Stacey on Software: Coaching

  • The Concept of Millitasks

    Since I've been back at TWM and getting involved in the day to day operations again, and I'm back on task to formalize our procedures…

  • [DRAFT] The 'No Code' Constraint

    When you've done a code kata many times, it helps to find new ways to increase the level of difficulty of the kata. We often introduce…

  • Avoid Technical Debt with Planning

    So, you get it. Technical debt is bad. So what do you do about it when you have it? First step is probably to try and avoid digging yourself…

  • Retrospective on 2015

    The past year has been exhausting. I've never felt so much like a hamster on a wheel. This year will mark 8 years into my transition,…

  • A Leaf on the Wind

    I've been coaching other teams for over a year now (I spent 15 years coaching my own teams), but I still have a small software development…

  • The Worthiness of the Fizzbuzz Kata

    I see a lot of misunderstanding around doing code kata in the work that I do. Just this week, I had a conversation with my apprentice about…

  • Coaching for “likability”

    Lately, I’ve been exposed to some commercial coaching practices that push the idea of “likability”, they seem to imply that if you develop…

  • What is an Agile Technical Practices Coach?

    The Past Software development today is very different than 10 years ago, and worlds apart from what it was 20 years ago. 20 years ago, we…

  • Who are you?

    What’s your job title? What does it say about you? What doesn’t it say about you? We are human beings, doing what we can with the tools we…

  • A Nurturing Culture

    I drew this picture to illustrate a few ideas, and it’s long overdue for an explanation beyond the few folks at whom I’ve stood in front of…

  • The Thing You Need On Your Radar

    I was talking to a colleague yesterday, smart guy, basically been focusing on systems level architecture and is maneuvering his employer in…

  • Group Kata Facilitation

    This is my fall-back group format when facilitating kata. Timeframe: 60m total - 45-50m exercise, 10-15m retrospective Group Size: 6-1…

  • Pair Chain Exercise

    When I facilitate a kata session with a group of developers, sometimes I like to mix it up a little. If the room feels like it’s getting a…

  • The Spaces Between

    The Spaces Between On teams that are newly cross-functional, or in places with waterfallish reflexes, the coaching opportunities lie in…

  • Scientific Management

    In 1909, Frederick Taylor published a paper entitled The Principles of Scientific Management. At this time in history, things got made by…

  • Continuous Improvement: Tools or Process?

    Any organization who wants to survive needs to realize that they need to implement some level of Continuous Improvement. This is a concept…

  • Agile Enough

    When I look back at my career, I’ve been gathering ideas about agile from others since the manifesto. Testing versus checking. Last…

  • The Work

    When disciplines in software development are so segregated, those outside a discipline may think only of the final result. Developers type…

  • The Work

    When disciplines in software development are so segregated, those outside a discipline may think only of the final result. Developers type…

  • Splitting Product Design and Implementation

    Why do we continue to separate the design of a product from its implementation? When we design a product in one place with one group of…

  • There Is No Agility Without Technical Agility

    There Is No Agility Without Technical Agility As we wish to adapt continually to an ever-shifting set of stakeholder needs, it is vital that…

  • I care not for this agile coach, bring me another!

    Coaches disrupt the comfortable status quo. We ask uncomfortable questions, ask people to try new things, and challenge their opinions…

  • The Bionic Coach

    Introduction Being extraordinary, it's a good feeling. My first electronic enhancement was a calculator. Forget long arithmetic, this was…

  • London and Chicago Style TDD, A Design Perspective

    London and Chicago Style TDD, A Design Perspective In the field of TDD, two primary schools of thought have emerged, that are often used in…

  • The Bionic Developer

    This post has moved, I have renamed it. Read the post here - What Is A Developer? I've been using the word "bionic" for a few years now as…

  • Tacit Knowledge

    Following up on yesterday's post , we can't digitize empathy, feeling, etc. I have a certain kind of person that starts looking at me funny…

  • What Is a Developer?

    Thanks to a colleague, I came across this article today, and it's been energizing. The author and his editors at O'Reilly have put together…

  • What Do You Design?

    I was talking with a colleague today about how GenAI is rewriting all our playbooks. Not just the technical ones—the organizational ones too…