Why I Don't Point Agile Bug Tickets
When I create Agile bug tickets, I leave the story points blank. Why? Two reasons: pointing bugs creates the wrong incentives, and bugs are hard to estimate. ...
Weekly Summary Technique
“What did you do this week?” I’ve written a weekly summary for myself and my teams for years. In this post, I’ll explain how I use this tool. ...
Opt Into Beta
Here’s a technique I’ve used on launches: instead of a big scary waterfall, or, in tandem with a phased release, let customers opt into a new feature. ...
How to Find a Programming Mentor
I have collected a group of mentors over the years. I call on them frequently to talk through tough problems. I think I’m better at my job because of this regular, impartial outside feedback. I’d wish this for everyone! In this post, I’ll try to reverse-engineer the path I took to get here. ...
Use a Dev Email
An engineering technique I recommend: when you sign up for any service, even on a side project that’s just getting off the ground, create an email group called dev@<your-domain.com> that forwards to you and any other technologists, and use that email to sign up. ...
How to Answer Questions on Stack Overflow
I enjoy answering questions on Stack Overflow. It helps me learn about common challenges and practice reviewing code. In the beginning, it also unlocked basic site features like voting.1 For a sampling of what I’ve contributed, here’s my Stack Overflow profile. Maybe you’d like to answer questions too! In this post, I’ll explain how I answer questions on Stack Overflow. ...
Want Better Automated Tests? Hard-Code Your Expectations
Hard-coded test expectations have many benefits that I’ll explore in this post. ...
Presence is Boolean
When possible, I prefer to use the presence of data to represent a boolean, rather than a boolean itself. ...
Be a Better Technical Consultant by Saying "I Think That..."
An idea I find useful as an individual contributor is starting my consulting with this phrase: “I think that…”. The idea is to let your arguments stand on their own, rather than appealing to your experience or other authorities. ...
Bug Reports Are Gold
Me: Hey, I’m experiencing an issue with your software. Here’s a detailed bug report. SAAS Engineer: What you’re describing isn’t possible. Narrator: But it was possible. This is a frustrating, unproductive snippet of a conversation I’ve had a few times in my career. What can we learn? Treat bug reports like gold. ...