Atomic Spin :: Elements of Software

We’re currently on our second IP-based phone system in the office. Our first IP phones were a set of Cisco phones purchased because of a potential software project involving custom data-driven applications using the web api these phones supported. It would’ve involved the kind of “cool” technologies you see in the Cisco tv ads with these phones. Color displays on some models would let you send photos, display maps, etc.

Chad Fowler spoke at XP West Michigan last night. He did a great presentation on career development and provided excellent perspective on offshoring from his experience in India. One very intriguing thing he addressed in career development was marketing the product that is you. He offered frank criticism of the “geek culture” that takes pride in seeing itself above things like marketing. His comments apply equally well to a software business as to an individual developer. He went so far as to say that if you have a great product or service, it is your moral obligation to tell the world about it. While doing things well will certainly draw attention, without actively communicating yourself to the market-at-large, far too few people will know about you. Ignoring marketing is, in effect, robbing others of the opportunity to save money or make money. You have a responsibility to tell the world about the innovation or great experience you can provide. Recently, we (Atomic Object) have been discussing truly developing our strategy to communicate the benefits we have to offer to the business world. Given Chad’s comments, allow us to offer our apologies to you, world, for not better communicating the insanely great things we do in software before now. Forgive us.

Effective pair programming requires a lot more than simply plopping two people down in front of a monitor. Both programmers need to be actively engaged in the task at hand—-something that can prove pretty tricky at times. Lately we’ve been trying out a strategy called ‘ping-pong’ pairing to find out if it can further improve our practices.

I attended the Great Lakes Software Excellence Conference late last month. One of the tutorial sessions was put on by Tim Lister. Tim, a co-author of Peopleware and Waltzing With Bears, describes himself as a “Team Zealot” and “Risk Management Zealot” respectively in regards to these two books.

As one who has not yet read Peopleware, I found Tim’s insights, coaching and encouragement to be refreshing. His presentation gave a glimpse of what the book Peopleware contains.

One of the many hats Tim wears is that of a part time arbitrator specializing in software system disputes. Drawing on this experience he made a telling remark, “almost every dispute is emotionally based.” Neither Tim’s talk nor his book concentrate on disputes, but Tim clearly grasps the soft side of software development – it’s the people that make software succeed or fail.

I organized my notes here in an attempt to summarize Tim’s presentation.