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Should Designers Code?
Bobtuse Honeybee Pagoda I am an long-time programmer. I have a keen interest in simple design and providing a pleasurable aesthetic experience in most things I build. Jon Kolko's post code... Bobtuse...
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YSOD is the New BSOD
Old Paradigm New Paradigm In the enchanted land of Microsoft Windows OS and Microsoft IIS, the Yellow Screen of Death (YSOD) has all but replaced the Blue Screen of Death (BSOD).... Bobtuse can be...
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Simple, Assertive Software
Do you want your app to Kick Ass & Call it Love Story? Keep it simple. And make it assertive. Focus on doing at least one thing right. Distill that thing to its essence. Industrial designer......
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A Personal Approach to Agility
I will always appreciate the spirit of the Agile Manifesto. I revisit the 12 principles behind the Agile Manifesto on occasion, particularly after experiencing recipe-driven nincompoops who use the......
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I'm Doing it Wrong? Really?
I chafe at how freely many of us will say you're doing it wrong. Sometimes distinguishing a right way from a wrong way is easy. Sometimes it's not. Holding a telephone handset upside down... Bobtuse...
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Pull Requests for Teams
Sunflowers, 1887 Vincent van Gogh If you recognize a measure of truth in the proverb: Two heads are better than one, you will want to experiment with the Pull Request workflow with your next... Bobtuse...
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Shorting Microsoft?
Are you short selling Microsoft? Technology entrepreneur and academic Vivek Wadhwa asks, Can Microsoft be saved? Wadhwa's PBS article offers a glimmer of hope for Microsoft in its wealth... Bobtuse can...
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Bootstrapping Lessons from Brooklyn
Before attending an October NSF I-Corps entrepreneurial workshop in Brooklyn, I finished the required reading: Steve Blank's The Startup Owner's Manual: The Step-By-Step Guide for Building a Great......
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The Big Wave Operating System
I surfed in my teens on tame East Coast waves. The draw to surf and to all aspects of water waves has never left me. I seek and study waves in lakes, rivers, oceans, storm sewers, and boiling hot......
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Team Leads and the Opposable Thumb
I once observed an old-school project manager spew voice-quivering animus all over a Google Hangout. Most people don't respond well to controlled anger, particularly millennials. The project... Bobtuse...
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Open or Closed
A closed door shields us from our shortcomings, but robs us of humanity's greatest currency ― sharing ideas. Richard Hamming left many insights about learning to learn from his career as... Bobtuse can...
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Move Deliberately & Build Things
Bell Labs technicians preparing the Telstar communications satellite for launch in 1962.Describing the post World War II golden age of innovation in the US, Jon Gertner posits that the Bell... Bobtuse...
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Naming Conventions
On my last three software teams I have had a teammate named "Bob". What are the odds of a Bob having a teammate named Bob? I can understand a Horatio or a Cuthbert, but not another software guy...
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The Learning Team
A Learning Organization seems so obviously desirable as to be ubiquitous yet most of us will never experience one. Learning Organization A term for an organization that fosters ongoing learning......
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Say Why to Estimates
Agile estimation surfaces a clash of cultures. Broadly speaking the Agile community consists of makers & managers. The clash between makers & managers distills to motivation: Why &......
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Raising Products
Sunrise to sunset, products have a time-honored cycle. In the realm of software development, I prefer Products over Projects. Product life-cycleWho are the best people to raise a software product?......
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Pair Programming in Perspective
Annual Mermaid Parade Coney Island, 2012 I offered my 2¢ on this question from another developer: Would you consider joining a company where pair programming is an essential part of software... Bobtuse...
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Start Slackin
The infrastructure supporting the flow of communication has become an iteration zero concern. For software developers, a team chat application is becoming as fundamental as a GitHub... Bobtuse can be...
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Soft Skills
Making software is a profoundly human activity. Successfully produced software is made: by teams.for people to use.Interpersonal communication and mindset are increasingly important for... Bobtuse can...
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Chief Agile Officer?
Does anyone need a Chief Agile Officer? Not is this galaxy. Imagine an old-school and a new-school narrative: 1. Old-School Imagine a storied company called Hammer & Sons. Some 20 years after......
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Ten Outsourcing Considerations
Software developer testing with JUnitTen outsourcing considerations when choosing a software development team: Are they local?Are they recommended by someone you trust?Are they demonstrably... Bobtuse...
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Founders as Programmers?
A founder asked While outsourcing my startup, should I learn programming or just focus on customers and scaling?Founders don't need to learn programming. Outsourcing is a good call, but never if the......
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CI Saves My Bacon
One production pattern I've found indispensable is Continuous Integration. CI saves my bacon. Recently I've found continuous delivery used on top of CI is a production pattern that helps me and my......
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Why I Dig Bootstrap
Bootstrap is one of the most significant web development improvements in recent years because it standardizes on class names for common css (cascading style sheets) for html layout and html page......
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Women on the Rise
illustration by Sascia DäumichenThe demand for women programmers is on the rise because the software industry realized it has a long-standing brogrammer problem and remains economically stunted from......
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