Architectures that enable shared code ownership and collaboration across many teams.

   |  2 minutes  |  238 words  |  Nelis Boucké

Jurgen Desmet invited me for a coffee talk about architectures that enable shared code ownership and collaboration across many teams on his youtube channel. The description accompanying the video During a previous coffee talk on Conway’s Law Nelis and Jurgen briefly touched upon the aspect of Architectures that could enable teams to truly collaborate in a shared code environment, avoiding Conway’s Law effects as much as possible. This is an elaboration on the Architecture part, what are the key elements of an architecture that enables true collaboration? [Read More]
teamwork  architecture  agile  development 

Code Ownership & Conway's Law

   |  2 minutes  |  318 words  |  Nelis Boucké

Jurgen Desmet invited me for a coffee talk about code ownership and Conway’s Law on his youtube channel. The description accompanying the video Sharing experiences, practices, and methods related to shared code ownership and the relation to organisational structures. Or how much should Conway’s law be taken into account. When simplifying organisational structures one will go against the basics of Conway’s law and will need to lean on the abilities to have shared code ownership. [Read More]

A zero bug policy - how to get there? (2/n)

   |  9 minutes  |  1814 words  |  Nelis Boucké

In the previous post, I discussed the reasons for a a zero bug policy using a real example policy. I used a similar approach in teams developing mobile applications, embedded software for public transport, or administrative tools for a utility provider. This post adds the journey to get to a zero bug policy. Introducing a zero bug policy is not always easy, and the start might be a bumpy road. [Read More]
agile  development  software crafter  quality 

A zero bug policy (1/n)

   |  5 minutes  |  1060 words  |  Nelis Boucké

A critical decision to make when developing software is how to handle bugs. Yet, many teams struggle to cope with bugs effectively and focus mostly on releasing new features quickly. By following a zero bug policy -where bugs take priority over new features- you build in quality. And you avoid a lot of frustration for your users, team members, and management. I write this blog as the first in a series about a zero bug policy to share my experiences. [Read More]
agile  development  software crafter  quality 

Code katas for selecting technical talent

   |  10 minutes  |  2076 words  |  Nelis Boucké

Code katas for selecting technical talent - An experience report Hiring good technical people for your team is always a challenge. I have experimented with several different approaches in the last few years, from screening CV, in-person interviews, including technical questions, a design challenge to solve a business problem during an interview, etc. But I was never entirely happy with the results because none of these techniques gave me a good indication that the candidate masters good technical practices. [Read More]
hiring  software crafter  kata 

Trunk-based development

   |  3 minutes  |  575 words  |  Nelis Boucké

Trunk-based development When it comes to software delivery speed and quality, trunk-based development is the way to go. It took me a while to realize this myself. I used feature branches with pull-request as the main way of working (writeup of an experience of using pull request), so well aware of the advantages and disadvantages. But switching to Trunk based development felt very counterintuitive to me. For sure, the build would be broken all the time, and the quality would be horrible, especially with a larger group of people? [Read More]
teamwork  branching  git  agile  development  software crafter 

Organizing architectural katas

   |  11 minutes  |  2155 words  |  Nelis Boucké

Architectural katas are a great way to spice up the architectural skills of your team or community, and practice to have productive discussions about architecture. I always receive great feedback after (co)-organizing architectural katas 1 and I regularly get questions on organizing them with others. So with Matteo Pierro, I did run a session at XP-days Benelux 2019 on how you can organize these katas yourself, sharing experiences to encourage others organizing the same kind of katas. [Read More]
teamwork  architecture  deliberate practice  agile  development  software crafter  kata 

Why and how do we use pull requests

   |  10 minutes  |  2126 words  |  Nelis Boucké

The goal of this post is to share why teams I worked with used pull requests and how this was practically organized. Please note that I’m strongly in favor of using trunk-based development over pull requests, and I collected references to get you started in another post. But I still share experience, knowing it’s not a perfect example, as it might provide inspiration on the advantages and disadvantages of such an approach. [Read More]
teamwork  branching  pull-request  git  agile  development  software crafter 

The five dysfunctions of a team

   |  6 minutes  |  1246 words  |  Nelis Boucké

Why did I have to write this blogpost? Not finance. Not strategy. Not technology. It is teamwork that remains the ultimate competitive advantage, both because it is so powerful and so rare. This is the starting quote of a great book “The Five Dysfunctions of a Team” from Patrick Lencioni, and is something I can really relate to. But, don’t you also experience that exceptional teamwork is as elusive as ever, despite all the attention it has received over the years? [Read More]
leadership  teamwork