Blog

February 5, 2016

Greg Thomas

Top Ten Lists are All the Same

I did a search the other night on software blogs and their recommendations. I was stunned by the results. Each list I came across had the same Top 5, spread throughout their Top 10. How, how can this be? How can all these different people have the same view on what we all should be thinking?  Please know I don’t mean any ill will towards these blogs and their writers, but the lists, that are practically all the same, how is it in an Internet so large that these lists are so completely similar? How is it there are no

February 4, 2016

Greg Thomas

Find Something Tactile To Do

I spend a lot of my day at a keyboard and computer – whether it’s writing code, reading emails, reviewing projects and spreadsheets, writing blogs etc – it’s all at a keyboard, in a chair in front of a monitor. I don’t mind.  But there is something that it doesn’t provide – something physical, something worn or dirty. I can write a story on my computer… OR I can open up my notebook and write, scratching out bad sections, putting notes into the liner and look back at my thought process. I can draw a picture on my wacom tablet… OR

February 3, 2016

Greg Thomas

What does a DEMO stand for?

What really are demos? D – Delivered E – Excitement M – Milestone O – Offering That’s right, it’s a point in time where a software team gets to Deliver a beautiful piece of software that they are so Excited to be working on as it symbolizes a huge Milestone in their delivery plan, Offering it up to their stakeholders and team to offer feedback and guidance on as to how they should proceed with the tweaking and fixes before moving on to a new unit of work. Maybe it doesn’t mean this, but maybe it’s a great way to think

February 2, 2016

Greg Thomas

Software is not a Factory

Oh I loathe this term – the Software Factory – where visions of a funnel that take in software requirements into a building where idle developers sit by twiddling their thumbs waiting for their next task to be assigned to them so that they work to deliver a piece of software. Factory not moving fast enough?  Add more developers, the more we add, the faster it should go. Except Software Delivery is not a factory and developers are so much more than cogs in the wheels. My favourite part about developing software is the creativity that comes with hearing a new

February 1, 2016

Greg Thomas

You want it done Yesterday?

Yesterday. No seriously, this is an answer that is given to many a software developer during their career.  If you have not heard it yet, you will, if you have heard it, well, at some point you will hear it again. What type of work is due yesterday? Not easy work, really hard stuff, work that requires looking at different designs, potentially a number of marker board sessions and can include you trying one idea, failing and trying another.  It is never a text change or some other simple quick change that can be done with little to no risk. Regardless