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It’s hard to list just a few languages that you should learn, especially since so many of those languages have their ups and downs. Programmers need to monitor technology, and carefully weed out the fads that might get big buzz one day, only to be gone the next. "An investment in knowledge pays the best interest."
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In the Web era of development, Waterfalls are finally out. Agile is in. Kicking and screaming?
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The number of actual users involved is unknown, but the scale of data amassed breaks new ground I guess everyone needs a hobby: I collect spoons
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Kent Sharkey wrote: I collect spoons
Don't let her go. 
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The good news ? The credentials collected were everyone's abandoned MySpace accounts.
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I feel better now. That Tom[^] is going to get nailed though.
TTFN - Kent
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By decomposing work into small tasks, accurately assigning points to those tasks, tracking completion time, doing postmortems on misses, and avoiding behavior that corrodes trust among team members, it's possible to build a culture of accurate project estimation. Come up with a reasonable number. Triple it. Then put down whatever your customer wants to hear.
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Kent Sharkey wrote: By decomposing work into small tasks, accurately assigning points to those tasks, tracking completion time, doing postmortems on misses, and avoiding behavior that corrodes trust among team members, it's possible to build a culture of accurate project estimation
I apologise to all the dyed-in-the-wool Agile adherents out there but this statement, which I have read so many times, makes me want to scream.
Yes, if the project is specc'd prefectly. Yes, if you think of all the edge cases to begin with. Yes, if you understand the technology and the technology and systems you use have no gotcha's while developing. And Yes if your team work a perfectly even, consistent amount of work and never have unexpected illnesses, disasters or flaming inter-personal meltdowns.
I've just never seen this happen. Ever, anywhere, on a project of any appreciable size other than an projects so rigid, so planned out, so reviewed and choreographed that the overhead and restrictions imposed made it an exercise in hitting a deadline rather than getting a great product completed efficiently, flexibly and to the delight of the customer.
All I can assume is everyone's doing it wrong.
Or maybe they are actually doing it right.
cheers
Chris Maunder
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Having been introduced to our new Agile coach this week I do wonder what planet they originate from. The expectations and world view seem to have little to do with the reality of getting a monolithic dinosaur to shift out of its comfort zone. No not me the bloody organisation tcha.
From the 2 hour rant/discussion/flaming argument we had I got the impression deadlines are vague conceptions that they expect to occur sometime AFTER the product has been delivered.
The concept that all players will work together is the most humorous one, we have departments that will not even talk to each other let alone sit together and work on a project.
Ah well I hate a stagnant environment, it should be interesting over the next few months.
Never underestimate the power of human stupidity
RAH
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Chris Maunder wrote: Yes, if the project is specc'd prefectly.
This is, of course, impossible.
Chris Maunder wrote: Yes, if you think of all the edge cases to begin with.
This is, of course, impossible...
Chris Maunder wrote: Yes, if you understand the technology and the technology and systems you use have no gotcha's while developing
This is, of course, impossible...
Chris Maunder wrote: And Yes if your team work a perfectly even, consistent amount of work and never have unexpected illnesses, disasters or flaming inter-personal meltdowns.
This is, of course... Impossible.
Which led to the saying, "If you've done four impossible things this morning, why not round it off with breakfast at Millieways, the Restaurant at the End of the Universe?"
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And in a few years they will come up with a new process of which we will all love to work by. It will be that process that developers embrace so openly.
Agile is no longer a process which allows to do our job but a cool word which business people can use when wondering why projects aren't completed on time. "we weren't Agile.... they weren't Agile... we need to become Agile... blah blah"
where should I put the soapbox now that I am done with it??
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Oh, thanks for the soapbox, just what I needed.
What also irks me is attending project kick-off meetings where someone always begins with a statement that we'll use Agile rather than Waterfall and then spends at least ten minutes explaining both and why Agile is better. Followed by a completely erroneous description of Scrum. Project after project after project, the same shtuff which everyone in the room has already heard many many many times. 
You'll never get very far if all you do is follow instructions.
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It's all true if we talk about an experiment in a laboratory - the real life is something completely different...
I'm not questioning your powers of observation; I'm merely remarking upon the paradox of asking a masked man who he is. (V)
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In theory there is no difference between theory in practice.
In practice there is.
cheers
Chris Maunder
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Old but 100% true.
Then there are the consultants coming in with a basic waterfall development approach, but advertised to the PHBs as "our own modified and extended version of Agile"...
According to my calculations, I should be able to retire about 5 years after I die.
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Frank Alviani wrote: consultants
"If you're not part of the solution, there's good money to be made in prolonging the problem." -- Despair Inc.
You'll never get very far if all you do is follow instructions.
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Unfortunately they often use "agile" as nickname for chaos and lack of any plan... 
--
"My software never has bugs. It just develops random features."
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Ah, that's part of my new patented methodology, The Snafu Methodology.
"If you don't fail at least 90 percent of the time, you're not aiming high enough."
Alan Kay.
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Imagine experiencing a clicking sensation when pressing an on-screen button, sensing the weight of folders when dragging and dropping, and perhaps even feeling the texture of a sweater for sale online. "Feel the magic, hear the roar!"
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Kent Sharkey wrote: "Feel the magic, hear the roar!"
I'm thunderstruck at this.
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I remember a movie back in the 20th century that extolled the use of the new "Feelaround" technology. It was a spoof on "Surroundsound" but now I wonder...
- I would love to change the world, but they won’t give me the source code.
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Sadly can we all imagine what the first application of "Feelaround" technology might be.
"If you don't fail at least 90 percent of the time, you're not aiming high enough."
Alan Kay.
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Apple is said to be preparing for a September 9 iPhone event this year, at which we’ll likely see the next generation iPhone devices Translation into fanboyish: OMGOMGOMGOMGOMGOMGOMG
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A research team at the University of Washington pushes forward with technology that uses radio frequency for power. Where did I put my tin-foil hat?
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