Getting Agile

For multiple years now I have thrown around the name “Executable Design” to describe Test-Driven Development (TDD) and how it is used for design rather than a test-centric tool. The name itself causes problems for those who are initially introduced to the technique. As a coach I was looking for a way to introduce it [...]

On November 6th I presented an updated version of the Managing Software Debt talk at Agile Vancouver “Much Ado About Agile” conference. This is a link to the presentation deck:
Managing Software Debt - Agile Vancouver (PDF)
I was honored to present at this local conference and had a great time meeting up with old friends and [...]

Managing Software Debt
Continued Delivery of High Values as Systems Age
Many software developers have to deal with legacy code at some point during their careers. Seemingly simple changes are turned into frustrating endeavors. Code that is hard to read and unnecessarily complex. Test scripts and requirements are lacking, and at the same time are out of [...]

In the past I have blogged on software debt in terms of:

Going beyond code to manage software debt in “Clean Up, Clean Up, Everybody Do Your Share”
Problem with catching up on software debt in “The IT Manager’s Dilemma with Software Debt”

Although there are reasons defined or implied in those blog entries I think it is [...]

“Hey, Ben. We just figured out a great way to manage test-driven development and good database design.”, said an enthusiastic developer using Extreme Programming (XP) practices on their project. “Our application is highly data-centric. Therefore, in the first iteration we design the database schema modifications and create tests to validate all of it’s implementation characteristics. [...]

A few years ago I was privileged to be on a team with some excellent developers where I currently work, SolutionsIQ. One of whom saw the need to stabilize development on an incredibly unstable codebase with no tests. He came to the team with a proposed tool that he slapped together in his free time. [...]

Last week I was invited to participate in a LAWST-style workshop on Technical Debt. I was honored to be there with such a great group of people from diverse industries and experiences.
Preface: I am writing this blog entry for myself and therefore it may not be as useful to those reading. Also, the perspective on [...]

Agile 2008 was an interesting experience for me. It was the first time that I went to a conference and felt like I knew a large portion of the participants. I am not sure what this means but I had fun meeting up with friends and acquaintances.
Bas Vodde, a Certified Scrum Trainer from Singapore, had [...]

One of the most common questions in teaching and coaching agile processes to groups is:
“How do we design our software while delivering iterations of potentially shippable product increments?”
Scrum, an agile process that I teach about and coach organizations on implementation of, asks that each Sprint, analogous to an iteration, delivers a potentially shippable product increment. [...]

At a recent Seattle Scrum users group meeting I presented on the topic of “Managing Software Debt”. Here is a link to a PDF of the presentation and the following is a description of the topic:
The Product Backlog in Scrum is used to prioritize implementation of features into software based on value. A Product [...]