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Methods & Tools - January 2021
Sharing global software development expertise since 1993

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*** Updates ***

Last Articles Published on Methods & Tools Website

Technical Agile Coaching with the Samman Method Samman Technical Coaching is a method for Agile people who want to make a difference and improve the way software is built. The focus is specifically on technical practices, how people write code and relationships inside the team. Read more...

*** From The Archives ***

Articles from Methods & Tools' Archives

Managing Beyond Projects - #NoProjects While the inadequacy of "projects" for software development, and especially agile software development, has been apparent for some time, the model is now hindering improvement. Advances brought on by Agile development, such as continuous delivery, have now reached the point where the project model is itself an impediment to the development of software. Read more...

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*** Quote of the Month ***

When we look at technical debt, we see a metaphor that checks all three boxes: it has a number of useful points of correspondence; the points of difference don't overwhelm the core idea; it is familiar. Furthermore, it brings with it a useful working vocabulary. For example, consider what the following debt-related words suggest to you in a software context: repayment, consolidation, creditworthiness, write-off, borrowing. Although we know that by definition no metaphor is perfect, there are two common ways in which the metaphor is misapplied: assuming technical debt is necessarily something bad; equating technical debt with a financial debt value. The emphasis of the former is misaligned and the latter is a category error.

If we are relying on the common experience of our audience, financial debt is almost always thought of as a burden. If we take that together with the common experience of code quality and nudge it with leading descriptions such as "quick and dirty," it is easy to see how in everyday use technical debt has become synonymous with poor code and poor practice. We are, however, drawing too heavily on the wrong connotation. Rather than reckless debt, such as from gambling, we should be thinking more along the lines of prudent debt, such as a mortgage. A mortgage should be offered based on our credit history and our ability to pay and, in return, we are able to buy a house that might otherwise have been beyond our reach.

Source: On Exactitude in Technical Debt, Kevlin Henney, https://www.oreilly.com/radar/on-exactitude-in-technical-debt/

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Video: Easier Engineering Management with Software Engineering Practices As a software development manager, your responsibility is not to build features, but to build systems to support the people building the features. This talk will give some tips on using familiar tools and techniques from your time as a software engineer to help make management easier and more systematic.

Video: Why Are Distributed Systems so Hard? Distributed software systems and software architectures are known for being notoriously difficult to wrangle. But why? This talk covers a brief history of distributed computing, clear up some common myths about the CAP theorem, dig into why network partitions are inevitable. It closes out by highlighting how a few popular consensus algorithms mitigate the risks of operating in a distributed fashion. This presentation also discusses how to design systems that take into account human factors, which can help reduce the impact of programmatic uncertainty.

Video: GraalVM: Maximizing Java Application Performance GraalVM is a high-performance open source virtual machine offering new optimizations for individual languages and seamless interoperability for polyglot applications. For Java, GraalVM lets you optimize different performance aspects including a choice between JIT and AOT compilation modes, employing diagnostics tools and selecting the best language libraries for the job.

Video: C# 9: The Future of C# This presentation covers the new features of C#9.0, the future of the language and some amazing features built for you.

Video: Selenium-Jupiter: Selenium Tests with JUnit Selenium is a widely used open source framework for end-to-end web testing nowadays. JUnit 5 is the latest version of this popular Java open source unit testing framework and implements a brand-new programming and extension model named Jupiter. This talk presents Selenium-Jupiter. This is an open-source JUnit 5 extension that provides seamless integration with Selenium.

Video: Scrum Roles Dysfunctions and Anti-Patterns The two presenters explore the misunderstandings and usages of Scrum roles using examples of what they have seen in organizations. They witnessed these dysfunctions not only in companies who are new to these roles, but also in organizations that were already applying Scrum for a while.

Tools: Baangt is an open source solution for all your test stages and needs. Be it Frontend with Webbrowser, API, graphQL, SOAP, oData or chromium related App-Tests. You'll use one toolset, one database per stage and one reporting to see at any given moment, how your stages and applications are doing and if it's safe to release the current state of one stage to the next.

Tools: Kanbanara is a web-based Project Management System that uses the Kanban methodology. Started in 2013, the product is already quite well advanced. It is written in Python 3.6+ and utilizes MongoDB and CherryPy. Its Kanban board features projects, user-definable workflow with custom states, support for epic, feature, story, enhancement, defect, task, test, bug and transient cards, global and personal WIP limits, role-based columns (Owner, Reviewer or Quality Assurance), support for ghost cards (cards on their way to you or your own cards currently being reviewed or in QA), blockable cards, hidable cards, deferable cards, 46 card styles including a customisable one, 14-day future projection, Gantt Chart andcard backdrops. It also features a hierarchical workflow, global filter, backlog pyramid, force-directed graphs utilising d3.js, report generator, routine card manager, pair programming, support for continuing cards from one project to another. Full documentation in HTML and EPUB formats.