Healthy Developer

Scott Nimrod is an experienced Software Consultant based out of Miami who specializes in Test Automation, WPF, Functional Programming, and a variety of other technologies.

In this interview, Scott and I discuss the balance between strengthening your reputation through your personal brand as a developer, and the teamwork necessary to be successful in your career.

We also touch on concepts in the interview with Woody Zuill about mob programming and the "noestimates" movement.

Scott also runs a YouTube channel with great interviews and live programming exercises.

Join my Patreon: https://thrivingtechnologist.com/patreon

Learn about one-on-one career coaching with me: https://thrivingtechnologist.com/coaching

TechRolepedia, a wiki about the top 25 roles in tech: https://thrivingtechnologist.com/techroles

The Thriving Technologist career guide: https://thrivingtechnologist.com/guide

You can also watch this episode on YouTube.

Visit me at thrivingtechnologist.com

Working on a software development team where everyone does their work separately – and thinking of trying something new?

Today I have a special guest, Woody Zuill, who is the leading voice in our industry around the concept of Mob Programming.

If this is the first time you've heard of it, Mob Programming is essentially an entire team working together with only one person's hands on the keyboard.

There are some surprising advantages to this approach that you may not have encountered before.

I hope this interview with Woody gives you some insight into how this practice may help you.

I learned some really interesting things about the origin of this practice and how Woody found himself in the position of being its primary spokesperson.

The interview is also filled with valuable advice about influencing change and earning credibility to help software development teams be more agile – whatever that means to you :).

You can follow Woody on twitter here: https://twitter.com/woodyzuill or visit his website here: http://woodyzuill.com/

Join my Patreon: https://thrivingtechnologist.com/patreon

Learn about one-on-one career coaching with me: https://thrivingtechnologist.com/coaching

TechRolepedia, a wiki about the top 25 roles in tech: https://thrivingtechnologist.com/techroles

The Thriving Technologist career guide: https://thrivingtechnologist.com/guide

You can also watch this episode on YouTube.

Visit me at thrivingtechnologist.com

Does it ever feel like you'd get so much more done if it weren't for how much work people have you do to make commitments?

Today I'd like to help you understand whether the development team you're on is using commitments in a way that makes sense, or will stress people out and put the software project at risk!

Since most teams I have worked with aren't really agile, I'm concentrating on helping you understand the risks with commitments between the wrong people which often happens in "traditional" software development companies.

Whether your a programmer, in UX, or maybe operations - commitments that are too strict, or too unrealistic, put your job and the success of the project in danger.

First I will teach you some insights I've learned about how commitments can cause agile teams to grow toxic.

Afterwards, I'll give you some actionable tips on what you can do to cope with traditional (non-agile) teams that require unrealistic commitments.

I hope this information helps you select the best project for your career, or if you're on an unhealthy team - protect yourself so you have the best chance of being successful!

Join my Patreon: https://thrivingtechnologist.com/patreon

Learn about one-on-one career coaching with me: https://thrivingtechnologist.com/coaching

TechRolepedia, a wiki about the top 25 roles in tech: https://thrivingtechnologist.com/techroles

The Thriving Technologist career guide: https://thrivingtechnologist.com/guide

You can also watch this episode on YouTube.

Visit me at thrivingtechnologist.com

Over the weekend I posted a video clip from episode 3 of my series on this channel "How Agile Teams Grow Toxic!" to reddit.

The full video is about how teams can become unhealthy due to how % complete forecasting is done on most projects.

In the clip I posted, I spoke specifically about the unpredictability of our work as software developers.

There were over 100 comments on reddit alone with some other great ones here on the channel.

In this video, I respond to several of these comments to provide further clarification on the concepts of healthy software development.

I'm going to do a future video called "My Software Development Philosophy" in which I'll go into many of the things I touch on in the response in more detail.

But for now, I hope you enjoy the responses.

If you don't agree, let me know why!

If you do agree, how can we get this information out to more people?

Join my Patreon: https://thrivingtechnologist.com/patreon

Learn about one-on-one career coaching with me: https://thrivingtechnologist.com/coaching

TechRolepedia, a wiki about the top 25 roles in tech: https://thrivingtechnologist.com/techroles

The Thriving Technologist career guide: https://thrivingtechnologist.com/guide

You can also watch this episode on YouTube.

Visit me at thrivingtechnologist.com

With all the challenges in the software industry with languages, frameworks, and processes...

It's easy to forget we're human.

I've been making some really serious level 301 agile nerdgasm content lately, so I made this episode to just have some fun.

Here are three stories of times I was embarrassed in my software development career.

Join my Patreon: https://thrivingtechnologist.com/patreon

Learn about one-on-one career coaching with me: https://thrivingtechnologist.com/coaching

TechRolepedia, a wiki about the top 25 roles in tech: https://thrivingtechnologist.com/techroles

The Thriving Technologist career guide: https://thrivingtechnologist.com/guide

You can also watch this episode on YouTube.

Visit me at thrivingtechnologist.com

Deadlines!

"Drop dead" dates!

Changing the schedule to meet "new requirements"!

Do you ever think there's gotta be a better way to do this?

Well there is, and today I want to share with you some information about a topic that often bores software developers...

But in my experience of working with many teams and companies, when developers are frustrated on their project - it is this topic that's often the culprit.

In this video I discuss how people who pay for software development projects forecast.

Before you bail, if you hang with me on this video you'll know more than many agile coaches and product managers about why investing in software projects is unique!

I'll share the dangers of traditional forecasting on software projects - and an alternative way to give investors confidence.

Join my Patreon: https://thrivingtechnologist.com/patreon

Learn about one-on-one career coaching with me: https://thrivingtechnologist.com/coaching

TechRolepedia, a wiki about the top 25 roles in tech: https://thrivingtechnologist.com/techroles

The Thriving Technologist career guide: https://thrivingtechnologist.com/guide

You can also watch this episode on YouTube.

Related resources:

• Eric Ries: The Lean Startup | Talks At Google

Visit me at thrivingtechnologist.com

To keep an agile team from becoming toxic, you should know how the background of the founders of the company impacts hiring.

In this episode I'll help you understand how this impacts how fulfilled you'll be on your project.

When you interview at a company, you need to be wary of stated company values and instead use your experience with actual people as your guide.

Hiring today is impacted by a concept called "mirroring" from the psychology field where people tend to accept others who are most like them.

So founders and hiring managers will tend to hire people who have shared experiences, even though what the company may most need are fresh ideas.

When you go in for an interview, you need to determine whether the company hiring you is filling a short term skill need – or they truly want to invest in you as a person.

Join my Patreon: https://thrivingtechnologist.com/patreon

Learn about one-on-one career coaching with me: https://thrivingtechnologist.com/coaching

TechRolepedia, a wiki about the top 25 roles in tech: https://thrivingtechnologist.com/techroles

The Thriving Technologist career guide: https://thrivingtechnologist.com/guide

You can also watch this episode on YouTube.

Visit me at thrivingtechnologist.com

One of the most frustrating things over my career has been working at companies where the workplace culture has become toxic.

Though many companies hire agile coaches to try and improve the way they deliver, in my experience the leaders are the ones who most need "agile transformation".

This video kicks off a series called "How Agile Teams Grow Toxic".

I'll share the dark side of human behavior on projects, and why the situation can seem almost impossible to improve.

In this episode, I discuss how the core value, or motivation for starting the software company that the founders have impacts this greatly.

Most software companies or projects are started for one of the following 3 reasons:

1. Money
2. Fame
3. Impact

It's preferable if you can find a company with founders (or leadership if the founder left) that are motivated by impact.

But this won't guarantee that the project will be successful! You should also look at where the founders skills originated.

Did they come from a business, or engineering background?

This will give you some ideas as well about the founder values.

Ultimately, you want to find a software company or product where the leadership are looking to YOU for innovation and help.

Not treating you like a pawn who can only crank out code and shouldn't think about the business or its products.

I discuss a simple way to research founders and other members of the management team at a company to get an idea of whether the culture there is healthy.

Join my Patreon: https://thrivingtechnologist.com/patreon

Learn about one-on-one career coaching with me: https://thrivingtechnologist.com/coaching

TechRolepedia, a wiki about the top 25 roles in tech: https://thrivingtechnologist.com/techroles

The Thriving Technologist career guide: https://thrivingtechnologist.com/guide

You can also watch this episode on YouTube.

Visit me at thrivingtechnologist.com

Have you ever had to quit a good software project...because you figured out you weren't going to be successful in your role?

I had the opportunity to help two consulting companies try and rescue a troubled software project for a client. Though I was originally brought in to help figure out how much work was left to do, I found myself in the position of being "the expert" once again.

Because of politics, deadlines, and challenges with the maturity of the companies understanding agile - I found myself overwhelmed. Though I continually tried to reset expectations and get help, I decided eventually that it was better to move on.

Have you ever been on a good project, with good people, only to find when you really think about it you're not effective in your current role? Did you have a hard time getting support from management to make the changes necessary?

Join my Patreon: https://thrivingtechnologist.com/patreon

Learn about one-on-one career coaching with me: https://thrivingtechnologist.com/coaching

TechRolepedia, a wiki about the top 25 roles in tech: https://thrivingtechnologist.com/techroles

The Thriving Technologist career guide: https://thrivingtechnologist.com/guide

You can also watch this episode on YouTube.

Related resources:

• The ModernAgile YouTube channel

Visit me at thrivingtechnologist.com

Over my career I've seen many software projects fail spectacularly due to political infighting between team members.

Blame-shifting and improper application of scrum got people fired on this one!

I prefer a simple definition of politics: when people tell each other what they want to hear instead of the truth.

I'd like to share the story of a software project I worked on, where the client was a non-profit company with a big budget. They wanted to redesign a major application used to help struggling educational institutions.

But the staff were inexperienced with agile. And multiple contractors on the project were fighting.

In this episode, I share how inexperience with software development processes can actually get people fired.

Especially when there's politics.

Join my Patreon: https://thrivingtechnologist.com/patreon

Learn about one-on-one career coaching with me: https://thrivingtechnologist.com/coaching

TechRolepedia, a wiki about the top 25 roles in tech: https://thrivingtechnologist.com/techroles

The Thriving Technologist career guide: https://thrivingtechnologist.com/guide

You can also watch this episode on YouTube.

Related resources:

• Are User Stories Making Your Project Late?

Visit me at thrivingtechnologist.com