Spinning up a local dev environment shouldn’t feel like trying to launch a rocket with duct tape and hope. If it takes more than five minutes or, worse, requires tracking down Dave from QA, who “just knows how it works,” you’ve already lost.
All I want is to clone the repo, run a command or two, and feel like a productivity god.
One setup script rules them all: it wires up your config, fires up the stack, and makes sure your code doesn’t drift off into chaos.
Want your team to ship faster? Make onboarding feel like flipping a switch, not solving a puzzle box.
This week, I was working on a remote server and didn't want to do a full install of my remote development environment, which includes using VIM as an IDE. Instead, I used my minimal VIM setup.
First, I created a simple .vimrc file in my home directory.
PrismJS Highlighted Shell Command
syntax on
set backspace=start,eol,indent
set hidden
set noswapfile
set expandtab
set tabstop=2
set softtabstop=2
set shiftwidth=2
set relativenumber
set number
let $RC="$HOME/.vimrc-min"
Now I can run it with:
PrismJS Highlighted Shell Command
vim -u $HOME/.vimrc-min
It gives me a simple, easy-to-use VIM that does not require installation time.
Editing ~/.vim-min using a minimal VIM
On my blog, I've detailed how to run it from a gist I created.
Transform your Product Career and Skills
The PM Repo is a repository of the best tools, frameworks, metrics, and resources to help everyone deliver their next great product.
I finished up last week working out how to create rules for Cursor. They seem to make a difference; only time will tell. I'm going to spend time working on how to best use AI in a development team.
See you next week!
Mark C Allen
1:1 Chat
Need a Different Perspective
Do you have a problem with your release process? Has Kubernetes got you down? Do you need an outsider's perspective on what's holding up your deployments? If you have 25 minutes, book a time with me.
