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I haven't had the chance to read and review any books from the Pragmatic Programmers series. I decided to change that with the book Ship It! - A Practical Guide to Successful Software Projects by ...
-Thomas "Duffbert" Duff |
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That's got to be one of the *best* choice of title since the Mythical Man Month!!
-Kenneth Sizer |
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...Much like the Mac, this book “just works”, because it takes the best from lessons learned from team leaders and team players and takes the mystery out of the project management processes as appl...
-Robert Pritchett |
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(Sep 27)
I got email from Chris Sims this week asking me to mention Agile Open California 2008 on my blog. Here you go Chris. :)
Last year I attended Agile Open California 2007 and was so impressed
that I volunteered to help organize it this year. The conference is
not-for-profit and an amazing bargain at only $250 for two days. I
blogged about it here: http://blog.technicalmanagementinstitute.com/2008/09/agile-open-cali.html
I think it would really help get the word out if you would mention
it on your blog. Feel free to steal my text, modify it, or what-ever.
I not only stole his text, I stole his entire email... ;)
Good luck Chris!
Category: Agile
(Sep 24)
Many of us are familiar with The Pragmatic Programmer. One of the better known concepts from the book is broken windows.
The idea behind broken windows is simple. Once a single window in a building is broken, the other windows are more likely to be broken and the building vandalized. The only way to keep the entire building in good shape is timely repairs.
The concept maps well to compiles and automated tests. Keep them clean and creeping problems never get a foothold in your product. If you break something, fix it as soon as you notice it.
But this weekend at the Pacific Northwest Software Symposium in Seattle, an attendee told me about a new spin on this classic concept.
Mark Copec (who works at Contigo) mentioned a psychology study dealing with littering. The study showed that people were more likely to litter in a dirty parking lot, but a clean parking lot stays clean.
Just like the better known broken windows principle, the dirty parking lot principle tells us there is only one way to keep our projects manageable. Keep them clean every day. Run a continuous integration product (like Hudson or Cruise Control) and fix every break. Once the product has 117 broken tests, no one looks to see if there code commit had any affect at all on the test suite. Too many broken windows to count.
The study, Conformity: Influencing Behavior, raises some interesting issues. We can influence the behavior of our coworkers by keeping our own areas clean.
Mark summed it up well when he said "It got me thinking again about the different types of norms that influence people's behaviour, not only litter and parking lots, but also, developers and their coding habits."
Quick! Tell me... is your parking lot clean right now? No? Go clean it up.
Category: Agile
(Sep 23)
Two quick announcements.
First, there's a new class coming. It's a product owner course... this isn't one of the certified Scrum courses... it's about creating good stories, managing the backlog, etc. It'll be in North Carolina, but we'll take it on the road soon.
You can register at Product Owner Training.
Secondly, the early bird discount deadline is approaching for the test automation class in DC. Register before the 26th to get the discount.
More details can be found here: Testing Automation in DC
Category: Misc
(Sep 23)
David Starr of Elegant Code interviewed me a few weeks ago and got it posted yesterday. I've "known" David for several years, but we still haven't met in person. This was the only non-email conversation we've ever had.
Topics covered include introducing agile, career tips, and more. And as an added bonus, you'll find a few pics of David dressed up as the MSN Butterfly. :)
Code Cast 14- Jared Richardson
Enjoy!
Category: Agile
(Sep 17)
I might put this in blog long term, but wanted to experiment with Trip It's new blog badge feature.
Category: Misc
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