Blog posts

Chocolate Driven Development started as a blog. This is where I let my thoughts on software development live. Often they are bite sized. Sometimes they are a bigger treat.

A coach talking to a team of very enthusiastic young kids, many with their hands raised.

Three reasons to get a Samman coach

The gears from an egg timer, showing the Lever escapement and other gears.

Ensemble to make a smarter team

A lush mix of different trees

A forest of developers

A slightly dusty motherboard with many different components.

Explaining ensemble programming with hardware

A pit stop at a race.

Ensemble programming and Lean

A red neon sign of a question-mark

The question trick

A child sitting in a sofa, surrounded by pillows, legs pulled up, face hardly showing.

The magic of comfort zones

A cracked monitor outdoors

IT-stress, part 1 — coping

A jumble of metal types showing letters.

Optimize for reading

The gears from an egg timer, showing the Lever escapement and other gears.

Ensemble to make a smarter team

A cross stitched WC sign in warm colors

Westrum in a restroom

A lush mix of different trees

A forest of developers

A desert tortoise (Gopherus agassizii) hatching from its egg.

Software developers don't hatch

Shredded paper

Traceless

Two hands holding an ice cream cone each.

Feature requests and ice cream

The wooden footbridge in Bistrica Gorge (built in 2018)

Bridging the agile gap

A kitten that peaks out from under a blanket

Solutions hidden under subjectivity

A giraffe nibbling on some branches.

When the giraffe builds a current reality tree

A jetty with steps down into cold water.

Naked, but for the sauna

A living room with nice furniture placed with good amount of space to move around.

Software interior design

Big waves hitting a sturdy tower.

Surviving change, building resilience of the self

The entrance to a big abandoned house.

Who is afraid of the big bad codebase?

A vacuum cleaner leaving a visible result on a carpet

The power of linting

A hand holding a seashell in the water

Diversity and psychological safety, the struggle of The Little Mermaid

A pit stop at a race.

Ensemble programming and Lean

A black and white sketch of a person being measured from the spine to the cuff with a measuring tape.

Ask for the tailor, not a copy of the suit

Whirlwind computer, sections of core memory and controls, in Museum of Science, Boston, Massachusetts, USA.

Unnecessary limitations with a history

A kitten that peaks out from under a blanket

Solutions hidden under subjectivity

A giraffe nibbling on some branches.

When the giraffe builds a current reality tree

A multi meter measuring an assembled component.

Test Driven Development in Theory of Constraints terms

Old binders with files, standing in a row, partly stacked.

Three ways to look at continuous backlog grooming

Bicycle traffic barrier used to slow down cyclists circumvented by taking a detour on the lawn, thereby showing a literal path of least resistance.

Waste In Process and User Research

A pit stop at a race.

Ensemble programming and Lean

A child sitting in a sofa, surrounded by pillows, legs pulled up, face hardly showing.

The magic of comfort zones

A cracked monitor outdoors

IT-stress, part 1 — coping

Smog and smoke from industry colored by a sunrise.

Anti-work polluters

A hand holding a seashell in the water

Diversity and psychological safety, the struggle of The Little Mermaid

An antique toy train with two carriages, that almost stays on the track.

Dependency graphs as a design tool

A single frosted leaf with clear contours and veins.

TDD in the context of writing code to be read

Wunder Baum hanging from a car window (Known as Little Trees in most English-speaking countries)

Wunderbaum testing

A red neon sign of a question-mark

The question trick

Cartoon style BOOM in red on a background of an explosion in yellow

The dynamite double

If F map X to Y the inverse of F map Y to X.

Defining domain boundaries

Water colours in a box

IT-stress, part 2 — change

A plushy of the pokémon Ralts, holding sticky notes with

The value of quality

Illustration of sewed-on facing, from a 1921 dressmaking publication.

Internal or external quality?

Corn on the cob, plated with garnish.

Useworthiness

A toy figure assessing the level of water in a mason jar using a tape measurer.

Test it like it's pure

A dark image of vines tangling in front of a wall

The upside-down framework anti-pattern

Two kids playing with a carousel at a playground.

A playground for code

Rocking chair made by Thonet-Mundus, number B 804 with feets support (in catalogue under chair no. B 829).

Let code grow old in peace

Smog and smoke from industry colored by a sunrise.

Anti-work polluters

a glass salt shaker with a metal top photographed on a white background.

Single responsibility and salty porridge

A pair of jeans that are going to be mended

Refactor or rewrite?

A juggler with three balls on a misty and empty field

Dangerous skills

Six insects, print, Wenceslaus Hollar (MET, 26.72.115).

A language agnostic debugging list

Two frog figurines. One is pulling a cabin bag. The other has one bag in each hand.

TDD cheats, tricks to dodge the hard parts of testing

A clip board with a pen and a stethoscope

My health checkup checklist for software projects

A living room with nice furniture placed with good amount of space to move around.

Software interior design

A black cat in the middle of taking a step down in a steep staircase.

One test at a time, one step at a time

A multi meter measuring an assembled component.

Test Driven Development in Theory of Constraints terms

A person gripping the hand rail while running down a spiral staircase.

Guided by tests

A vacuum cleaner leaving a visible result on a carpet

The power of linting

Bicycle traffic barrier used to slow down cyclists circumvented by taking a detour on the lawn, thereby showing a literal path of least resistance.

Waste In Process and User Research

Beads in different colors and sizes spilling from a jar

The point of estimates

Water colours in a box

IT-stress, part 2 — change

A cracked monitor outdoors

IT-stress, part 1 — coping

A plushy of the pokémon Ralts, holding sticky notes with

The value of quality

Corn on the cob, plated with garnish.

Useworthiness

Black and white photo of a group of teens in 1978 pulling on one side of the rope in tug of wars.

What is tugging at your team?

A simple version of the mirror test (self recognition test) is performed on an Octopus vulgaris in Cape Verde.

The Octopus Theory

Smog and smoke from industry colored by a sunrise.

Anti-work polluters

Two hands holding an ice cream cone each.

Feature requests and ice cream

Old binders with files, standing in a row, partly stacked.

Three ways to look at continuous backlog grooming

Bicycle traffic barrier used to slow down cyclists circumvented by taking a detour on the lawn, thereby showing a literal path of least resistance.

Waste In Process and User Research

A single frosted leaf with clear contours and veins.

TDD in the context of writing code to be read

Wunder Baum hanging from a car window (Known as Little Trees in most English-speaking countries)

Wunderbaum testing

A white and orange wooden roadblock with a warning light attached.

Publish first, review later

Beads in different colors and sizes spilling from a jar

The point of estimates

A coach talking to a team of very enthusiastic young kids, many with their hands raised.

Three reasons to get a Samman coach

Water colours in a box

IT-stress, part 2 — change

Illustration of sewed-on facing, from a 1921 dressmaking publication.

Internal or external quality?

A hand showing the right hand rule for current, magnetic field and force.

DevOps vs. FullStack

Black and white photo of a group of teens in 1978 pulling on one side of the rope in tug of wars.

What is tugging at your team?

nearly flat ice crystal formed by light wind near the ground

The SOLID principles for organizing work

A simple version of the mirror test (self recognition test) is performed on an Octopus vulgaris in Cape Verde.

The Octopus Theory

A black and white sketch of a person being measured from the spine to the cuff with a measuring tape.

Ask for the tailor, not a copy of the suit

A thermostat from a radiator.

A good retrospective

Shredded paper

Traceless

The wooden footbridge in Bistrica Gorge (built in 2018)

Bridging the agile gap

A jetty with steps down into cold water.

Naked, but for the sauna

Big waves hitting a sturdy tower.

Surviving change, building resilience of the self

A winding path in a lush foret

Epic — something worth singing about

Old binders with files, standing in a row, partly stacked.

Three ways to look at continuous backlog grooming

An antique toy train with two carriages, that almost stays on the track.

Dependency graphs as a design tool

A single frosted leaf with clear contours and veins.

TDD in the context of writing code to be read

Wunder Baum hanging from a car window (Known as Little Trees in most English-speaking countries)

Wunderbaum testing

A white and orange wooden roadblock with a warning light attached.

Publish first, review later

A red neon sign of a question-mark

The question trick

Cartoon style BOOM in red on a background of an explosion in yellow

The dynamite double

A diagram showing unfocused developers going from a sprint into a retro with a lot of input. The result for the next sprint is one experiment and a team ready to go back to work.

Workshop data types

If F map X to Y the inverse of F map Y to X.

Defining domain boundaries

Beads in different colors and sizes spilling from a jar

The point of estimates

A coach talking to a team of very enthusiastic young kids, many with their hands raised.

Three reasons to get a Samman coach

A plushy of the pokémon Ralts, holding sticky notes with

The value of quality

Illustration of sewed-on facing, from a 1921 dressmaking publication.

Internal or external quality?

Corn on the cob, plated with garnish.

Useworthiness

A hand showing the right hand rule for current, magnetic field and force.

DevOps vs. FullStack

Black and white photo of a group of teens in 1978 pulling on one side of the rope in tug of wars.

What is tugging at your team?

nearly flat ice crystal formed by light wind near the ground

The SOLID principles for organizing work

A simple version of the mirror test (self recognition test) is performed on an Octopus vulgaris in Cape Verde.

The Octopus Theory

A jumble of metal types showing letters.

Optimize for reading

A toy figure assessing the level of water in a mason jar using a tape measurer.

Test it like it's pure

A dark image of vines tangling in front of a wall

The upside-down framework anti-pattern

Two kids playing with a carousel at a playground.

A playground for code

Rocking chair made by Thonet-Mundus, number B 804 with feets support (in catalogue under chair no. B 829).

Let code grow old in peace

Railroad tracks crossing multiple times

True conditionals

A masquerade mask with cogs and wheels placed on a jumble of screws.

What's in a name? On unmasking dishonest code.

a glass salt shaker with a metal top photographed on a white background.

Single responsibility and salty porridge

A lush mix of different trees

A forest of developers

A desert tortoise (Gopherus agassizii) hatching from its egg.

Software developers don't hatch

A motor with a lot of cogs, wheels and bands.

Under the hood

A pair of jeans that are going to be mended

Refactor or rewrite?

A juggler with three balls on a misty and empty field

Dangerous skills

A blank jigsaw puzzle with one missing piece in the middle

The importance of signatures

A signpost with directions and distance to more than twenty locations.

Choosing a language or framework

An empty podium for first, second and third place.

The best kind of code

Six insects, print, Wenceslaus Hollar (MET, 26.72.115).

A language agnostic debugging list

Weight plates for weightlifting in different sizes.

Lift with your legs

Two frog figurines. One is pulling a cabin bag. The other has one bag in each hand.

TDD cheats, tricks to dodge the hard parts of testing

A clip board with a pen and a stethoscope

My health checkup checklist for software projects

A living room with nice furniture placed with good amount of space to move around.

Software interior design

A black cat in the middle of taking a step down in a steep staircase.

One test at a time, one step at a time

A multi meter measuring an assembled component.

Test Driven Development in Theory of Constraints terms

A person gripping the hand rail while running down a spiral staircase.

Guided by tests

The entrance to a big abandoned house.

Who is afraid of the big bad codebase?

A birthday cake with a candle in the shape of the figure one.

One reason to exist

A vacuum cleaner leaving a visible result on a carpet

The power of linting

A signpost with directions and distance to more than twenty locations.

Choosing a language or framework

An empty podium for first, second and third place.

The best kind of code

Six insects, print, Wenceslaus Hollar (MET, 26.72.115).

A language agnostic debugging list

Two frog figurines. One is pulling a cabin bag. The other has one bag in each hand.

TDD cheats, tricks to dodge the hard parts of testing

A clip board with a pen and a stethoscope

My health checkup checklist for software projects

A white and orange wooden roadblock with a warning light attached.

Publish first, review later

A child sitting in a sofa, surrounded by pillows, legs pulled up, face hardly showing.

The magic of comfort zones

A hand showing the right hand rule for current, magnetic field and force.

DevOps vs. FullStack

nearly flat ice crystal formed by light wind near the ground

The SOLID principles for organizing work

A dark image of vines tangling in front of a wall

The upside-down framework anti-pattern

Rocking chair made by Thonet-Mundus, number B 804 with feets support (in catalogue under chair no. B 829).

Let code grow old in peace

A cross stitched WC sign in warm colors

Westrum in a restroom

An ampersand, &, with extra everything

The & in DevOps

A marathon race in Kent. People running away from the camera. The sky is really blue.

The DevOps person and a 300 meter marathon

Hand washing with soap

Read Accelerate and wash your hands

Folded clothes standing on end on a white bedspread

It is not too good to be true

Whirlwind computer, sections of core memory and controls, in Museum of Science, Boston, Massachusetts, USA.

Unnecessary limitations with a history

A diagram showing unfocused developers going from a sprint into a retro with a lot of input. The result for the next sprint is one experiment and a team ready to go back to work.

Workshop data types

The gears from an egg timer, showing the Lever escapement and other gears.

Ensemble to make a smarter team

A black and white sketch of a person being measured from the spine to the cuff with a measuring tape.

Ask for the tailor, not a copy of the suit

A thermostat from a radiator.

A good retrospective

learning hour

A masquerade mask with cogs and wheels placed on a jumble of screws.

What's in a name? On unmasking dishonest code.

a glass salt shaker with a metal top photographed on a white background.

Single responsibility and salty porridge

With Comments

An empty podium for first, second and third place.

The best kind of code

Folded clothes standing on end on a white bedspread

It is not too good to be true

Weight plates for weightlifting in different sizes.

Lift with your legs

Under one minute

A child sitting in a sofa, surrounded by pillows, legs pulled up, face hardly showing.

The magic of comfort zones

Cartoon style BOOM in red on a background of an explosion in yellow

The dynamite double

If F map X to Y the inverse of F map Y to X.

Defining domain boundaries

Beads in different colors and sizes spilling from a jar

The point of estimates

Illustration of sewed-on facing, from a 1921 dressmaking publication.

Internal or external quality?

A hand showing the right hand rule for current, magnetic field and force.

DevOps vs. FullStack

A jumble of metal types showing letters.

Optimize for reading

A toy figure assessing the level of water in a mason jar using a tape measurer.

Test it like it's pure

A dark image of vines tangling in front of a wall

The upside-down framework anti-pattern

Two kids playing with a carousel at a playground.

A playground for code

A lush mix of different trees

A forest of developers

A desert tortoise (Gopherus agassizii) hatching from its egg.

Software developers don't hatch

A juggler with three balls on a misty and empty field

Dangerous skills

An empty podium for first, second and third place.

The best kind of code

Weight plates for weightlifting in different sizes.

Lift with your legs

A multi meter measuring an assembled component.

Test Driven Development in Theory of Constraints terms

A pit stop at a race.

Ensemble programming and Lean

About two minutes

An antique toy train with two carriages, that almost stays on the track.

Dependency graphs as a design tool

A single frosted leaf with clear contours and veins.

TDD in the context of writing code to be read

Wunder Baum hanging from a car window (Known as Little Trees in most English-speaking countries)

Wunderbaum testing

A white and orange wooden roadblock with a warning light attached.

Publish first, review later

A red neon sign of a question-mark

The question trick

A coach talking to a team of very enthusiastic young kids, many with their hands raised.

Three reasons to get a Samman coach

Water colours in a box

IT-stress, part 2 — change

A cracked monitor outdoors

IT-stress, part 1 — coping

A plushy of the pokémon Ralts, holding sticky notes with

The value of quality

Corn on the cob, plated with garnish.

Useworthiness

nearly flat ice crystal formed by light wind near the ground

The SOLID principles for organizing work

A simple version of the mirror test (self recognition test) is performed on an Octopus vulgaris in Cape Verde.

The Octopus Theory

The gears from an egg timer, showing the Lever escapement and other gears.

Ensemble to make a smarter team

Rocking chair made by Thonet-Mundus, number B 804 with feets support (in catalogue under chair no. B 829).

Let code grow old in peace

Smog and smoke from industry colored by a sunrise.

Anti-work polluters

Railroad tracks crossing multiple times

True conditionals

A masquerade mask with cogs and wheels placed on a jumble of screws.

What's in a name? On unmasking dishonest code.

a glass salt shaker with a metal top photographed on a white background.

Single responsibility and salty porridge

A cross stitched WC sign in warm colors

Westrum in a restroom

An ampersand, &, with extra everything

The & in DevOps

A black and white sketch of a person being measured from the spine to the cuff with a measuring tape.

Ask for the tailor, not a copy of the suit

A thermostat from a radiator.

A good retrospective

A motor with a lot of cogs, wheels and bands.

Under the hood

A pair of jeans that are going to be mended

Refactor or rewrite?

A slightly dusty motherboard with many different components.

Explaining ensemble programming with hardware

A blank jigsaw puzzle with one missing piece in the middle

The importance of signatures

Shredded paper

Traceless

A marathon race in Kent. People running away from the camera. The sky is really blue.

The DevOps person and a 300 meter marathon

Hand washing with soap

Read Accelerate and wash your hands

Two frog figurines. One is pulling a cabin bag. The other has one bag in each hand.

TDD cheats, tricks to dodge the hard parts of testing

Two hands holding an ice cream cone each.

Feature requests and ice cream

The wooden footbridge in Bistrica Gorge (built in 2018)

Bridging the agile gap

A kitten that peaks out from under a blanket

Solutions hidden under subjectivity

A clip board with a pen and a stethoscope

My health checkup checklist for software projects

A living room with nice furniture placed with good amount of space to move around.

Software interior design

A black cat in the middle of taking a step down in a steep staircase.

One test at a time, one step at a time

A person gripping the hand rail while running down a spiral staircase.

Guided by tests

A winding path in a lush foret

Epic — something worth singing about

The entrance to a big abandoned house.

Who is afraid of the big bad codebase?

A birthday cake with a candle in the shape of the figure one.

One reason to exist

A vacuum cleaner leaving a visible result on a carpet

The power of linting

Old binders with files, standing in a row, partly stacked.

Three ways to look at continuous backlog grooming

Bicycle traffic barrier used to slow down cyclists circumvented by taking a detour on the lawn, thereby showing a literal path of least resistance.

Waste In Process and User Research

A hand holding a seashell in the water

Diversity and psychological safety, the struggle of The Little Mermaid

Three minutes or longer

A diagram showing unfocused developers going from a sprint into a retro with a lot of input. The result for the next sprint is one experiment and a team ready to go back to work.

Workshop data types

Black and white photo of a group of teens in 1978 pulling on one side of the rope in tug of wars.

What is tugging at your team?

A signpost with directions and distance to more than twenty locations.

Choosing a language or framework

Six insects, print, Wenceslaus Hollar (MET, 26.72.115).

A language agnostic debugging list

Folded clothes standing on end on a white bedspread

It is not too good to be true

Whirlwind computer, sections of core memory and controls, in Museum of Science, Boston, Massachusetts, USA.

Unnecessary limitations with a history

A giraffe nibbling on some branches.

When the giraffe builds a current reality tree

A jetty with steps down into cold water.

Naked, but for the sauna

Big waves hitting a sturdy tower.

Surviving change, building resilience of the self