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Wednesday, May 27, 2009 5:03 PM

Five Books To Read If You Want My Job

This came out of a conversation I had today with a few other test leads.  the question was, “What are the top 5 books you should read if you want my job?”  My job in this case being that of a test development lead.  At Microsoft that means
Posted by SteveRowe | 4 Comments
Sunday, December 21, 2008 5:37 PM

Why You Get Nothing Done When You Have So Much Free Time

Interesting musings on a subject I can attest to be true. Why is it we get so much done when we're on a tight schedule but then fail to get anything done when we have a long vacation? The same applies to work too. Give someone a long time to get a project
Posted by SteveRowe | 1 Comments
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Friday, August 15, 2008 11:11 AM

Code Review Options

There are many ways to conduct a code review.  Here are a few ways I've seen it done and the advantages and disadvantages of each. Over-the-Shoulder Reviews Walk over to someone's office or invite them to yours and walk them through the code. 
Posted by SteveRowe | 2 Comments
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Wednesday, August 13, 2008 10:55 AM

Code Review Rights and Responsibilities

Code reviews are an important part of any project's health.  They are able to find and correct code defects before making it into the product and thus spare everyone the pain of having to find them and take them out.  They are also relatively
Posted by SteveRowe | 2 Comments
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Tuesday, July 15, 2008 11:39 AM

10 Pitfalls of Using Scrum in Games Development

Interesting article about using scrum to manage game development. Many of the pitfalls are true beyond games development. The article is well balanced and has advice for how to overcome the pitfalls. I don't agree with all of the advice, but it is thought
Posted by SteveRowe | 0 Comments
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Tuesday, May 20, 2008 10:04 AM

Get Rid Of Your Security Blankets

A while ago I took a class on Scrum and Agile Project Management. During the discussion on Scrum, it became apparent to me that there are several unchallenged assumptions in many peoples' minds that make accepting Scrum difficult. People assume that Scrum/Agile
Posted by SteveRowe | 2 Comments
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Wednesday, January 02, 2008 4:49 AM

Two Software Development Worlds

I was recently listening to an interview with Joel Spolsky . The main subject is interviewing and hiring, but in the course of the interview Joel touches on an interesting point. He says that there are two major types of software: Shrinkwrap and Custom
Posted by SteveRowe | 2 Comments
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Monday, November 12, 2007 6:17 AM

Always Question the Process

Let me recount a story from the television show Babylon 5 . In one episode there is the description of guard posted in the middle of an empty courtyard. There is nothing there to protect. When one of the characters, Londo, questions why, he finds that
Posted by SteveRowe | 4 Comments
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Friday, November 09, 2007 9:17 AM

Keep Process Simple

Year ago one of our Software Test Engineers was tasked with documenting our smoke* process. It should have been something simple like: Developer packages binaries for testing Developer places smoke request on web page Tester signs up for smoke on web
Posted by SteveRowe | 1 Comments
Thursday, November 08, 2007 7:17 AM

The Need for a Real Build Process

Jeff Atwood at Coding Horror has a good post about how " F5 is not a build process ." In it, he explains how you need a real centralized build process. F5 (the "build and debug" shortcut key in Visual Studio) on a developer's machine is not a built process.
Posted by SteveRowe | 1 Comments
Monday, October 22, 2007 8:15 AM

Helping Groups Succeed

or What to do when you aren't in control but neither is the leader. A while back I wrote about providing clarity as a leader. As part of that essay I mentioned some techniques for keeping groups on track. Those are well and good if you are the leader,
Posted by SteveRowe | 2 Comments
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Monday, August 20, 2007 6:37 AM

Tacit Approval Often Isn’t

Most of us have found ourselves in situations where we need someone’s approval to get something done, but we can’t seem to get them to respond. It would be okay if they said no. It would be better if they said yes. We just need an answer yet we can’t
Posted by SteveRowe | 1 Comments
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Monday, August 13, 2007 9:15 AM

Scrum Meetings for Test

A year and a half ago I talked about how I was running scrum meetings with my team. Since then, we've refined the process but have consistently held scrums on a regular basis. Note that I'm not running a full Scrum system with sprints and product backlogs
Posted by SteveRowe | 4 Comments
Thursday, July 19, 2007 8:00 AM

Hofstadter's Law

Good advice for all project managers. Hofstadter's Law : It always takes longer than you expect, even when you take into account Hofstadter's Law.
Posted by SteveRowe | 0 Comments
Wednesday, July 04, 2007 2:11 PM

The Three Stonecutters

Lots of interesting quotes in Dreaming in Code. This one is the story of three stonecutters. Each is asked what he is doing. The first answers that he is, "making a living wage." The second says, "I am doing the best job of cutting stones in the entire
Posted by SteveRowe | 4 Comments
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