June 2007 - Posts

How To Share Lessons Learned
I'm a fan of sharing lessons learned along the way. One light-weight technique I do with a distributed team is a simple mail of Do's and Dont's. At the end of the week or as needed, I start the mail with a list of dos and dont's I learned and then ask Read More...
Posted 19 June 07 06:21 by J.D. Meier | 2 Comments   
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Quick and Dirty Getting Things Done
If you're backlogged and you want to get out, here's a quick, low tech, brute force approach. On your whiteboard, first write your key backlog items. Next to it, write down To Do. Under To Do, write the three most valuable things you'll complete today. Read More...
Posted 12 June 07 04:53 by J.D. Meier | 4 Comments   
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VSTS Guidance Projects Roundup
Here's a quick rundown of our patterns & practices VSTS related Guidance projects. It's a combination of online knowledge bases, guides, video-based guidance and a community Wiki for public participation. We're using CodePlex for agile release, before Read More...
Posted 11 June 07 03:32 by J.D. Meier | 5 Comments   
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Get Lean, Eliminate Waste
If you want to tune your software engineering, take a look at Lean . Lean is a great discipline with a rich history and proven practices to draw from. James has a good post on applying Lean principles to software engineering . I think he summarizes a Read More...
Posted 08 June 07 06:55 by J.D. Meier | 4 Comments   
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Clearing Your Inbox
Today I helped a colleague clear their inbox. I've kept a zero mail inbox for a few years. I forgot this wasn't common practice until a colleague said to me, "wow, your inbox doesn't scroll." I didn't learn the zen of the zero mail inbox over night. As Read More...
Posted 07 June 07 03:00 by J.D. Meier | 9 Comments   
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How To Do Tasks More Efficiently
Here's my short-list of techniques I use for improving efficiency on a given task: Increase the frequency . If I'm not efficient at something and I need to be, I start doing it more. A lot more. Frequency helps me get over resistance. I also get more Read More...
Posted 04 June 07 01:54 by J.D. Meier | 2 Comments   
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Timebox Your Day
Grigori Melnik joined our team recently. He's new to Microsoft so I shared some tips for effectiveness. Potentially, the most important advice I gave him was to timebox his day. If you keep time a constant (by ending your day at a certain time), it helps Read More...
Posted 03 June 07 02:33 by J.D. Meier | 5 Comments   
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