Zendo and the art of testing
Controversial opinion: I don’t like The Dice Game. The good news: I have a much better alternative that brings a very similar challenge in a less adversarial package. The basic game The concept of the game is basically the same as The Dice Game. One person has a rule known only to them and the… Read more
Achieve the why by doing the how
With the start of 2019 there’s been a glut of resolutions going by my social media feeds, so it’s been the posts about explicitly not making resolutions that grab my attention. On YouTube, for example, John Green talked about making specific goals instead of resolutions, which made me think about my own resolutions in those… Read more
Respecting the house rules
I just watched Angie Jones’s keynote from this year’s Selenium Conference using elements of game design to talk about test automation. I really like what she said about the rules of the game. Broadly, there are the rules that are part of the game—the best practices and patterns that are well established parts of the… Read more
Rethinking velocity
I’ve been thinking about the concept of “velocity” in software development the last few days, in response to a couple cases recently where I’ve seen people express dislike for it. I can understand why, and the more I think about it the more I think that the concept does more harm than good. When I… Read more
Demo things that aren’t done
When I saw this tweet from John Cutler about demos: Pssssst… You can demo stuff before the end of the sprint. — John Cutler (@johncutlefish) September 18, 2018 I immediately composed this response, without even thinking about it: Psssst… You can demo things that aren't done. You can demo things that aren't code. You can… Read more