Development Teams Need a Coach

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I was talking with a colleague recently who is part of an organization that has recognized that their development processes, culture maturity, etc., was holding them back. The conversation went something like this… “As a developer, I would see Don’t Panic Labs as a dream job given the emphasis and adherence to consistent software design…

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Where Are They Now?

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We are not a lifestyle company. This is a sentiment I made clear at a recent Don’t Panic company meeting. It’s not that we have anything against companies where employees settle in for their entire careers, but that’s just not who we are (or ever aspire to be). I’m not saying anything new here. This…

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Lab Reaction: #NoTDD

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This post is coauthored by Andy Unterseher. In his post titled “#NoTDD“, Eric Gunnerson of Microsoft laments the challenges surrounding TDD. He makes some very good points that demonstrate that TDD is not a silver bullet for most teams to achieve a high-quality design. The key failure outlined in the article is that dogmatic TDD…

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Falling Short on Training Software Developers

I worry daily about the software we rely on in our daily lives. One need only look at the problems our airlines have had and the disruptions they have caused in our lives. I feel like there is significant risk that we will be crushed under the weight of technical debt in this software. As…

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Back To Basics: Why We Love MSMQ

Note: This post was co-authored by Chad Michel. Clever == Complexity I often say this because I wonder if we would be better served by simply using “old” technology and focusing on being better software designers. I really think we can accomplish this without becoming masters of the latest frameworks (although it is hard to…

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Don't Panic Labs - Funability in software development teams

Funability, Part 5: A Layered Approach to Quality

Note: This post was co-authored by Chad Michel. The rest of this 5-part series can be found here: Part 1 – What and Why Part 2 – Leverage Your Leadership Roles Part 3 – Maximizing Productivity Part 4 – Processes Can Be Fun   We’ve now come to the last post in our series on…

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Don't Panic Labs - Funability in software development teams

Funability, Part 4: Processes Can Be Fun

Note: This post was co-authored by Chad Michel. The rest of this 5-part series can be found here: Part 1 – What and Why Part 2 – Leverage Your Leadership Roles Part 3 – Maximizing Productivity Part 5 – A Layered Approach To Quality   In the fourth part of our series, we will be…

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Don't Panic Labs - Funability in software development teams

Funability, Part 3 – Maximizing Productivity

Note: This post was co-authored by Chad Michel. The rest of this 5-part series can be found here: Part 1 – What and Why Part 2 – Leverage Your Leadership Roles Part 4 – Processes Can Be Fun Part 5 – A Layered Approach To Quality In this third part of our series, we are…

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Don't Panic Labs - Funability in software development teams

Funability, Part 2 – Leverage Your Leadership Roles

Note: This post was co-authored by Chad Michel. The rest of this 5-part series can be found here: Part 1 – What and Why Part 3 – Maximizing Productivity Part 4 – Processes Can Be Fun Part 5 – A Layered Approach To Quality   In our previous post we covered how we think software…

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Don't Panic Labs - Funability in software development teams

Funability, Part 1 – What and Why

Note: This post was co-authored by Chad Michel. The rest of this 5-part series can be found here: Part 2 – Leverage Your Leadership Roles Part 3 – Maximizing Productivity Part 4 – Processes Can Be Fun Part 5 – A Layered Approach To Quality   We’ve been in the software business for quite some time….

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