When you hear the word coaching, what do you think?
Some new-age, touch grass, time-wasting management trick?
Maybe you think of that movie with the basketball team.
Or perhaps it’s just another meeting scheduled in my calendar.
The optimal team size is 4.6 people.
Dave Farley in his book Modern Software Engineering argues we need to organize for the optimal team size.
Small teams working autonomously on small projects.
If the project is too big and complicated, it’ll inevitably slow down.
Adding more people won’t then speed it up.
Have you heard people saying things like…
These are all normal, expected and common phrases. We hear them all the time.
In my last article, I wrote about the power of simplicity.
And I truly believe this is a guiding principle in good design and quality software.
But it is more than that. It can be applied, as most learnings, outside of software engineering as well.
Simple is… very hard.
Did you ever stare at your screen and wonder: “How did we get to this level of WTFs/minute?”
Maybe it’s even a regular event for you.
A few months ago, I started learning a new programming language: Golang.
Yes, the language with the weird creature mascot.
And everything was uncomfortable.
How do I do the most basic things?
Many developers I’ve met love optimizing their workflow. So do I.
It just feels great to discover an efficient approach to a problem you’ve been faced with daily for a long time.
To find that new shortcut that now saves you 3 clicks and moving your arm to that mouse and back to the keyboard.
“I almost got it! Surely if I fix this one error, the damn thing will work! Right? …Right?”
So often, coding problems require the creative side of our minds.
Agile.
The buzzword that sprouted in 2001 and nowadays leaves a bad taste in many developers’ mouths.
The ideology that software engineers hold on to in a sea of information overload, pressure and deadlines.
What to pick up on when having a check-in?
A check-in truly is a gift from the other person. You get to experience a glimpse of their world, their thoughts, their emotions.