MENTORING

Use questions when delivering constructive criticism on something complex. Questions leave room for the possibility that you are wrong.

When we feel comfortable there is room to try new and uncomfortable things. Then we can take (calculated) risks, collaborate and create. Value real comfort zones.

IT-stress has gotten into the top list of problems in the workplace. This is a text about coping with it.

The glyphs in the Latin alphabet are based on shapes that we evolved to recognize, not the figures our hands evolved to draw. Code should also always be easier to read than it was to write.

Teams perform better when dividing talking time and recognizing each others emotions. Working in an ensemble facilitates both of them, when done right.

The Westrum model for company culture distinguishes between pathological, bureaucratic and generative. To remember the model it is presented as ways to deal with a common restroom.

Ensemble programming does with developers what the machine learning model random forest does with decision trees. The combination is far better than the parts, if independent enough.

It is easy to forget what you once did not know. Be kind to new developers and create an environment for learning.

The agile manifesto states things that are valued over others. If that is drawn to an extremes, we don't pass on information to the future, making maintaining a system harder. Be aware of your tradeoffs, always.

A wish for connection can sometimes be disguised as a request. By focusing on the needs and emotions of the requester we learn more about the request and build relationships.

The agile manifesto is written as a reaction to the IT-industry of its time. As it wins ground it also slowly destroys its original context. If we lose sight of the heart of agile, we might end up in the other ditch. People growing up with agile will sound like waterfall evangelists, but only since they take the agile manifesto for granted.

The subjective contains information that is not expressed, just taken for granted. To solve problems we need access to all relevant information.

Non violent communication (NVC) and Theory Of Constraints (ToC) might look very different, but they have multiple similarities. Some of the common principles are listed here.

A personal book review of "Getting Naked : A Business Fable About Shedding The Three Fears That Sabotage Client Loyalty" by Patrick Lencioni.

Our mind also has ergonomics. Software interior design is about designing our code, and our systems around it, to make our work easier.

A brief description of three tools for personal improvement: acceptance, meta cognition and growth mindset.

When you fear the codebase it creates the code smells of 'Braces, belt and duct tape' and 'Every line has to be read'. Use common design principles to build trust in the code again.

Use a linter for your code! And fix all(!) errors and warnings. Your brain will thank you.

If you lose your voice when gaining access to a new world, that world has also lost something. We have to avoid that in the software industry.

The Goal teaches us to optimize for 'touch time'. Coding in an ensemble, all time is touch time, and the batch size is one. That optimizes for throughput.