Category: Code
How to Know If a Team Has Stopped Creating Tech Debt
Tech debt isn't just about cleanup—it's about discipline. If a team is still making the same mistakes, they’re not solving the problem, just hitting reset.
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Stop Complaining About Technical Debt If You Keep Creating More
Cleaning up old messes is meaningless if you're still making new ones. The best teams don't ask for permission to fix tech debt—they stop creating it in the first place.
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7 Game-Changing Lessons Every Junior Developer Needs to Learn
Most developers spend years learning these lessons the hard way. You don't have to. Master these principles now and take control of your dev career.
Read moreAI-Native Development: The Next Evolution is Here
AI isn't coming. It's here. The teams that master AI-native development now will define the future of product delivery. Learn how to navigate this shift and accelerate your team.
Read morePrivate Class Methods in Ruby
Dive into the world of private class methods in Ruby. Understand their purpose, implementation, and when they're the right choice for your code.
Read moreWhen to Use Concerns vs Service Objects in Rails
Struggling to decide between concerns and service objects in Rails? This guide dives into the pros and cons of each approach, helping you choose the right tool for clean, scalable, and testable code.
Read moreRevitalizing Legacy Code: Five Steps to Successful Refactoring
Master the art of legacy code refactoring with a practical five-step approach that helps you modernize your codebase while maintaining stability and reliability.
Read moreCode Smells: Identifying and Fixing Common Programming Issues
Discover how to recognize and fix common code smells, making your code more maintainable, efficient, and easier to understand.
Read moreBUDs and Sports: Radically Different Than Software
Explore how software development differs from intense physical training programs, and what we can learn from these contrasts.
Read moreMy Daily Standup Is Keeping Me from Being Awesome
Discover why traditional daily standups might be holding your team back, and how to make them more effective.
Read morePath to Immediate and Unanimous Team Decisions
The Decider Protocol is the fastest path to get immediate and unanimous team decisions.
Read moreFace to Face For Remote Team Members
Dealing with hybrid work environments where some one is remote full time.
Read moreWhat is the Difference Between Scrum vs Kanban?
I see a lot of new teams search endlessly for the best process for to use. They tend to ask what is best for us? Which usually devolves into Scrum vs Kanban. I am firm believer in experiencing them to understand, but one could argue you have to start somewhere. For those seeking here is a very brief quick side by side view.
Read moreHow to Plan Software : Six Ways to Improve Your Scrum Planning Meeting
Six ways to improve your scrum planning meeting.
Read moreCalculating Lead Times While Waiting at the Motor Vehicle Department
How to estimate everyday things.
Read moreHow To Run A Lean Coffee
Quick tutorial on how to run a lean coffee.
Read moreAgile Open Southwest Recap
Open Spaces always tend to amaze me. They really are the right people in the right place at the right time. When we kicked off Agile Open Southwest, I was a little bit nervous about what might come out. As always, I was left absolutely amazed. It was great seeing old friends and meeting new ones. Finding everyone was a different place on their journey yet still able to be find common ground and learn from one another.
Read moreDon't Make Your Retrospectives Confusing
If explaining an activity in a retrospective takes more than a minute or two it probably isn't very effective. Don't fall into the trap of making things too complex. Activities shouldn't be complicated they should be fluid. Giving participants too many options and being unclear with instructions makes it difficult to fluid with sharing thoughts.
Read moreRetrospectives. When Facilitating. Facilitate. Don't Participate.
As a ScrumMaster when you are "running" a retrospective it is easy to fall into the trap of actively participating in it. It is extremely difficult to do this well (if not impossible), because your role should be as a facilitator not a participant. The minute you start participating you are no longer neutral and severely impact your ability to effectively facilitate.
Read moreEstimates Are Evil!
A young man was bitten by a pitbull when he was 10. Ever since then every time he has noticed a pitbull it is barking, snarling and threatening to him. He is now 35. He believes that pitbull's are a vicious breed and that they should not be family pets.
Read moreShould Senior Developers Pair Program?
I am a proponent of pairing (not just for programming). Anytime I introduce it to a new team I get a number of objections. The most prominent is that pairing slows me down (because I am so awesome and everyone else sucks so bad).
Read more5 Ways to Tell if Your DevOps Relationship is Failing You
Going to cross-functional teams for product delivery is always interesting, but DevOps seems to be particularly loaded in it's meaning. How to tell if your DevOps relationship is failing you?
Read moreRuby Revolution Rebuttal
In a blog post, Mark Turner has responded to the claim that Ruby is just a bunch of tools by stating that it is actually about making developers happy. I believe that the Ruby community is too focused on creating tools and lacks creativity and true innovation. Regional Ruby events have become more about showcasing tools and less about sharing cutting-edge ideas.
Read moreRuby is Just a Bunch of Tools
I have always liked Unix because of it's mentality that lots of small tools chained together could be more than an opaque larger tool. In this instance. I mean Rubyists are a bunch of Tools not of the useful kind. Maybe Zed is right an Rails is a Ghetto.
Read moreSometimes Team Perspective Is Needed
The benefit about working on a high performing team is that everyone expects excellence. There is always a drive that it could be better. Nail a perfect 10 and then ask how it could be an 11.
Read moreDesert Code Camp 2011.1
Desert Code Camp has opened it's call for suggestions. This is a great FREE event that brings together technologists of all kinds together at a single location to learn (while feeding them breakfast and lunch) new technologies, improve on existing technology or share your favorite technology. There has been a good dynamic languages track in addition to a strong Microsoft track. There has been a track for kids (Gangplank Jr) and even sessions on sales or running a business.
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