In a short talk, Tom Dalling discusses the concept of root cause analysis in complex systems, using humorous stories about leprechauns to illustrate his points. He emphasizes that incidents in complex systems arise from inherent c...
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Prioritizing ethics and business health over individual interests, the 'people third' leadership model fosters fairness and long-term benefits for all involved.
Tom Dalling outlines his expectations for project management in software development, emphasizing the inherent risks and uncertainties of large software projects. He advocates for an iterative approach to project management, prior...
Subclinical bullying in the workplace mirrors subclinical diseases, where minor inappropriate behaviors often go unaddressed due to misinterpretation, biases, and the need for grace in team dynamics.
The text discusses the concepts of horizontal and vertical slices in project development. Horizontal slices involve completing individual layers of a system (like front end and back end) but deliver value only at the end of the pr...
The author discusses the importance of milestones in project management, emphasizing that they serve as effective communication tools for stakeholders rather than just arbitrary divisions of a project. The text reflects on the aut...
The text discusses the difference between management and leadership. It explains that management is about powers and accountabilities, while leadership is about motivating followers. It also explores the consequences of management...
The text discusses the concept of feedback as a gift, drawing parallels between different types of gifts and feedback. It emphasizes that feedback can be useful, useless, considerate, inconsiderate, projection, exciting, boring, m...
The text is the third part of a series discussing the pitfalls of using bucketed prioritization in software engineering. It presents 10 recommendations for avoiding these pitfalls, including linear ordering of the backlog, priorit...
The text discusses the importance of processes in software engineering teams and how they can amplify the skill of the team. It argues that good processes exist and are necessary for optimal team performance, and criticizes the re...
The text discusses the role of Engineering Managers (EMs) and argues that shielding the team from distractions may not be effective and can be unethical. It proposes the metaphor of 'sunnies' (sunglasses) to soften harsh realities...
The article discusses the concept of failure demand in software engineering and how it differentiates between junior, mid-level, and senior software engineers. It introduces the concept of negative failure demand and explains how ...
The text discusses the negative impact of bucketed prioritization on engineering projects. It explains how the must-have priority bucket leads to bad decisions, demoralization, and a death march. The responsibility for the situati...
The text discusses the problems with categorizing requirements into 'must-haves' and 'nice-to-haves' in software projects. It explains how this approach creates perverse incentives and leads to a dysfunctional prioritization syste...
The author compares agile software development to the strategic concept of a glass cannon in gaming, emphasizing that it is a high-risk high-reward strategy that requires a high level of skill and experience to mitigate the risks....
The article discusses the psychology of employers when hiring junior engineers and provides suggestions for marketing oneself as a low-risk choice. It emphasizes the importance of demonstrating genuine interest, independence, hung...
The author discusses the importance of considering context, costs, and benefits when making technical decisions, rather than viewing choices as binary. He uses the example of measuring twice in woodworking to illustrate how the be...
The text discusses the design of a schema library, explaining the concept of a schema, its use in web apps, and the distinction between validation and constraint checking. The author also shares their thoughts on coercion, the con...