BK.NET: The Man, The Myth, The...Software Craftsman

Bill Knaus: Software craftsman, team leader, and Certified Scrum Master. 

[bkdotnet-blog]

I'm an Eagle Scout. In the fall, my son started Cub Scouts and I immediately volunteered to be a part of the unit leadership. This opened an opportunity for my life to change in March of 2015 when I attended Scouting's advanced leadership training course known as Wood Badge. Designed for a 21st century leader, not only does Wood Badge teach Scouters about the different Scouting programs, but it also applies a practical application of the skills you're learning and shows you how to create great leaders by being a great leader.One of the many key points that resonated with me from Wood Badge is

An article about how I applied Wood Badge leadership training in the workplace over on LinkedIn.

[bkdotnet-blog]

Many developers struggle with how to organize an application's code base once it grows in size. I've seen this recently in AngularJS and JavaScript applications but historically it's been a problem across all technologies including many Java and Flex apps I've worked on in the past. The general trend is an obsession with organizing things by type. It bears a striking resemblance to the way people organize their clothing.

Cliff Meyers explores organization and maintainability of AngularJS applications as the apps begin to scale.

Appreciate the analogy of organizing clothes and the additional bonus of how to tie the module together not just with folder structure, but as an angular module as well.

[maxistentialist-deactivated2020]

Sometimes in meetings, I sense people seizing up, not wanting to even talk about changes, so I try to trick them. I’ll say, ‘This would be a big change if we were really going to do it, but just as a thought exercise, what if …’ Or, ‘I’m not actually suggesting this, but go with me for a minute …’ If people anticipate the production pressures, they’ll close the door to new ideas—so you have to pretend you’re not actually going to do anything, we’re just talking, just playing around. Then if you hit upon some new idea that clearly works, people are excited about it and are happier to act on the change. Another trick is to encourage people to play. Some of the best ideas come out of joking around, which only comes when you (or the boss) give yourself permission to do it. It can feel like a waste of time to watch YouTube videos or to tell stories of what happened last weekend, but it can actually be very productive in the long run. I’ve heard some people describe creativity as ‘unexpected connections between unrelated concepts or ideas.’ If that’s at all true, you have to be in a certain mindset to make those connections. So when I sense we’re getting nowhere, I just shut things down. We all go off to something else. Later, once the mood has shifted, I’ll attack the problem again.

Pixar director Pete Docter (via wilwheaton)

The most important part of this is "If people anticipate the production pressures, they'll close the door to new ideas".  This is so true.

[bkdotnet-blog]

Reboot in Progress

Rebooting BKdotNET... yet again.  But I have more reasons to blog. So for now, this little entry will hold this site up.  More soon!