Stacey on Software: Culture

Advocacy
  • Software Developers

    I was reading this post the other day and thinking about my particular challenges with software developers. Which I believe I have some…

  • Speak Clearly from Experience

    So today I'm working through some more content management challenges - and hating JavaScript-based WYSIWYG editors. They really really suck…

  • Keep It Simple, (Not So) Stupid

    Have you tried this? I mean really, sat down, tried to make something simple. Not simple for you, simple for others. People always say they…

  • End User Experience - Why, Microsoft, why?

    I recently purchased a new laptop for one of my daughters, it came with Vista. This is the first Vista based computer in the house. Let me…

  • Keeping A Lid On It

    So I went to the TSOT Rails Project night last night, it was good to see some familiar faces and I enjoyed the presentations. There was some…

  • Integrity, Transparency and Trust

    At Three Wise Men we've just finished off a reasonably large project, and a few things really struck me in the end about the way we operated…

  • Outsource? Yes! Offshore? NO!!!

    I read an article (well, it's more of a slide-show) this morning that just set my hair on fire. Now I understand that to many folks in I.T…

  • 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…

  • 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…

  • Software Development Is About People

    We as an industry forgot this for a long time, and I am proud to be part of the movement to bring it back. I hear all the time from people…

  • Trust in Software Development

  • Lies, Damned Lies, and Code Comments

    Your project is lying to you. That comment that someone wrote way back over that block of code? Yeah, it was relevant a year ago. Today, it…

  • Why a Worker's Cooperative

    This past weekend I was at the Software Craftsmanship North America conference (SCNA) hosted by 8th Light in Chicago. This is a wonderful…

  • Wicked Code

    There is a particular class of problem, a Wicked Problem , that denies solution. These problems are difficult or impossible to solve due to…

  • 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…

  • Technical Debt and The Big Rewrite

    It is so easy to sweep things under the rug. I’ll fix that comment later. One day, I’ll need to refactor this. Oooo this code is stinky, no…

  • Lightweight Accountability

    If you require project accountability to funders, for grants or tax refunds, you need lightweight processes that integrate with your…

  • Why Kata?

    In 2011, Daniel Kahneman launched a book called Thinking Fast and Slow. It summarized decades of research and presented one core thesis…

  • Testing Against The Edges

    I have found a new thing. A test culture so pervasive and intrinsic that they want to test  everything . So much so that they have chosen an…

  • [DRAFT] Specialize or Generalize?

    I've seen some thoughts floating around today around what kind of mix of generalists or specialists should you have on an agile team. It…

  • Act on Fact, Not Conjecture

    So, how much of a part do your feelings play in how you write software? Feelings are important. Feelings are your "spidey sense", your…

  • AI Programmers Will Take Our Jobs!

    So, this hit my newswires today: https://www.newscientist.com/article/mg23331144-500-ai-learns-to-write-its-own-code-by-stealing-from-other…

  • 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…

  • Exploring Farming Metaphors for Software Development

    Our friends who live down the road from us, always have such a beautiful garden and take amazing care of their animals. The way they've…

  • Coding Is Social

    This past weekend, I took part in the PTBOGameJam03 event in Peterborough, Ontario, an event that has steadily grown since August 2016. In…

  • 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…

  • Scientific Management

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

  • Cross-Functional Agile Teams

    In an agile organization, our primary concern is the flow of value - "concept to cash" as we've heard from the DevOps and Continuous…

  • Business Domain vs Systems Domain

    I sat in a meeting yesterday that was probably the best illustration of conflict between business models and systems models that Ive seen…