Technical Debt

Ward Cunningham posted a video on Technical Debt, and Kent Beck and Ed Yourdan (and I) have been tweeting about it. Let me share some thoughts with you here.

Need Some Help, v.2.

After a valiant effort, a helper has determined that his proposed scheme for updating the site, converting the main site to WordPress, is not practical. Thanks to him for his effort and professional behavior.

Let’s try again. I’ll put down…

Brita Water Filter Fiasco

I bought a new Brita on-faucet water filter the other day, because the existing GE one had developed a crack. I chose the Brita because the GE was not available in the store that day, and the Brita was the…

Ordered a Kindle 2

At the Borders in Brighton that Chet and I visit, they’ve had the Sony reader on the shelves for quite a while. They look good, and useful. When I travel, I carry books with me to read on the plane.…

Why is Refactoring a “Must”?

“In order to do Scrum or XP or any form of Agile successfully, you must refactor. Sorry, not optional. Necessary.”

Code Improvement is Never Costly

Let’s talk about more about code improvement. Some people seem to think that code improvement has a high associated cost. I think it only has a high cost if we’re not very good at it.

Isn’t Money Fungible?

Companies receiving “bailout” funds spend money on questionable items like giant bonuses, trips to Las Vegas, or airplanes. When questioned about it they say that they did not use bailout money for that, they only use bailout money for purposes…

How you get your CSM does matter!

The traditional CSM course is only two days. That’s not enough time to cover the things a ScrumMaster needs to know to help their team be successful.