Everybody wants these things. They are all great. The problem is that we don’t know what they mean or how they relate to each other. We act as if these terms are somewhat synonymous, but they are not.
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Hiring Talent
Hiring is a tricky business. We screen for experience. We screen for skill. How do you screen for talent? We should recognize that talent and skill are not the same thing. Skill is the ability to apply technique correctly. Talent goes beyond that. Talent includes the ability to know which technique will produce the right…
Technique, Talent and Vision
Technique without talent is inefficient. Some folks are just born with certain gifts and talents. They are smart in the right way to “just get it”. Whether it is music or leadership, or basketball, it doesn’t matter – some people are a “natural”. The rest of us have to learn the techniques and practice, practice,…
Asses, Hands or Brains
There are three kinds of employees: Asses, Hands, Brains. Which are you hiring?
The Hookup
My background for the last 27 years has been application systems development and integration. I have played every role from business analyst to developer to architect to project manager to team leader to director at one time or another. I know what gets application development teams motivated and excited about their job. I know what…
Sufficient Tests
I’ll allow up front that I am not a huge advocate of TDD. Not because I think it is bad, its good. Not because I think it is hard, although it adds abstractions to the development process that are hard for some developers to grok. Not because I think it is a waste, because even…
Progressive Elaboration
Progressive elaboration is one technique that can be applied to virtually any aspect of software development. In reality it is a simple analysis technique which revolves around the maxim: start with what you know. In agile software development, we apply this to several activities: requirements, design, and planning. Progressive elaboration starts with the notion, that…
Two Way Trust
A good friend called me from Austin last year to talk about a work situation. He was contemplating separating from his employer because of what he described as his boss not letting him do the job he was hired to do. As we discussed the situation, it sounded to me like his boss (the founder…
Creation Participation Involvement
I have been thinking about the relationships we all experience to the work product we are responsible for. The degree of authority we express over some work product, the degree of autonomy we have over some work processes, and the degree of responsibility we are assigned for that work product dictate our role or relationship…
Pragma
Do you ever feel like the organization around you has lost the plot? That we (collectively) no longer remember why we do all of the things that we are required to do? That we spend an inordinate amount of time on activities that don’t really help. It is very easy for processes and procedures to…