~ Agile ~

On Busyness

Being busier is better, right? Wrong. Or at least almost never. The trick is knowing the which situation you’re in.

You ARE Allowed To Think Before You Type

Test driven development, Extreme Programming, and many other approaches encourage us to start typing in code, either as a test or as functionality. That’s good advice, but you should never start coding blindly.

The Tao Of Pooh

Winnie the Pooh is just over 100 years old. You wouldn’t think he has much to say about software development, let alone extreme programming, but Pooh’s approach has a lot to teach us. And not just in development.

Deploying vs. Releasing

We deploy code and release features. We usually assume those two things are the same, but are they really? And should they be?

Time Periods

People want estimates. Or they say they do. What they really want is predictability and value. How can you provide both when you just don’t know enough?

0, 1, Many

There are an infinite number of integers. How many do you use in your thinking and planning?

What Is Done?

You can’t be done unless you know what done means. So how do you know?

Permission, Approval, and Feedback

You might need permission, but feedback is more valuable.

Done Done

Knowing when you’re done is just as important as knowning what to do.

The Immutable Past

You might have been wrong, and you can always make new choices, but the decision process you used yesterday doesn’t change.

Effective Software Engineers

Perhaps oddly, perhaps not, the traits of an effective software engineer have nothing to do with software

One Thing At A Time

Trying multiple things at once is NOT faster

Something Smells ... Primitive

Primitive obsession sneaks in when you least expect it and makes things worse.

Design Is Iterative

As long ago as 1968, BDUF was a bad idea.

Measuring and Managing

There are some quotes you know that just ain’t so

Action vs. Reaction

Bias for action is thoughtful. Bias for reaction gets you in trouble

Story Splitting

User stories need to live in the Goldilocks zone. Not too big, not too small

Planning and Time Sinks

Why is planning so hard?

Heros

It’s important to step up when there’s a big problem. But the real hero is the person who sees the small problem and prevents the catastrophe.