The Mob Mentality Show

Garrick West on 'Building' Great Developers with XP & Agile plus the Best Debugging

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šŸ”„ How do you actually build great software developers? How do you debug like a pro? And what happens when XP (Extreme Programming) makes a comeback after the Scrum backlash?

Join us as Garrick Westā€”a seasoned XP practitioner, Agile coach, and software craftsmanship advocateā€”dives into:

āœ… Building Agile Software Developers: From XP mentorship to industry-academia collaboration
āœ… The Best Debugging Strategies: Unpacking The Debugging Book and applying its rules in a mob
āœ… Reviving XP & Software Crafting: Why XP is more crucial than ever in Agile teams

šŸš€ Garrick's Story: From Early Coding to XP Champion

Garrick started coding at 10 years old (at day camps in the 80s! šŸ˜…), earned a Computer Science degree, and had his development worldview shaped by reading the first edition of Extreme Programming Explained. He has worked at XP-centric organizations, trained teams in TDD (Test-Driven Development), Ensemble Programming, and CI/CD (Continuous Integration/Continuous Deployment), and even revamped a college curriculum from Waterfall to XP/Scrum.

šŸŽÆ "Building" Agile Software Developers

  • The power of an XP coach early in a developerā€™s journey
  • Public speaking as a dev skill? (Toastmasters, teaching at community college)
  • What happened when Garrick helped convert a college curriculum from Waterfall to XP/Scrum?
  • Industry experts + academia: How can professional devs and educators collaborate better?
  • The apprentice model: What it means and why learning stages (like the Dreyfus Model) matter
  • AI & developer education: Does AI replace early learning stages, or is it just a slick salesman?
  • Scaling Gilded Rose Kata to different skill levels
  • Test Coverage as a red herringā€”what should we focus on instead?

    • šŸž Debugging: The Missing Developer Superpower

    Ever heard of The Debugging Book? Most developers havenā€™tā€”but itā€™s a game-changer. We explore:

    • Debugging as problem-solving, not just "stepping through" in an IDE
    • The 9 Debugging Rules: From reading the manual to never throwing away a good test tool
    • How to gamify debugging in a mob & introduce a "debugging auditor" role
    • The anti-pattern of multiple experiments at onceā€”and how to avoid it
    • Why debugging is like navigating a labyrinth with a million wrong paths

      • šŸ”„ Reviving XP & Software Crafting After the Scrum Backlash

      • XP fills Scrumā€™s missing middle: Building the right thing (Scrum) AND building it right (XP)
      • How Scrum without XP leads to a ā€œBall of Mudā€ in just 18 months
      • Why XP + Lean is the ultimate combination
      • Breaking free from sprints & pressure cookersā€”just focus on continuous iterations
      • Can XP stand without Scrum? Or does Scrum need XP?

        • šŸ’” Donā€™t miss this high-energy, insight-packed conversation with Garrick West!

        šŸ“¢ Comment below: Whatā€™s YOUR experience with XP, Agile, or debugging challenges?

        Ā 
        Video and Show Notes: https://youtu.be/vxLDm-13Ny4Ā 

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        The Mob Mentality ShowBy The Mob Mentality Show
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