Better Software Magazine Articles
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Analysis Paralysis and the Law of Imperfect Plans Humans don't handle complexity well, and we certainly can't see the future—which helps explain why our plans and designs so often are flawed. In response to this truth, our guest technical editor offers Payson’s Law of Imperfect Plans. Embracing this law can help you avoid the dreaded analysis paralysis and accept that perfection just isn't possible. |
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Attack of the Fifty-Foot Favors When your boss constantly has you doing favors for another group, it can get in the way of fulfilling your own responsibilities. Find out how defining your work mission to your manager and illustrating how "small" favors potentially cut into company revenue can help to get everyone on the same page. |
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Beat the Odds You know that old saying that the best way to schedule software development is to come up with your best guess and divide by three? In this article, Joel Spolsky explains how to take the guesswork out of estimations by simulating schedules and creating probability curves that are more than just a shot in the dark. |
Joel Spolsky
February 27, 2007 |
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Take a Stand-Yes or No, not Maybe It's happened again. Your boss corners you and pressures you to take on extra work. The additional project gives you more work than you can realistically do, let alone do well. Find out how you can stand up to your boss and work with him to create reasonable priorities for your time without damaging your relationship. |
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Up the Organization, Redux Certain management principles are enduring and able to cross the boundaries of industry In this month's Technically Speaking, Lee Copeland takes a look at the software development applications of his favorite management book. |
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The Case of the Missing Fingerprint: Solve the Mystery of Successful End-of-Project Retrospectives Through this tale of a planning spreadsheet and its effect on three different projects, learn the impact a single decision can have on a project--and pick up some helpful tools like fingerprint graphs and project timelines along the way. |
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A Few Good Bugs When a factory comes to a screeching halt and the collected team managers start pointing fingers at team members and ducking blame, one manager sets a valuable example by offering up a name--his own. |
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The Power of Low-Tech Tools The level of technology that goes into a tool is only as valuable as the service that you, as a user, get out of that tool. Some low-tech tools--such as the four that Esther Derby lists here--have a place in the technologist's toolbox, too. |
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The Scoop on Employment Trends in 2006 Hundreds of Better Software magazine readers and StickyMinds.com users logged on and gave us the scoop on the industry's employment outlook. Find out how your software engineering peers responded to our annual salary survey. |
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Believing Is Seeing What you don't know can hurt you, and what you do know can too. Lee Copeland takes a look at how the results of a 1949 Harvard experiment with playing cards should influence the way you evaluate your previous experience when building software |
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