The Blame Game: How Necessary Is Traceability?

Filed Under Human Factors, Software Process | 12 Comments

As we know, egoless development environments are necessary for a productive learning environment for our teams; however, I have been knocking around the idea of conducting an experiment and completely eliminating any traceability within the software process.
Here is my thought: with the exception of “fail fast” pieces of the software process (such as the build […]

Customer Polarizing - Why Microsoft Will Always Be A Mediocre Giant

Filed Under Thought Stuff, Human Factors | 4 Comments

I have come to grow very tired of Microsoft’s approach to building and marketing software to the masses, and here is the simple reason why:

When you build software for everybody, you build software for nobody.

I don’t remember where I picked up the term “customer polarizing” (I believe it was 37 signals), but it really resonated […]

Features Do Not Exist (Only Benefits)

Filed Under Human Factors | 7 Comments

A bit of a rant, that we really need to quit thinking and speaking in terms of features, and start talking to our clients in terms of the benefits that they will gain.

Clients, Budgets, and The Credit Card Phenomenon

Filed Under Human Factors, Software Process | Leave a Comment

There are many big reasons why you want stakeholders involved in a project including: input, feedback, direction, and buy off. However, all projects have a single thing in common - budget.
When project owners get left in the dark (or sometimes keep a blind eye on purpose) they run the serious risk falling trap […]

The Illusion Of Technically Competent Managers

Filed Under Human Factors, Software Process | 8 Comments

The role of technical manager is inherently flawed by nature.
It is insanely rare that you can find someone who is both technically competent and has the people management skills to accomplish this job - so already you are working against the odds. Jurgen’s recent opinion that most software developers are utterly unqualified for such […]

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