I HELP TEAMS
Master the Practice
of Software Delivery
This issue frequently arises when I work with clients to set team goals or targets.
We always have the same objection:Ā If we have any measurable targets, thenĀ people are going to game the system, and these will not work.
This thinking is holding us back.
The objections are partly true and partly ...
I recently had a highly productive day.
I built a lot of things for a client.Ā It was one of those days where you feel accomplished - holy cow - this was aĀ very goodĀ day.
At the end of the day, I noticed thatĀ dependabot was turned off.
Thatās the little Github thing that will update your librarie...
Congratulations!Ā You just realized you are running a software company.
You didnāt start that way, but one thing led to another, and now you have a small team of engineers.
They may be in-house or outsourced, but you are managing them anyway.
Software is tough.Ā Engineers seem to drive you craz...
This is one of the biggest and most common problems I see with software teams.
They try to release too much in one go. Ā
Problems:
- It takes too long, and always longer than they thought.
- Big Bang releases are hard to test and, therefore, hard to release.
- They also tend to block other items ...
My first meaningful code was in Modula-2 and then C and C++ in grad school.Ā Ā
All these were strongly typed languages.Ā Ā
I remember naming member variables m_iPrice m for member, i for integer, etc.Ā
Thatās when IDEs gave you no support in remembering what was what.
After that, I think I may hav...
Engineers are bad at debugging
š Ā
Perhaps that is a bit harsh.
Then again, I have worked with many engineers over the years and only met a few who are good at tracking problems down quickly.
Good debugging seems to come from a mixture of technique and experience.
When I debug code, I consid...
I'm excited to share some news with you.
I'm launching a brand new course called "Bottlenecks to Breakthroughs: Master Effective Software Delivery".
This is a fresh adventure for me, and while I'm super thrilled, I won't lie, there's a bit of butterflies-in-the-stomach feeling too.Ā š¦
Let me give ...
I'm back for another year of "Advent of Code" challenges! š
If you haven't heard of it, it's a month-long coding frenzy where people tackle a fresh two-part problem every day.
The thrill? Competing against your friends (or peers worldwide) for the speediest solution and bragging rights. š
Now, he...
If you're aiming for your teams to deliver value rapidly, fostering their autonomy is key.
Consider this: frequent cross-team meetings and decision-making processes can hinder swift progress.
A logical starting point involves examining fundamental constraints:
1ļøā£ Team Structure: Defining clear o...
Ever heard these statements in your team meetings?
ā¢ āFor this project, it makes sense to have a long running branch becauseā¦ā
ā¢ āIt does not make sense to have automated tests for this code, becauseā¦ā
ā¢ āWe need to deploy this service manually becauseā¦ā
ā¢ āThe smallest possible deliverable here will ...
I upgraded some tooling yesterday, and since it affected the code writing process (very far āleftā), I was ~50% faster to getting my code to be good with the new tooling.
Which leaves me wondering why I didnāt do that soonerā¦ š¤Æ
Happy Friday!!!
Technical debt is often likened to a credit card š³: borrow now, pay back later.
The key notion is that tech debt is something you eventually pay back.
But here's the catch: it's rarely repaid. š®āšØ
Imagine a poorly managed country endlessly borrowing until bankruptcy.
That's the true nature of te...
