Doc Norton
What is Velocity?

In this excerpt from Escape Velocity, we take a more in-depth look at Velocity and try to answer (at least in part) the question, “What Is Velocity”?

What is Velocity?
Doc Norton
Collapsing Conditionals

This article focuses on using Chain of Command as a means of reducing cyclomatic complexity in our code. Along the way, we also create better adherence to SRP.

Collapsing Conditionals
Doc Norton
Thoughts on Refactoring

I recently worked with a team on a fairly significant refactoring. I paired with different team members each day over a three day period as we moved code around, pushing responsibility into other classes, reducing complexity, and make the code more expressive. On the fourth day, I put together some notes on the things we saw and general guidelines for the team to keep in mind. Nothing herein is new to the community, but it might be new to you.

Thoughts on Refactoring
Doc Norton
Using Collaboration Contracts

Collaboration Contracts are a way of identifying who is involved in a decision and what level of decision-making authority each participant has. This isn't a delegation model where some individual is empowered and imparts unto others some fraction of their authority for a limited period of time. This is a collaboration model where all participants are equally empowered, but find consensus on all topics to be a suboptimal approach.

Using Collaboration Contracts
Doc Norton
Coaching Anti-Patterns: Shock and Awe

I often find myself talking to people who are in the midst of a switch to agile and who find the change very difficult to get used to. They may be strong advocates, but their team just "doesn't get it". Through discussion, I find that many of them are attempting what I refer to as "Shock and Awe" agile. If you couldn't tell by the name, I consider this another agile coaching anti-pattern.

Coaching Anti-Patterns: Shock and Awe

Messy Code is not Technical Debt

Technical Debt is a common topic these days. How is it incurred? How should we track it? When should we pay it down?

It is a metaphor commonly understood. Our customers get it. While they may not like it, they do understand. Technical Debt is incurred today and needs to be paid down; preferably sooner rather than later what with compound interest and all that.

Keep Retrospectives Fresh

Retrospectives are an important (and frequently poorly done) practice. They provide an opportunity for discussion, learning, and adaptation. Without retrospectives, a team is likely to fall into a soothing rhythm and fail to recognize early the need for change.

But retrospectives themselves can become common and numbing. The same moderator, the same three questions, in the same room, at the same time .... (yawn).

Here are a few tips on keeping your retrospectives fresh.