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.
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.
We deploy code and release features. We usually assume those two things are the same, but are they really? And should they be?
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?
There are an infinite number of integers. How many do you use in your thinking and planning?
You can’t be done unless you know what done means. So how do you know?
You might need permission, but feedback is more valuable.
Knowing when you’re done is just as important as knowning what to do.
You might have been wrong, and you can always make new choices, but the decision process you used yesterday doesn’t change.
Perhaps oddly, perhaps not, the traits of an effective software engineer have nothing to do with software
Trying multiple things at once is NOT faster
Primitive obsession sneaks in when you least expect it and makes things worse.
As long ago as 1968, BDUF was a bad idea.
There are some quotes you know that just ain’t so
Bias for action is thoughtful. Bias for reaction gets you in trouble
User stories need to live in the Goldilocks zone. Not too big, not too small
Why is planning so hard?
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.