Stacey on Software: Team

Advocacy
  • Taking a stand, saying NO to software development quotes

    Starting Tuesday, I will no longer issue quotes for software development. I've been doing a lot of thinking about our Software Development…

  • 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…

  • Agility, Software Development Estimates and Buying a House

    Lately, software project estimation has risen to the surface as a discussion topic at Three Wise Men . The flurry of smaller proposals we…

  • 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…

  • Decisions In The Dark

    We write software today , it's important to always remember this. Often when we are asked to write software, we are typically provided with…

  • 7 Simple Steps to a Successful Software Project

    1.  Imagine an end-result in only the coarsest detail Let's face it, we're all human. We can't juggle everything in our heads, and we don't…

  • 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…

  • [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…

  • 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…

  • [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…

  • 2016 Big Steps Forward

    Lots of folks have been complaining lately about 2016. Certainly, as one friend of mine pointed out, as movies and celebrities have become…

  • 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…

  • Lenses

    I started wearing glasses a few years ago, entering in to that cycle of a new prescription every few years to renew my focus. Thinking about…

  • 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…

  • 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…

  • 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…

  • 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…

  • 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…

  • It Will Do Whatever Fool Thing You Ask It

    A group of us sat down to do the Bowling Kata the other day, to see if we could get the GenAI to do the implementation as we wrote the spec…

  • Gen AI in Software Development, Not Coding 1

    Gen AI in Software Development, Not Coding 1 I feel like I want to do a "stop talking about Gen AI generating code" series. Maybe I'll just…

  • 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…