I’ve been in consulting for 15 years – with a brief stop-over in IT-land. And I used to go through computer bags like candy. But for the last ten years I’ve used the same computer bag. It’s been on flight after flight. It’s been banged against doors, dropped off of tables, [...]
Entries Tagged as 'Consulting'
The best computer bag ever
September 24th, 2009 · View Comments · Computing, Consulting
Tags:Computing·Consulting
The First and Last Question to Ask in Consulting is ‘Why?’
September 22nd, 2009 · View Comments · Consulting
In every job it’s easy to lose sight of the forest for the trees. It doesn’t matter what your role is, once you get into problem-solving mode you lose track of the bigger picture. But consultants are supposed to be better then that.
You deal with this by always starting with the question ‘why?’. When your [...]
Tags:Consulting
Growing from the simple to the complex
August 5th, 2009 · View Comments · Architecture, Consulting
Implementing a complex solution from scratch is infinitely more difficult then creating a complex solution in layers. There are several useful principles to keep in mind when designing and building complex systems.
The first is the KISS principle – Keep It Simple, Stupid. The KISS principle holds that the simple solution is usually the best solution. [...]
Tags:Architecture·Consulting·REST·SOAP
Find your own solutions
June 12th, 2009 · View Comments · Consulting
My first job out of college I was given a development task by my manager. I went through the requirements and noticed that it wouldn’t be possible to implement them as written. So I gathered up my materials and walked into my manager’s office. I explained to her what the issue was and told her [...]
Tags:Consulting
Make those lazy BA’s write the test scripts
June 12th, 2009 · View Comments · Consulting
Ok, I’m kidding about the lazy part.
But here’s an interesting open source tool - Cucumber. It’s a Behavior Driven Development (BDD) testing framework.
You write the test scripts in plain language:
Feature: Search courses
In order to ensure better utilization of courses
Potential students should be able to search for courses
Scenario: Search by topic
Given there are 240 courses which do [...]
Tags:BDD·Consulting
Generous on input, strict on output
May 27th, 2009 · View Comments · Consulting
I develop by some general principles. One of the strongest is “generous on input, strict on output”. This means that the code should be tolerant of variations in it’s input but should be strictly correct when outputting data. This ranges from the small to the large.
As an example, when you accept a boolean as a [...]
Tags:Consulting·Java·PL/SQL
What’s the difference between done and done right?
May 17th, 2009 · View Comments · Consulting
We accomplish tasks. We get things done. We meet schedules and check off boxes on requirements lists. We implement features and run tests.
It doesn’t have to look pretty. It doesn’t have to be polished to a high sheen. It has to be professional and correct.
This is how you mark off requirements and move forward. This [...]
Tags:Apple·Consulting·Microsoft·Web 2.0
Bad Code Breeds Bad Code
November 25th, 2008 · View Comments · Consulting
A study was published in the Economist stating that people modify their behavior based on what they observe in their environment. Specifically, observing rule breaking increases the likelihood that the observers will also break the rules. The study tested this in multiple ways – one test left an envelope with clearly visible money [...]
Tags:Consulting
Feature-driven versus Date-driven
October 20th, 2008 · View Comments · Consulting
Very interesting blog post by a developer at Microsoft (http://blogs.msdn.com/e7/archive/2008/10/15/engineering-7-a-view-from-the-bottom.aspx). He describes what it’s been like working at Microsoft, comparing the Vista days to the current “Windows 7″ days.
What it boils down to is that Microsoft has switched from a Feature-driven development strategy to a Date-driven strategy. It should come as no great [...]
Code Quality
September 22nd, 2008 · View Comments · Consulting
I use IntelliJ IDEA as my Java IDE. I started using it back when it was demonstrably superior to every other Java IDE. Time has passed and it’s still superior but not nearly by the same margin. Thanks to the Eclipse plug-in system and the Sun push on NetBeans the other IDE’s have passed it [...]
Tags:.Net·CheckStyle·Consulting·Eclipse·FxCop·IntelliJ·Java·PMD
