Healthy Developer

John Cutler is an experienced Product Manager, writer, and consultant. You can read his many popular articles on Medium where he discusses a variety of topics related to software development in the hacker noon publication:  https://hackernoon.com/@johnpcutler In this video, John and I trade some thoughts around the perceived decline of agile in some areas of the industry. We also discuss the chall...

Over my career I've seen more projects fail due to misuse of user stories than any other practice commonly used on agile teams. You probably already know that user stories are just a simple format for writing requirements on scrum or kanban agile teams. Today I want to help you avoid some bad advice I see out there about what user stories are and how they can help (or hurt) you. Why User Stories W...

Ever been on a software development project where one team is putting pressure on another because of a  hidden agenda ? I was once asked to investigate two teams that worked together to build a software product for doing taxes. The first team contacted us and said they needed help with releasing software better. So I planned to use an interview I'd come up with over the years. It had questions I c...

There's an old saying " you improve what you focus on, and you focus on what you measure ". There are just way too many software companies I run across focused on the wrong things – because  they're measuring the wrong things . In this episode, I'll show you how you can help your company make more money with the software you build by measuring the right things. When your company makes more money,...

One of the most frustrating software projects I've been on was when we designed a product that never got built! A couple different things happened on this project that made it difficult... First, the project was being sold to use an agile process, but then was suddenly switched to fixed cost at the last minute. Secondly, there were too many people in management positions. It created confusion wher...

When talking about the differences between scrum (or kanban) and agile development, the motor and steering wheel of a car can be a useful analogy. When your team is working to write requirements, write code, test, and deploy releases of your software – they probably follow a development process like scrum or kanban to get work done. This work can be thought of as  the motor of the car that propels...

Is there a time to just stop learning and write code? Software development draws many of us in with endless opportunities to learn, but is it right for every project? Early in my career I wanted to know everything possible about the software companies I worked for. But a couple of years in software consulting taught me I could actually be a better developer by learning to ignore information someti...

At some software companies, it can be hard for people to learn from mistakes they make as a developer, product manager, or any other role that works together on a project. Because building software requires so much communication, it's natural for things to get lost in translation and mistakes to occur. But we can treat mistakes as an opportunity to blame someone else, or a chance to encourage them...

There's no shame in getting help from a friend on a software project! Let me tell you the story of a project I worked on soon after moving to Austin, Texas. I was new to the consulting side of the software development industry, and didn't know anyone in town. After being put on a project with a more experienced consultant, I ran into a few challenges. But after realizing the other consultant wante...

It's always been popular to tell people how they're "doing it wrong" and agile software development is just as easy to call "fake". But in working with many teams who read these same articles, they still  get lost in a sea of opinions  and need a definitive answer. So I made this short episode to help you spot fake agile teams in under 7 minutes. With this information, you'll know the truth, but m...

Let me tell you a story about one of the weirder software projects I've been on – and how trying to change the culture went wrong. Early in my programming career I had a taste of some successful projects at a Fortune 500, and I focused entirely on technology and basically had *no* soft skills. So coming into a small company that wanted to grow their technology business seemed like it would be "eas...

Iain Lowe is an experienced software developer and manager based out of Montreal, Canada. Iain found me on Twitter after viewing a short clip from my interview with Scott Nimrod. In this interview, Iain and I discuss the controversy around the Reddit post about estimating that I created from my interview with Scott Nimrod, organizational culture in the tech industry, the dogma of transformation in...

I'm still figuring out how to help more software developers understand how important consulting skills are! Join my Patreon:  https://thrivingtechnologist.com/patreon Learn about one-on-one career coaching with me: https://thrivingtechnologist.com/coaching TechRolepedia, a wiki about the top 25 roles in tech:  https://thrivingtechnologist.com/techroles The Thriving Technologist career guide:  http...

Scott Nimrod is an experienced Software Consultant based out of Miami who specializes in Test Automation, WPF, Functional Programming, and a variety of other technologies. He was an early subscriber to my channel and has given me a lot of great advice and support since I started out on YouTube in 2017! In this interview, Scott and I discuss some serious topics related to software craftsmanship and...

It's like I have a filter - I can't even tell you everything I want to! Join my Patreon:  https://thrivingtechnologist.com/patreon Learn about one-on-one career coaching with me: https://thrivingtechnologist.com/coaching TechRolepedia, a wiki about the top 25 roles in tech:  https://thrivingtechnologist.com/techroles The Thriving Technologist career guide:  https://thrivingtechnologist.com/guide V...

It's common in many companies for there to be animosity between programmers and managers – but it's smarter to consider healing that rift. Earlier in my career I met many other software developers who loved to complain about management. And I've been just as frustrated, especially when  it seems like management doesn't know what they're doing . But eventually after having several experiences talki...

It can be confusing when most companies don't make it clear how software developers can get promoted for more senior roles. If you're a junior developer and trying to figure out, what exactly do I need to do? –  it may not be cut and dry . Rather in this episode, I share some soft skills I've found in working with over 30 software development teams that I see those who get promoted exhibit. If you...

Software developers are often frustrated when a product manager changes the design at the last minute. But product managers are a programmer's best friend! In this episode, I share how your colleagues in product management are actually your biggest ally. Whether you're in Operations, UX,Ssupport, or any other aspect of developing software – a good relationship with the manager of your product is i...

It's tempting to jump into refactoring code that's hard for you to understand – but make sure you're doing it  for the right reasons ! But before you take that leap, you should probably consider that there can be some dangers. Whether you're coding in Java, Javascript, C#, Python, or any other language – there are non-technical implications of code refactoring that you should be aware of. In this...

Have you ever been confronted with accepting circumstances you couldn't change on your software project that were really difficult? Maybe you don't agree with a decision, or you've  been forced to work in a way that you're not happy with ? Though most of us like to think we're able to control our career, there are times we inevitably have to learn to let go, and accept difficult circumstances. In...

There's something about software development that makes it hard to stop thinking about programming after work. Earlier in my career when I'd be obsessing over programming, I would get home and right after coming in from the car jump into a video game or play some music. But it didn't last very long. I quickly became a workaholic programmer. When I wasn't thinking about code, I would sometimes wake...

Why does it seem like no matter how strong your argument, some programmers  never agree with you ? In software development we often focus on practices like agile development, unit testing, or code reviews. But these are actually driven by underlying principles that guide the practices we select. Some good communicators will be able to say what their principles are. But even then, you'll come acros...

If you've ever been on a software project and wondered: "what's the impact of the work I'm doing?", impact mapping will help you immensely. Knowing what your code is worth, or any other assets we create on software projects across any discipline (UX, QA, Infrastructure, Operations etc.) is crucial to both getting the rewards you want, and steering the company in the right direction. In this episod...

If you've ever thought "who came up with these ideas?", you probably need a business model canvas on your agile development team. Even if you don't consider yourself able to steer the direction of a software product (you're a programmer, in UX, operations, QA etc.) it's critical that sound decisions are made about the business. Without a comprehensive plan forward,  ego can easily take over your a...

Why do some software companies build exciting products with the freedom of a lean startup, while others deliver boring products like a feature factory run by control freaks? In this episode I ask this question: " Does Your Company Feel More Like a Factory, or a College "? Whether you're using agile methods like scrum, kanban, or any other process – up front design is still alive and well in many c...