29 Apr
2010

Scrum and the C-Word

There has been much deriding of both Scrum and the word ?certification? in the past few months. It has become quite vogue to look down on formal training of any kind it seems, particularly among the ALT.NETerati. I get it, and I think several of the criticisms are deserved. Some aren?t. Disclosure I am a […]

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25 Apr
2010

If Self-Documenting Code is the What, Unit Tests are the Why

It is not enough to just write code that is clean and self-documenting.? Eliminating comments and replacing them with clear variable and method names, will tell the reader of your code clearly what it is doing, but it will not properly express why it is doing it. If you recall from my original post on […]

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18 Feb
2010

Shut Up, Bob

Category:UncategorizedTag: :13 Comments on Shut Up, Bob

Some of us are hurting our profession with the casual way we treat language. In the following examples, that guy is Bob. Scenario 1 Bob: “Hey, where should we go to lunch?” Joe: “I dunno, get in the car and we’ll decide later.” Bob: “Yeah, we’ll just be agile about it.” Giggle, giggle. Tee hee […]

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25 Nov
2009

Agile is not Scrum

Category:UncategorizedTag: , :12 Comments on Agile is not Scrum

Most people who read this blog will not find the title of this post a revelation. I know firsthand, however, that this is not the case for many. I recently had the privilege of facilitating a Birds of a Feather session at PDC. The title of our discussion was “Agile – Triumphs, Teams, Trials, and […]

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29 Oct
2009

On Software, Sewing, and the Craftsman

My wife, Eleanor, runs a small side business making some extraordinary things with needles, thread, and cloth. She makes quilts, dresses, stuffed animals, clothes, and reupholsters furniture to round it off. She’s been honing her skills, trying new things, and improving her craftsmanship for many years. She’s very good and has some faithful clients. Recently, […]

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28 Sep
2009

Code Cast 32 – Tommy Norman

At the Agile 2009 conference in Chicago, I got to meet some great people I?d previously known only in electronic form. Tommy Norman is one of those folks, as he and I have had many conversations on Twitter. Tommy is a System Architect at Compuware in Nashville, TN where focuses on Application Lifecycle Management. He […]

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