Red Squirrel Reflections
Dave Hoover explores the psychology of software development
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Red Squirrel Reflections
Dave Hoover explores the psychology of software development
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Fri, 29 Jul 2005In response to my StickyMinds article on ping-pong programming, Ivan Vaghi emailed me with a story of a remote ping-pong programming session. He doesn't have a blog so I figured I would post it here (with his permission)...Yesterday I tried a remote ping pong coding session with a friend. Thu, 28 Jul 2005We have received a bunch of helpful feedback on Walking the Long Road, particuarly from Ken Auer, someone who has been encouraging me and supporting this project since its inception. Ken pointed out a glaring omission: the customer!We've added a new pattern Craft Over Art that is a first step toward remedying this critical omission. As we revise the rest of the patterns, we'll have tiny imaginary customers sitting on our shoulders, whispering "remember me?" I'll be dropping off the radar until August 8th. I'm headed to Rainy Lake with Staci and Rose and Ricky where there will be no electricity, mobile phones, or plumbing. I love that place.[/craftsmanship] permanent link Tue, 26 Jul 2005PLoP Focus Group on Apprentice Patterns Ade and I will be attending the PLoP 2005 bootcamp in September in order to sharpen our pattern writing skills and receive guidance from the patterns community. We've also been encouraged to lead a focus group on the apprentice patterns. I'm excited for this opportunity and thankful that ThoughtWorks is supporting this endeavor.[/craftsmanship] permanent link Sat, 23 Jul 2005A chapter; Another talk; The learning patterns Ade and I are in the process of writing Walking the Long Road, our first chapter (not the first chapter in the book, but the first one we've written). There is still more to be done on it, but I wanted to get it out to get some eyeballs on it. Any feedback is welcome. Feel free to use the commenting system on the individual pattern pages.Yesterday I spoke about the patterns, this time at an internal event at ThoughtWorks. I was more nervous about this talk than the one in Atlanta (ThoughtWorkers can be a tough audience). But again, it was a positive experience. People felt free to offer suggestions, share opinions, and point out missing patterns. By the end I was exhausted, but encouraged by the participation and excited by what I'd learned from my colleagues. We have pushed out a number of PERPETUAL LEARNING patterns lately as we shift our focus in that direction. These latest patterns include Breakable Toys, ExposeYourIgnorance, Record What You Learn, and Share What You Learn.[/craftsmanship] permanent link Thu, 14 Jul 2005The Agile Atlanta meeting was a lot of fun. I monologued for too long about the background of the patterns and about patterns and pattern languages in general. It wasn't until I simply displayed a list of a bunch of the apprenticeship patterns and briefly described each of them that the meeting took off. And took off it did! We didn't wrap up until after 9:30 and I ended up missing the last flight back to Chicago. (Thanks for the couch, Obie.) Here are the somewhat lame slides that will likely be slashed down to just one slide of the list of patterns for any future presentations.The discussion was exhilarating. One theme that kept coming up was the differences between experts and master craftsmen. New patterns were brought forth. People related the patterns to their own experiences. Several patterns were critiqued and tested, resulting in the identification of how some patterns could be balanced (Expand Your Bandwidth vs. Filter The Noise). Having a number of software veterans there was a huge benefit. When I finally got back to Chicago the next morning, there was an email from a publisher waiting for me. They're interested in the patterns. I'm encouraged.[/craftsmanship] permanent link Fri, 08 Jul 2005Apprenticeship Patterns at Agile Atlanta I will be presenting, discussing, and testing the apprenticeship patterns at Agile Atlanta on Tuesday, July 12th. If you're interested in what we've been writing about and would like to learn more and/or influence the direction we're taking and live in the area, I'd love to meet you there.[/craftsmanship] permanent link Thu, 07 Jul 2005Dave Astels takes A New Look at TDD Dave blogs about specifying behavior rather than testing units..."When you realize that it's all about specifying behaviour and not writing tests, your point of view shifts. Suddenly the idea of having a Test class for each of your production classes is rediculously limiting. And the thought of testing each of your methods with its own test method (in a 1-1 relationship) will have you rolling on the floor laughing." |
