I would argue the long tail was one of the main reasons why agile methodologies replaced older methodologies. Prior to agile, most software was developed and delivered over long periods of time, and if done well there various checks and balances (documentation, reviews, structural adherence) that addressed things like the long tail. Within agile theseContinue reading “Recognizing and avoiding the long tail”
Author Archives: PartWood
The slow death of search
I can’t speak for your experience, but more and more I find search (google in particular) to be far from useful. Very often I try to find various information, and search either leads me away from locations of value, or presents me with content that is unrelated. Why is this happening? Well there are manyContinue reading “The slow death of search”
Pet Walking in BearVelo
Having used a variety of cycling, walking and other activity applications on my phone, I had some ideas of what I liked, what I felt they were lacking and what I thought I would value in an application. I tabled the idea, working on other apps that would provide elements of the activity application, butContinue reading “Pet Walking in BearVelo”
Presentation Observations
I recently sat through a number of online presentations, that were bad enough that I felt it was worth sharing observations. First, don’t panic. I’m going to try hard to write about presenting better, but I don’t want anyone to fear presentations. Public speaking in all its forms can be scary and difficult, and IContinue reading “Presentation Observations”
Lazy Developers
I write software for a variety of reasons, to learn something, the challenge, wanting to create value, and just to pay the bills. And sometimes I write software because I’m frustrated with existing tools, or lack of tools. There was a product I used for many many years, paying for updates and getting some valueContinue reading “Lazy Developers”
Why do we hate customers so much?
I don’t know of any organization that tries to make money, that doesn’t need customers. And yet so many organizations work very hard to ensure they don’t actually interact with their customers. Well, either they are so inept they don’t realize their interaction is so poor, or they actively ensure they don’t communicate with customers.Continue reading “Why do we hate customers so much?”
Developing with Agility
For many organizations, and individuals, agile software development is just a process. I guess I first need to describe what I consider are the tenets of agile. Agile isn’t a process, scrum is a process, as is kanban. These processes are meant to create a set of actions that allow teams to organize their agileContinue reading “Developing with Agility”
Kitchen Sink Software
Many years ago, before the start of mobile devices, there was a movement away from desktop computers to network computers. At the time I worked for a large corporation, which committed to develop software for these new devices. As part of this movement they shifted large development teams to build software, and many years ofContinue reading “Kitchen Sink Software”
Constraints bring freedom
I don’t know about you, but there is something special about experiences that change your outlook on the world, and these experiences come in many forms. Sometimes they are subtle, and you only realize the bigger impact much later. For me one of these experiences was reading “Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance” byContinue reading “Constraints bring freedom”
Sure it looks nice, but inside its just a jumble of wires
I’m a believer in the Apple esthetic. That is I believe Apple products are well thought out, and they put effort into design and user experience that no other software or computer company does well. Yes there are other good companies and good products, there are certainly more clever products, but I believe as aContinue reading “Sure it looks nice, but inside its just a jumble of wires”