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The Holy Trinity of Bad Development Paradigms

The Holy Trinity of Bad Development Paradigms

Here are a couple of really awful ways to build software.  A lot of times, these are dressed up as an “agile methodology” or as a “product management framework”.  Truth is they are just failure states that result in developer turnover, slow...
Software Lasts WAY Longer than You Think

Software Lasts WAY Longer than You Think

Software lasts longer than you think. Way longer. I got a call a few weeks ago to see if I could update a program I wrote in Turbo C in 1989, when I was in high school. I re-implemented it in ZOC REXX* in 1994. The former client  wanted me to patch the program to...
Resume Driven Development

Resume Driven Development

Agile. Scrum. Waterfall. Test-Driven Development. Extreme Programming. All methodologies for making software that actually work. Some debatably better than others. There is one development methodology that is guaranteed to fail, and cost you dearly in the process:...
Niche Programming Languages

Niche Programming Languages

“What is the big deal about niche languages? I can do all of this with C/C++/C# and besides, most of the stuff being written with that niche language are CRUD apps…” — Anonymous Senior Developer Junior Dev: “Let’s write this new one-off thing with...
New Developer Reading List

New Developer Reading List

I was aksed if I’d share my required reading list for new developers at PivotCX. It’s pretty short. The goal is simple: Have common language to describe problems and solutions. Understand common patterns in development Avoid re-inventing the wheel....