Author Archives: Tim King
Twelve Benefits of Writing Unit Tests First
Why do programmers hate writing unit tests? Why do they hate even more writing unit tests before coding? You don’t have to answer. I’ve already heard the excuses. These are rhetorical questions. I have a theory, however, what the real … Continue reading
Thirty Days to Better Software
Reflective Improvement is number 2 of Alistair Cockburns 7 properties of successful teams. Of these 7, Alistair says the top 3 are core properties for success. Reflective Improvement is so important, because it gives such a big bang for the … Continue reading
Best Job in America: Software Engineer
According to MONEY Magazine and Salary.com, the best thing to be in America is a software engineer. What’s so great about being a software engineer? It’s the second-fastest growing job title. It’s a highly creative position. It involves cool, cutting-edge … Continue reading
Manual Test-First
Working on a team that’s not yet onto the value of unit testing, I frequently encounter what Michael Feathers calls “legacy code.” It is not unit-tested and can’t be. That doesn’t mean I need to forget test-first.
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Tagged legacy code, Michael Feathers, QA, test-first, testing
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James Shore on Good Design
Quality is one of those ineffable abstractions. Ask ten people, “What is good design?” Get twenty answers. But Jim Shore’s answer is actually worth something. A good software design minimizes the time required to create, modify, and maintain the software … Continue reading
Break Your (Software) Process Addiction
How many times have you heard someone say—or maybe you’ve even said it yourself— “Yeah, it’s a hack. But we don’t have time to do it right.” Frankly, this one goes in the same category as popular rubbish like:
The Intuitiveness of Time-boxed Iterations
It started as a math project for my fourth-grade daughter and turned into a lesson in project management. I flipped a coin 10 times, counted 3 times that it came up heads, and recorded this on a bar chart: the … Continue reading
