The Writer’s Block Contest
Filed Under Announcements
Like my grandmother always says, “When life gives you lemons, make lemonade”. Unfortunately, my grandmother never owned a blog and never stared with blank looks at a computer screen.
Don’t worry, the official codesqueeze moleskin still has numerous post ideas in it, I am just having trouble starting the engine back up after a very nice long vacation.
Got an idea or question? Comment, Email, or Twitter it! I would love it hear some new thoughts and ideas.
The Reward
- Your idea/question will be turned into a blog post (isn’t that reward enough?)
- The top 2 idea generators will be spot lighted in this month’s Developer Faceoff post.
- PLUS, there will be a super secret prize as well, something every geek would want (but I’m not telling, you’ll just have to submit an idea).
So throw some ideas my way. Help me codesqueeze readers…your my only hope…
P.S. - Like I said, don’t worry. I still have a ton of ideas but they are huge and will be slow to come out. So stay tuned for those…as they will be epic…
Best of Codesqueeze 2008
Filed Under Squeezed Links
Another year down! I will admit, more of the fun posts like Whiteboard Wednesdays and Happy Numbers have been lacking, but I hope to pick that ball back up and start again real soon. Here are some New Year resolutions:
- New site redesign in January
- More video posts
- More Developer Faceoffs!
Reading them for your first or second time, here is the “no-fluff-just-stuff” posts of 2008:
January
- Why Office Gurus Are Bad (And The Buses Who Hit Them)
- Why Your Manager Doesn’t Like To Throw Away Work (And You Do)
- Whiteboard Wednesday: The ROI of Testing
- How Your Socks Can Determine Software Lifespan
February
- The Diminishing Return on Code Uniformity
- What Your Dog Can Teach You About Building Teams
- Whiteboard Wednesday: Benefits of Point Estimation
- The Quest For Perfect Proportions In Your Software
March
- Does Satisfice Mean Agile?
- Whiteboard Wednesday: Effective Communication Channels
- Comfort vs. Confidence - A Thin Line Between Apathy and Assurance
- Does Your Manager Deserve More Pay?
- Balancing A Workaholic Schedule
- Work Tunnel Vision - Why It’s Bad For Your Mind
April
- Whiteboard Wednesday: Keeping Teams Small
- Mr. Yuk Says Project Roadmaps Are Poisonous
- Refactoring Code Is Like Doing The Dishes
- Geek Speak: When Developers Attack!
May
- The Illusion Of Technically Competent Managers
- 5 Reasons Atlassian Is Cooler Than Your Company (Or Mine)
- It’s Software - And I Helped!
- Whiteboard Wednesday: The Probability of Getting Tasks Done
- The Stand Up Quit Sweeping Known Uncertainity Under The Rug
June
- Features Do Not Exist (Only Benefits)
- Your New Process (Some Assembly Required)
- Clients, Budgets, and The Credit Card Phenomenon
July
- The Blame Game: How Necessary Is Traceability?
- Customer Polarizing - Why Microsoft Will Always Be A Mediocre Giant
August
- My Agile Wall (Plus A Few Tricks)
- How To INVEST In Your User Stories
- The Easy Way to Writing Good User Stories
- Destroying Teams One Broken Window At A Time
- The Paris Hilton Approach To Software Development
September
- Abstraction Is For Both Humans And Software, But Not Software
- Don’t Go For The Doughnut
- Adding People To A Late Project Makes It Later
October
- Why New Developers Should Consider Contracting
- Is Product Splintering The Future Of Software?
- How You Can Code Global Poverty Away
- What America’s Got Talent Can Teach You About Managing
November
- Quit Putting Your Solution In My Feature Request!
- How To Organize A Gosh-Darn Good Resume
- Quit Exaggerating On Your Skill Set
- Sell Yourself With Business Benefits (And Not Geek Speak)
- Ensure Your Resume Doesn’t Get Thrown In The Trash
December
- Estimation Is Not For Accountability (It’s For Visibility)
- The Wisdom Of Insecurity
- What Fraggle Rock Can Teach You About The Art Of Letting Go
Estimation Is Not For Accountability (It’s For Visibility)
Filed Under Software Process
Almost all software teams run some sort of software process whether it’s Scrum, Agile, Waterfall, or Scumerfall. Each and every one of these processes includes a window of time (for example, Scrum uses the concepts of 1 week iterations).
A recent comment made me about fall out of my chair. Paraphrasing:
One of the best reasons [from a management perspective] to adopt Scrum is the fact that iterations are “accountable commitments” to what the team could accomplish in a week…
Screeeech. No. Estimations are not meant to be used as accountability rulers. They are meant for visibility.
But don’t we need estimations so that we can make business decisions and commitments; therefor aren’t they for accountability? Although, the last sentence would suggest a maybe…still a resounding - no.
Let me make something perfectly clear to everyone reading - nobody should ever be held accountable for estimations. Estimations are naturally shitty, wrong, and optimistic, so why even continue to do them? Because we need the business visibility of how long software is going to take, and as a measurement stick if we can continue the current game plan or react to a different (less optimistic) reality.
I want to repeat that - it gives early visibility to know that our business schedules will work, or early warning they will not so we can react accordingly.
So you are a team manager a few weeks away from a deadline that appears is not going to be meet. What are you to do? Here are a few things to avoid:
- Ignore the early warning signs and pray for a miracle
- Guilt or force your team into working overtime
- Don’t start preparing upper-management that timelines may slip
- Post Deadline: Chew out your team for not making the deadline
Alright, what should you do? Here are a few ideas:
- Realign management strategy
- Bribe the team into working late with food, bonuses, or tech gizmos
- Post Deadline: Aid your team in providing better estimations
Being middle management should be one of the hardest jobs. I have equated software management to being an Army Sergeant, and how you handle the tough decisions of this scenario really draw parallel. You don’t push hard against the officers - shit rolls down hill onto your troops. You don’t rally the troops to accomplish the mission - the overall strategy goes to hell. Either way, you are not a popular person but that is because you make all the hard decisions that everyone else skirts around.
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