Velocity and Stories: Agile Development

“We missed that in the spec – never mind, we’ll create a new story to cover it!”

Recently,  I got the chance to work on a project which is using some of the principles from Agile Methodologies that are out there. The last time I mentioned we were using it,  I was watching Agile from an outsiders perspective. Now that I’m experiencing Agile for myself, I have to say its been quite interesting and indeed enjoyable.

So, heres the lowdown on how we’ve been doing it….

Doing Maintenance on ASP sucks!

RANT WARNING!

Firstly a whinge about ASP classic and yet another case of failing to keep pace.  Whilst I understand there are loads of classic asp pages out there (and these can be quite good), sometimes I wish things would move along with the times.  What I mean is no-one has really maintained the pile of cr*p pages I’ve been lumbered with (for the 2nd time!),  save where a functional change is required. No Housekeeping has ever been performed, so it has become more difficult to maintain. its totally frustrating!!

Just a quick note…

Its been a  very long while, and Typically i’ve been a bit rubbish on this… but I’m going to stop procrastinating and start posting my ramblings, albeit about Dev type stuff, a lot more often! 

I’m going to attempt to tackle subjects, some of which I still need to get my head round. These will be coming up soon on this blog. Hopefully..and in no particular order, they may include:

• Agile Process pilot  -observations of what worked and what didn’t?
• Test Driven Development -  in simple terms
• C# feature of the week - Lambda functions (I think the c# feature of the week might actually turn into a regular post !)
• Design Pattern for Dummies (Another Idea for regular feature!)
• A brief overview of Windows Workflow Foundation

I’m using the blog to help me learn and understand, as well as help others. We’ll see how successful that is…..

Now, where the hell is THAT mentioned in the Spec???

This will be my first actual Posting related to what I do, so please be gentle!

DISCLAIMER

Firstly, I’d like to say that this article is not intended to to have a pop at individuals, rather the problems with processes which can give developers cause for frustration. They’re just my generalised opinions, and examples are here just to put my blog entry into context.

Cups and Lids… man I’m thirsty!

I’ve just read a recent, albeit small, Blog entry which highlighted the gap between stakeholders requirements and end products delivered within the software process. They summed it up in BASIC code….it was typically succinct but it made a valid point.

It got me thinking about a lunchtime conversation I had with a fellow colleague who summed the way the traditional lifecycle works for many places, and indeed my current workplace. So I thought I’d have a go at writing about it.

He analogised with a Drinks Cup from a Fast food Restaurant. To Protect the guilty, we’ll call it FFS or Fast Food Stores, or make up your own acronym of course!

I’m paraphrasing and adding artistic license, but here’s that fictional conversation between a PM and a Developer they created in that analogy, which I hope sums up the problem…

Welcome!

Welcome to DevGorilla, the blog that looks at the hairier side of C# Development.

I’m going to use this blog to express opinions on some of the things I’ve picked up in the C# world, and to allow others to give their thoughts.

More to follow soon!