Employee, Contractor, Consultant

There’s 3 common roles that software engineers will commonly be engaged in, and it tends to be a progression. The words are sometimes misused though, and the distinction between them is very important!Employee is the easiest to understand, and most common. You are...

My NDC Conference Top 5

A year ago, I was in Minnesota fulfilling a goal I’d set for myself a few years before – to speak at an NDC conference! NDC, the Norwegian Developer Conference, organise spectacularly well-run conferences in a growing list of countries, and it was great to join their...

Some techniques to roll out features

One of the most important things to get good at for a software teams is getting the things they make into the hands of customers faster, more often, and with less drama. While new features and better code are both great, if the release process is disruptive, and...

Outcome vs Output

Many software teams put a lot of energy into talking about output – things live velocity, story points, burndowns, or even just counting tickets. However, the thing that most businesses really need, the reason that software is worth investing in, is outcomes.Output is...

Being Pushed For Reliable Estimates

A while ago I referenced Allen Holub’s Key Note speech on #NoEstimates. One of the comments read: I’ve been battling with timescale pressure recently, and hope to use some of these arguments to reframe the conversation. and on asking for clarification: In...

Helping Each Other

One of the side effects of working with lots of different teams is that I get to meet a lot of people, at all stages in their careers. I try and stay in touch with as many as I can, and sometimes there’s an opportunity to help someone. This might be helping someone...

Loud Voices In Tech

Our industry is filled with loud voices. There are often quieter voices. There are often people who are kind, helpful and considerate, but the fact is, this there seems to be something particularly prevalent in our industry; these loud voices coming from people who...