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Chiron Codex: helping software engineers become centaurs. APPropriate Behaviour
The book about all the things software writers do that aren't writing software.
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Author Archives: Graham
The value of the things on the left
With the rise of critical writing like Bertand Meyer’s Agile! The Good, the Hype, and the Ugly, Daniel Mezick’s Agile-Industrial Complex, and my own Fragile Manifesto, it’s easy to conclude the this Agile thing is getting tired. We’re comfortable enough … Continue reading
Zen and the Art of Software Maintenance
In one part of the book Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance, which is neither about Zen nor motorcycle maintenance, there are two motorcycles and two riders. John Sutherland is a romanticist who appreciates the external qualities of his … Continue reading
Posted in architecture of sorts, design
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A question of focus
The problem with The Labrary is that I offer to do so many things – because I could do them, and do them well – that it can be hard to find the one thing I could do for you … Continue reading
Posted in advancement of the self, Business
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Great Documentation, Great Software
A paraphrased conversation, the other day, between me and a customer of one of my customers: Me: Are you experienced at working with my customer’s developer APIs? Them: I always feel like a newbie, because there’s so much stuff. But … Continue reading
Posted in architecture of sorts, documentation
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Solving the underlying problem
As a software engineer, it’s easy to get work engineering software. Well, maybe not easy, but relatively so: that is the kind of work that comes along most. The kind of work that people are confident I can do. That … Continue reading
Posted in Business
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Maybe you are going to need it
In the beginning, there was the green field. The lead developer, who may have been the only developer, agreed with the product owner (or “the other member of the company” as they were known) what they would build for the … Continue reading
Posted in architecture of sorts
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Experts around the table
One of the principles behind the manifesto for Agile software development says: Business people and developers must work together daily throughout the project. I don’t like this language. It sets up the distinction between “engineering” and “the business”, which is … Continue reading
Posted in agile
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On the efficient allocation of scarce resources with alternative uses
Most of what I know about “the economy” is outdated (Adam Smith, Karl Marx, John Maynard Keynes) or incorrect (the news) so I decided to read a textbook. Basic Economics, 5th Edition by Thomas Sowell is clear, modern, and generally … Continue reading
Posted in economics
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My first rails app
I know, right? I first learned how to rails back when Rails 3 was new, but didn’t end up using it (the backend of the project I was working on was indeed written in Rails, but by other people). Then … Continue reading
Posted in ruby
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My changing relationship with books
My Delicious Library collection just hit 1,000 books. That’s not so big, it’s only a fraction of the books I’ve read in my life. I only started cataloguing my books a few years ago. What is alarming about that is … Continue reading
Posted in books
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