Friday 5 September 2014

TDD in Javascript

Test Driven Development (TDD) is a crucial part of quality software development.

For that matter, exploring tools and frameworks to implement and/or improve the implementation of test suites is part of this process.

Here's a presentation on tools and frameworks for implementing TDD in javascript:
http://www.infoq.com/presentations/tdd-javascript

Have fun! :)

Thursday 17 July 2014

"10 management tips for great leaders"

For those in leadership positions, those that aspire to them, and those being leaded also!

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Have fun! :)

Tuesday 15 July 2014

Roadmap to Agile Documentation

It's freshly published my new article on Agile Methodologies, this one on the topic of documentation, and that InfoQ has kindly agreed to publish!

Since Agile Methodologies aren't specific about the documentation issue, it is a theme that frequently comes up in forums where folks working in Agile environments gather and share thoughts.

So, in this article it is proposed a kind of a roadmap that I hope will help to define some guidelines on how do we produce documentation (functional and technical) in the scope of a project managed in the Agile ways.

Here's the link: http://www.infoq.com/articles/roadmap-agile-documentation

Feel free to comment, criticize, disagree, etc etc...

And have fun! :)

Update:
It is also available through DZone, which also offers voting buttons on articles. Interesting :)
Here's the link, which also gives access to the article in InfoQ:
http://www.dzone.com/links/a_roadmap_to_agile_documentation.html


Friday 2 May 2014

"The Importance of Slack in Achieving Speed and Quality", by Steve Bement

Article on the importance of planning your sprint with some slack in order to increase velocity and decrease technical debt, among other benefits.

"throughout the sprint your team follows the practices of emergent design and refactoring. [...] Refactoring is a way to pay down technical debt. If you don’t continuously pay down this debt, the design of the code deteriorates and the software becomes brittle (hard to change). This makes you go slower. On the other hand, if constant attention is paid to design, through refactoring, the code becomes easier to change, which increases velocity."

Take a peek: http://www.solutionsiq.com/resources/agileiq-blog/bid/101012/The-Importance-of-Slack-in-Achieving-Speed-and-Quality

Have fun :)

Monday 28 April 2014

Thursday 24 April 2014

"Don’t F*ck Up the Culture", article by Brian Chesky


Interesting and straightforward article on why culture matters.

In a nutshell, "The stronger the culture, the less corporate process a company needs. When the culture is strong, you can trust everyone to do the right thing.".

An article with a nice, clean and sharp view, written with the simplicity and clarity needed to pass the message.

Take a look: https://www.linkedin.com/today/post/article/20140424002919-13378252-don-t-f-ck-up-the-culture?trk=tod-home-art-list-large_0

And have fun! ;)

Wednesday 19 February 2014

"Forced Agile" - What's your reason to resist it?

Interesting article about the 'crisis' between the implementation of what I call "forced agile", and the resistance many professionals experience.

In many organizations, Agile kind of creeps in starting with that one team that experiments it and gets so excited with the result that it naturally spreads it gradually to the entire organization.
However, in some organizations, Agile is imposed from above as a management strategy and everyone has to change the way they work, even if it doesn't really see whichever benefits Agile Methodologies bring along. That creates resistance.

Is it okay to resist to Agile, or should you check your real motivations to this resistance?

Fact: Agile changes the way we work.
Fact: Resistance to change is the typical human reaction.
These two factors combined often create tension in a new imposed environment, as happens in an Agile forced one.
That's why the subject of culture change is such a strong topic when addressing the changes in an organization into an Agile mindset.

Despite the implementation of strategies to help mitigate this, it's important for each of us to check our real motivation to these resistance.

The author of the below article addresses some interesting topics on this matter. It's worth to read it.
Here's the link: http://testobsessed.com/2010/09/agile-backlash/

And have fun, as always! :)

Tuesday 18 February 2014

Spike and Stabilize, by Liz Keogh

"By doing TDD – writing our tests first, or before we’ve got feedback on what it is we’d like to achieve – we are creating a premature commitment. The principles of Real Options say, “Never commit early unless you know why”. If you’re working with uncertainty, and if you can avoid adding investment before getting feedback – for anypractice – then you will actually go quicker and be able to respond to discovery faster. You will be more agile."

This is how Liz Keogh sums her approach on software development beyond TDD.
In her article, Liz defends that we don't always have to do TDD before-hand, 'cause sometimes we just aren't sure of where we're heading to. Therefore, she suggests developers to Spike and Stabilize first, that is, "trying one or several things quickly to get feedback, then stabilizing the end result after we’ve managed to eliminate some of the uncertainty around what we’re doing."

Now, note that she does not defend this approach instead of TDD. On the contrary she suggests you should master TDD before you make this move in the way you work.

It's really worth to take a look!

Here you are: http://lizkeogh.com/2012/06/24/beyond-test-driven-development/

Have fun! :)

Friday 7 February 2014

How to choose the best approach on software development methodologies?

Nice article on finding the balance between innovative development approaches - because of the principles behind them - AND the right choice for our reality.

It's worth to take a look!

Here it is: The Best Approach to Software Development

Enjoy!

The relation between Agile and Ownership in Agile Environments

Nice article about Trust and Ownership in an Agile environment!

Focuses on WHY we do thing instead of just following RULES, and also how different control levels of leadership, according to the author, affect the team outcomes.

Here it is: Trust and Ownership – a Perfect Couple in an agile world!!!

Enjoy!

Wednesday 5 February 2014

Learning / reviewing Scrum Ceremonies with funny and easy videos

The Scrum Training Series provide animated videos about Scrum Ceremonies, that can be learned in a fun way.
The videos go through the basics of the ceremonies, and add additional information about the principles behind the ceremonies. It also includes quizzes to check your understanding of these principles.

Check them out in here: http://scrumtrainingseries.com/

And have fun! :)