There is an interesting conversation thread on Slashdot asking “What practices impede developers’ productivity?” The conversation is in response to an excellent post by Steve McConnell from 2008 addressing productivity variations among software developers and teams and the origin of “10x” – that is, the observation noted in the wild of “10-fold differences in productivity [...]

Each year brings to the business world a new swarm of buzzwords. Many are last year’s buzzwords, humming the same tune at a different pitch, fighting to find new life in the buzzword-eat-buzzword business world. Others are new arrivals from beyond the information horizon. I caught one of the new ones in my net earlier [...]

In The Logic of Failure, Dietrich Dörner makes the following observation: In our political environment, it would seem, we are surrounded on all sides with good intentions. But the nurturing of good intentions is an utterly undemanding mental exercise, while drafting plans to realize those worthy goals is another matter. Moreover, it is far from [...]

The Logitech webcam software installer doesn’t seem to know what to offer. QA and testing. Still important. Related PostsSQL Tip: Running Totals with Multiple Joins Frameworks, theoretically speaking… Free online education opportunity from Stanford University LinkedIn and Dunbar’s Number Cargo Cults in Management

Michael Wade has an interesting post considering how non-agricultural workplaces can resemble farms. Workplace cultures are in large part a reflection of the underlying metaphor driving the organization, whether by design or chance. When much younger, I used and advocated the “business is war” metaphor. I have been much more successful (and much less stressed) [...]

Reading Michelle Symonds’ article “Why Project Management and ROWE Don’t Mix” and Jody Thompson’s response, “OMG. WTF? Pt.4” left me with one conclusion. Symonds is more focused on solution whereas Thompson is more focused on selling ROWE. They both make valid points and I’ve used – even relied on – aspects of product and personnel [...]

In a conversation focused on the value of a liberal arts education in today’s economic and social climate, a classmate took the following position: The problem lies in the social aspect of non-traditional schools and an example of this would be the Colorado School of Mines. Mines is a very tough engineering school that focuses [...]

Mike Wade asks “What is the scariest novel based in a workplace?” and suggests Moby Dick. The scene in which Ishmael realizes that he is stuck in a vast expanse of ocean on a whaling ship captained by a mad man with unquestioned authority still gives me the chills. Strictly speaking, I’d have to go [...]

QA and testing is not easy. Those who do it well deserve good pay. Those who don’t, can make life interesting for a company in unpleasant and embarrassing ways. Case in point: I subscribe to a company, called HomeAgain, which provides lost pet recovery services for people who have micochiped their pets. It’s inexpensive and [...]

“Trust, but verify,” goes the old saying. Fished, no doubt, from the same pool of wisdom that includes “caveat emptor” and a school of other supposedly common sense quips that nobody seems to follow when it counts. When it comes to critters that land in our inboxes, the smart practice would be to “Distrust until [...]