The Holy Grail of software development is to find a way to directly connect the code we write to the business goals of our projects.

I've blogged before about a possible future where, as we type in the code, dials in our IDE flicker and present us with immediate feedback about higher issues like code complexity and dependency management, in the same way they currently do about syntactical correctness.

One of the more questionable precepts behind the Scrum virus is the way it does estimating at release and iteraton ("Scrum") levels.

At the release level, when we're sizing our product backlog, we use story points to estimate the relative complexity (or difficulty, or improbability) of user stories. This makes sense,

What unbridled joy!


I'm currently looking for an Agile Developer-Tester. That is to say, I'm looking for an Agile developer who understands testing principles and practices, who knows how to automate acceptance tests using frameworks like FitNesse, RSpec, Watir and Selenium, and - most importantly - who has experience of applying these skills in your basic Scrum/XP team environment in a test-driven approach.

I recently had to brush off my self-esteem toolkit, and I couldn’t remember everything in it. I would normally turn to More Secrets of Consulting: The Consultant’s Tool Kit for the details, but I never seem to be at home when I need to remember all of them. So, I figured I’d list them out [...]