The Diminishing Return on Code Uniformity
Filed Under Quality Controls, Code, Software Process | 16 Comments
Last week Steve Rowe had a nice discussion on the question - Is There Value In Code Uniformity? Although I left a comment, I thought I would expand upon my thoughts a little more.
I do agree that every team must have (and enforce) some basic standards of code uniformity. These may include items […]
Does Gaining Experience Lower Your Software Quality?
Filed Under Quality Controls, Thought Stuff | Leave a Comment
Great software developers have inevitably learned from previous failures. Is the cost of lessons learned always the implicit lowering of project quality?
As Steven Wright said:
Experience is something you don’t get until just after you need it.
It is true that you can learn from books, blogs, and colleagues without impacting your current project, […]
The Zen of Unit Testing
Filed Under Quality Controls | 3 Comments
The pupil asked the master programmer:
“When can I stop writing tests?”
The master answered:
“When you stop writing code.”
The pupil asked:
“When do I stop writing code?”
The master answered:
“When you become a manager.”
The pupil trembled and asked:
“When do I become a manager?”
The master answered:
“When you stop writing tests.”
The pupil rushed to write some tests.
If the code deserves to […]
Lobsters Attack the Gut Instinct Equation
Filed Under Quality Controls, Thought Stuff | Leave a Comment
A recent analogy comparing software maintainability with a lobster triggered a moment of inspiration about the Gut Instinct Equation.
From the Gut Instinct Equation we know that progress is not linear. What I am now pondering is if this is because of the cost of maintenance. Even on greenfield projects this cost starts […]
When Quality Service Affects Quality Software
Filed Under Quality Controls, Thought Stuff | 2 Comments
Imagine this, you are in a meeting with a client and they request something absurd. You respond that it is a bad idea from a technology view. Your business analyst (program manager, whatever) shoots you a look while calming the client and saying “of course we can do that feature“.
Sound familiar? If […]



