Archive for November, 2007

37 Signals

Tuesday, November 20th, 2007

At my new job, I’ve had occasion to become acquainted with 37 Signals’ project management tool, Basecamp.  I’m only just getting familiar with it, but what a great tool.  It’s all about communication.  Most project management is about controlling a project.  This seems to be much more about communicating and getting things done.  The folks at 37 Signals take a very agile approach–this approach is very clearly communicated in the Getting Real book which is available online.

http://37signals.com/
http://www.basecamphq.com/
http://gettingreal.37signals.com/

Posted in Software Development, Web Sites, Working | 2 Comments »

Thoughts on Leaving

Tuesday, November 20th, 2007

One can learn a lot about people during one’s last week on the job.  I recently had that learning opportunity as I just changed jobs.

Some people (most people) were very nice to me.  Nice things were said to me–the kind of things that are not normally said during the course of doing business.  Why do we wait wait until it is time to say goodbye to tell someone that we appreciate them and their contributions?  Maybe because it isn’t until they are leaving that we really stop to think about it.  Maybe people were just “being nice.”  There could be lots of reasons.  But in general I think we tend to take people for granted.

A few people were petty and trite.  A few people will take advantage of one’s leaving to advance their own interests.  I consider it a good sign that it was only a few people  who responded this way.  It is a good sign for the company I’m leaving as well as for me personally.  I wanted to leave with good memories of people and on the whole I have done so.  Leaving well is hard to do.

Posted in Working | No Comments »

Talented Developers

Tuesday, November 13th, 2007

In a recent Code Project poll, ‘Talented Developers’ was the top ranking answer to the question of “What has the greatest positive impact on the long-term maintainability of a software product?”

http://www.codeproject.com/script/Newsletter/view.asp?id=465

In addition to the pre-selected answers there was also a list of “optional text answers”.  Here are a couple of the more interesting answers to the poll question:

An infinite flow of money
The love of, and desire for, beauty in all things
Coffee

Each of those could be a subject of discussion in and of itself.

The results of this poll reflect the opinions of readers, but I think the result is correct.  I think tools, and process and structure can all help improve the maintainability of the product, but in the end it comes down to people:  people who are committed to building something for the long run; people who own the software.

Posted in Developers, Software Development | No Comments »

Changing Jobs

Monday, November 5th, 2007

Well, I think I can start writing again. The reason I haven’t posted here for the past month is that I’ve been in the midst of a job change. Friday was my last day at Members United and today is my first day at MDeverywhere. Not only have I changed jobs, but I’m also going to be moving my family from Illinois to North Carolina. Needless to say, I’m going to be busy for a while. But I hope to start writing again.

Posted in Working | No Comments »