Tag Archives: war stories
Software Bugs, Crawling Everywhere
Software developers have a wonderful explanation for why there are so, so many software bugs. Unfortunately, it’s a highly technical explanation that’s very difficult for the layman to understand. I’ll try to summarize, but be aware that the following is … Continue reading →
Too Late, the Code Is Already Written
One way to deal with poor communication on a software project is simply to ignore the people around you and do what you wanted to do anyhow. Of course, this strategy can backfire, especially if you don’t know what you’re … Continue reading →
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Tagged communication, Damon/IEC, funny, innovation, war stories
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Does Bad Writing Reflect Poor Programming Skills?
Writing is a communication skill. And they say that communication skills and the other soft skills are what programmers need today. Effective developers don’t work alone. They work with others in a team. And a team member needs to communicate … Continue reading →
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Tagged documentation, good design, Jack Ganssle, war stories
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Please Don’t Share Your Bodily Fluids With the Rest of the System
Have you ever been here? Refactoring old code, seeing new code that partially de-factors it, and taking out my frustrations in code comments. The old comment for a struct declaration: // This structure will be generated // and stay with … Continue reading →
Refactoring the Monster
This is a story about my first software management success. It’s also a story about my first software management failure. It was a success, because the work got completed, and without any nasty surprises. It was a failure, because I … Continue reading →
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Tagged C++, leadership, legacy code, management, Michael Feathers, refactoring, war stories, Working Effectively With Legacy Code
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What Happens When You Develop on Production Data
Warning: Perl programming ahead. Here’s the story about how I got to do episode 3 of the be the story podcast all over again from scratch.
Honestly
(Note: This is a post from my online journal, imported into this blog because it tells the story of a real software project I worked on. Who says software developers don’t have war stories? -TimK) I know why good people … Continue reading →
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Tagged corporate culture, estimation, legacy code, refactoring, war stories
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