Thursday, January 13, 2005
Every software development group should have a lead software developer. Someone has got to be in charge of the code. This has to be a highly skilled technical resource that has the responsibility and authority to make descisions about the code base at multiple levels. They need to be able to mentor junior developers, produce […]
Saturday, January 8, 2005
I’ve been watching more Holmes on Homes this week, and the more I watch the greater my respect gets for Mike Holmes. There are lessons in this show which should be learned by anyone who is building or renovating anything. Here are some of the principles I’ve gleaned from Mike Holmes. They are just as […]
One aspect of some of the agile methodologies that has been bothering me, is this insistance that everyone needs to be involved in every aspect of the system from one end to the other. For example, in developing a web application, the idea would be that each developer (or pair of developers as the case […]
Saturday, January 1, 2005
Ok, so there is a New Year’s Day marathon of “Holmes on Homes” on HGTV today and it has got me thinking a bit. Basically, this contractor, who clearly knows what he is talking about, goes around to botched building and renovation projects and points out what was done wrong by the original contractor through […]
Wednesday, December 29, 2004
Lately I’ve been wondering if I fully understand the agile methodologies movement. There are some things I like, such as iterative development, quick response to changing requirements, and daily (or better) builds. There are also some things I’m not so sure about, such as daily meetings, 100% pair programming and bullpen type work environments. Those […]
Monday, December 13, 2004
Two PS2 games on tap tonight. Both are relatively new, both are the latest and greatest in their series , but one really blows the other away for me. EA’s “Burnout 3” was exactly what a sequel should be, bigger and better, but not messing with the basic formula of its book of ra predecessor. […]
Wednesday, December 8, 2004
Developers’ taking initiative is rare. People generally don’t want to question the status quo, especially someone else’s status quo. An environment that supports this kind of questioning is invaluable not only to the developer, but to the software being developed. New ideas and new points of view can often (though not always) lead to big […]
Tuesday, November 30, 2004
Many people have already written about the problem of technical debt. Originally attributed to Ward Cunningham, Martin Fowler and many others have written extensively on the subject and I’m not about to add anything new. All I know is that I hear the phrase “We can’t afford the time to do it right” too often […]
Friday, November 26, 2004
There are two types of overtime. I call them forced and unforced. Some call them involuntary and voluntary, or required and elective. No matter what you call them, overtime as a policy in a software development company is not a good sign. In general, I don’t work either kind of overtime.
Thursday, November 18, 2004
Domain knowledge is highly overrated. If a company requires every developer to know the intimate details of the domain that the software is being developed in, not only is that a waste of time and money, but it is a sign that the software is broken.