Yves Hanoulle asks, “If you could change 1 thing today what would it be?” as the first question in his Agile Retroflection of the Day project. Today being the first of the year, it’s natural that I look back over the past year as I consider this question. And so I answer,
That people could ask for, and could accept, the help they need and want. (Continued)
Ever since I experienced the “Where Are Your Keys” language fluency game with Willem Larsen, I’ve been thinking about how to apply the concepts to learning other than languages. One of the fascinating concepts I gleaned from this game is the separate dimensions of proficiency and fluency. The proficiency scale that Willem uses is based on the ACTFL guidelines of Novice, Intermediate, Advanced, & Superior. Willem gave a memorable colloquial description of these guidelines in relation to a party: (Continued)
I posted this question on LinkedIn this morning, and have already received a ton of answers. I thought it would be good to ask here, too.
As a manager, what would you like the software developers under your management to learn? This might be knowledge of some specific technology, some software engineering skill, some other skill or knowledge, or what?
Your answer doesn’t have to apply to all of your developers. Pick something that will make a noticeable difference in your organization’s effectiveness. And please be as specific as possible.
Of course, some of the answers were general advice rather than specific things at the answerer’s organization. But where the answers were specific, I typically followed up with two more questions.
What steps are you currently taking to help developers learn this?
What steps do you think you should take, but aren’t yet, for some reason?
I’d like to hear your answers, either as comments to this blog or privately in email.
It is good when we learn from our experiences–much better than when we don’t learn from them. I recently wrote about learning, or failing to learn, from observing others. A recent discussion on the scrumdevelopment yahoogroup got me thinking about another way to learn from experiences, and that’s learning from the experiences of others.
The discussion I mean started in the middle of another thread, when Clay Dreslough asked about Pair Programming.
But I have never had any success with actual Pair Programming.
So … am I missing a key component of XP? Or have other people found the same reticence with adopting Pair Programming?
Are there some valuable gains here that I’m missing? And if so, how would you recommend getting programmers to change their habits? (Continued)
A while back, I was working with a young and cocky software developer. He was a smart guy, and sure of his abilities. He had seven years of Java experience, he said, and he knew how to write code.
As he was a new member of the team, I described the strategy I’d planned for a bit of code. I showed him what I’d already written, and asked him to complete the functionality.
“But I can do it another way.” And he described a different technique. (Continued)
I’ll never forget the 11th grade English class when Mr. Ervin departed from his usual lessons in literature, and lectured us on this topic for the full hour. “Learn the trade and the tricks will follow.” As he repeated this simple advice, he bemoaned the fact that everyone was looking for the shortcuts, looking for the quick and easy, trying to bypass learning any more than was necessary.
Where did he learn this advice? As a carpenter’s apprentice, he had noticed that the master carpenter always had some little trick or technique to apply in difficult situations to make them easier. Carpentry was hard work, and he though if he could learn all of these techniques, it would be much easier to learn. So he asked the master carpenter to teach him the tricks of the trade. “Learn the trade and the tricks will follow,” was the reply. (Continued)