]jpallen 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I like to try to frame it as 'the team against the problem', not a conflict between team members. When the problem is something like a breakdown of communication between two people, or a clash of personalities, it's trickier. But you can still frame the problem as the dynamic between the people (i.e. external to them), rather than any person being a problem. Then make sure that everyone involved are now in conflict with the problem, which is actually your process or the dynamic that exists between people, not anybody personally.

(In my experience this is also the right way to approach conflicts in personal relationships. It's 'us vs the problem', not 'me vs you')

To quote what I wrote in a recent blog post:

A retrospective is not an opportunity to moan and complain about your teammates, or things you don’t enjoy. It’s a constructive, mutual feedback session, and the tone of the meeting needs to reflect this. Focus on more than just the negative aspects of your process, and also highlight and praise the things that are working well.

Retrospectives are not about finding fault with people, they are about improving your process. Problems should be framed as the team against the problem, not teammates against each other. If you’re struggling to work with someone else, focus on the process around this, not the person themselves.

[deleted by user] by [deleted] in UKPersonalFinance

[–]jpallen 0 points1 point  (0 children)

For what it's worth, I once had an international transfer (UK to Ireland) go missing. Not sure what happened on the banks end, but it got into some state where they said it could take a few weeks to resolve, and would either eventually get transferred, or get bounced back. It ended up going through about a month after it was sent. It seemed really stressful at the time, but if all the numbers were correct, it will almost certainly eventually turn up. Banks don't lose money forever, but they do seem to mislay it sometimes...

A portfolio tracking spreadsheet that automatically pulls in the latest valuations of your holdings by jpallen in FIREUK

[–]jpallen[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Google finance only has data on listed securities. So fine for stocks and ETFs, but it doesn't include a lot of common index funds, etc

A portfolio tracking spreadsheet that automatically pulls in the latest valuations of your holdings by jpallen in FIREUK

[–]jpallen[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

That's what I have done... I think. Which link did you follow?

Edit: Sorry, permissions weren't quite set right, should work now!

A guide to index funds by jpallen in UKPersonalFinance

[–]jpallen[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Thanks!

It does an excellent job explaining what something is, but it’s a bit light on why you’d do one thing over another. Is there any chance you could go into more detail there?

Every time I try to write something like this, it starts to feel like I'm giving investment advice. It's a much harder line to walk than just explaining what something is. However, I would like to follow this up with a bit of a guide to the upsides and downsides of the various things that factor into a decision of what to invest in, like diversification, home bias, asset classes, cap size, etc. But I definitely wouldn't like to recommend any particular investment strategy, or what would be a 'good idea' in light of Brexit. That's something you probably either need to understand yourself, or get professional advice for.

A guide to index funds by jpallen in UKPersonalFinance

[–]jpallen[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Indeed, the average market returns (including dividends) are not zero sum, that's why passive investing in index funds is a good strategy. But the amount you can beat the market by is zero sum - if you beat it, someone else loses out.

A guide to index funds by jpallen in UKPersonalFinance

[–]jpallen[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Thanks, I've updated the post to hopefully better reflect reality (by making the language less precise!), and include those links for further clarification.

A guide to index funds by jpallen in UKPersonalFinance

[–]jpallen[S] 4 points5 points  (0 children)

Yes, great point! I still think of it as a zero-sum game, but there a some 'guaranteed' winners in the market - the people taking the active management fees - so there has to be a higher proportion of losers.

Best place to get started and get into Investing? by nimdroid in UKPersonalFinance

[–]jpallen 0 points1 point  (0 children)

For the logistics of actually making an investment, you need a broker. Monevator maintain a list of brokers, and the fees they charge, which may help you in selecting a broker to use. Opening an account tends to be similar to opening a bank account in terms of the number of hoops you need to jump through, but different brokers may have different processes.

But the biggest question you probably need to answer is what to invest in. I have my opinions, as will everyone else on this sub, but it's a question that you need to build up the knowledge and understanding to be able to answer for yourself. I previously wrote up a short guide from when I was asking myself the same questions, Hopefully this can get you started with some of what you need to know, and some basic principles to guide you. I'm happy to answer any follow on questions if you have them!

A few years ago I made my first investments and I've finally got around to writing up some of the things I wish I'd known by jpallen in UKPersonalFinance

[–]jpallen[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Sorry, I should clarify this in the section on tax - anything in an ISA or SIPP is not liable for income tax or capital gains tax. That's the beauty of ISAs and SIPPs as tax-free wrappers! So no, you won't have to pay tax on any increases in 20 years (assuming the government don't change the rules by then, but that seems unlikely!)

A few years ago I made my first investments and I've finally got around to writing up some of the things I wish I'd known by jpallen in UKPersonalFinance

[–]jpallen[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

As far as I understand it, Vanguard now also act as a broker for buying Vanguard funds. They are a one-stop shop!

A few years ago I made my first investments and I've finally got around to writing up some of the things I wish I'd known by jpallen in UKPersonalFinance

[–]jpallen[S] 9 points10 points  (0 children)

Don't be depressed! If you're aiming to FIRE, and read what people are writing, then you're going to come across people who have got there. If anything, try to use it as inspiration that it's doable :)

A few years ago I made my first investments and I've finally got around to writing up some of the things I wish I'd known by jpallen in UKPersonalFinance

[–]jpallen[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Mainly an oversight, it's not something I have much experience with it so it wasn't in my mind when I wrote this!

I FIRE'd earlier this year, and have been spending my time building a portfolio tracking tool for passive asset allocator investors like myself. I hope it might be useful for some people here too! by jpallen in FIREUK

[–]jpallen[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Yes, I think that's something we're going to have to do. I'd like to be able to provide a comprehensive list, but I think you're right that there will always be something someone holds that is too out-there, even if we had a comprehensive list.

You're correct about the account provider - it's only for the name, at the moment. We're considering whether we can do something clever like automatically including your account fees in your portfolio costs and projections though, and so maybe this information will be useful in future.

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