Articles for category: Drive

April 15, 2023

Greg Thomas

How Many Tools Do You Need

I have my favourite tools to do building projects with.  I don’t even know if I always need them, but when starting a new project, I always bring them. And eventually, I need them. They are the old stalwarts that never fail. Similarly, the tools I write and code with don’t change much anymore.  I’ve tried a variety of tools but they generally all come back to the same ones.  I drift back because they do what they were intended to do and they do it well. I keep the toolbox small because what I have can do it all. 

April 13, 2023

Greg Thomas

It’s Not the Way I would Do It

The only answer to the statement – “It’s not the way that I would do it.” – is “then how would you do it?” If the answer is not forthcoming immediately, or in the similar amount of time that it took for you to come up with the approach, then the statement is invalid. If you make that statement, you should have a clear picture of how you would do it. The answer to – “Well anything but that” – isn’t about the process or why you are doing it that way, instead, it is about the person – that’s

April 11, 2023

Greg Thomas

Build the Pattern

When you’re building a house, you can’t change everything as you’re building it. You can’t just start adding rooms without having a foundation to support them.  Once the plumbing is installed, you can’t move toilets and showers, and bathrooms altogether.  If you started off with a 3 bedroom plan, going to 5 is going to be a challenge to build something with all the same amenities. That’s how it is, you have a plan, a path, a pattern – you need to follow it.  There is room for deviation and creativity – oh look we could use this small space and

April 6, 2023

Greg Thomas

Sprint Planning 101

Developers should be writing code in the current sprint. QA should be validating the code completed in the last sprint and/or bug fixes found in the current sprint. Product Management should be finalizing/confirming requirements for the upcoming sprint and answering questions for this sprint. Only take on what you can do “-1” – the “-1” being something is always going to go wrong, so cramming in your delivery to your topmost capacity is a surefire way to not hit your upcoming goals.  Give yourself time for customer tickets, unplanned meetings and the unknown. The goal of any sprint is to

April 1, 2023

Greg Thomas

What Meetings Do You Value Most?

Why are you attending meetings you don’t value or get anything out of? If you don’t value it, if you don’t provide any value to it is it worth your time? It’s not a bad thing to say you are not contributing to a meeting and leave? That’s not being bad, that’s being upfront, and that’s showing that you care about your time and what you do. Meetings don’t need 11 decision-makers in them, and yet they are always all there. Pick your meetings of value and attend those ones, the rest, get your time back with and do something

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