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Methods

  • in Methods
  • 4 min read

Straw Men, Straw Men Everywhere!

Maybe it is just my confirmation bias, but I think the number of made-up points to win arguments get out of hand. The points get shallower and more ridiculous with every month, and it seems that there is no end in sight on how low the bar could get.

When it comes to practices and methods, there are enough real shortcomings that one could use for criticism. Instead, we can see one post after another in which people argue about things that you cannot find anywhere in the criticised subjects. Is it straw men hunting season already?

Define Your Technology Stack

One of the simplest improvements for an efficient environment is to define the technology stack you want to use at your company. A little bit of upfront documentation can safe you endless discussions at the start of a new project. Instead of debating what framework you could use, you check if the one you defined is a good fit. Only if this is not the case you go and search for an alternative. Let’s look how you can define your own stack.

Xanpan: When Kanban Meets XP

I'm using Kanban since 2011 to organize my work. From everyday tasks to small software projects and big holiday trips I could leverage the power of a simple and hassle free approach to reduce my work in progress. With less work in progress one can concentrate on getting the work done and is not constantly rescheduling it as part of an unsuccessful attempt to do multi-tasking.

Even if Kanban is a success for me, I had the feeling that something is missing to adapt Kanban in a bigger software project. When people with different responsibilities work together there need to be some common rules on how the work should be done. Plain Kanban doesn't answer this.