JoelHelbling.com

Recent News

Some Thoughts About TDD and TAD

Commenter Shmoo asserts that in my article TDD is Dead; Long live TDD all my arguments were not really supporting TDD so much as unit testing. And as such, I was building a case which equally supports a Test-After Development workflow…

Google+ Will Win Because I'm Already Tired of It

Ok, so this is not a really scientific barometer for the viability of Google+ (we always need more barometers), but try this one on for size: I’ve been using Google+ for three weeks now, and I’m feeling a bit burned out.

What's So Wrong With Quick and Dirty Code?

There has been a lot noise lately about expedient coding vs clean code. Craftsmanship is nice and all, but wouldn’t we deliver software faster by not worrying too much about clean code?

Abstraction Wrangling

Corey Haines says one differentiator between experienced programmers and beginners is that the more experience programmers have become more adept at “abstraction wrangling.” Why are abstractions so challenging?

TDD is Kanban For Code

Kent Beck had an interesting blog post the other day in which he proposes that TDD is like Kanban for code. I like this idea, but I have to quibble with one small part of his analogy...

PrizCon 2010: First Reflections

Some first thoughts and recollections on PrizCon 2010, a one-day tech conference held at Marion Correctional Institute in Marion, Ohio...

SDTConf 2010: First Reflections

Some first thoughts and recollections on Simple Design and Testing Conference 2010...

A Couple of Thoughts About "Standard Agile"

Lately I’ve been hearing a lot about standardization of Agile methodologies, and while some of the discussion may be well-intended, I feel the trend isn’t a healthy direction for the Agile movement. My concern is that it reveals a reverence for manufacturing which doesn’t help teams and managers when implementing Agile practices.

Apprenticeship Patterns: The White Belt

As a new programmer, how can you get the maximum value out of your learning effort? How do you determine which languages, technologies or techniques are the most important to learn first? Continuing my series on Apprenticeship Patterns, here are some of my experiences and reflections on the second pattern in the book: The White Belt.

Apprenticeship Patterns: My First Language

Lately I’ve been reading Apprenticeship Patterns. As I read the apprenticeship patterns in that book, I often find myself mapping them to my own experiences. Seems like a nice meme for a blog series. So starting from the beginning, here are my experiences in the first pattern: Your First Language.

The Minimum Size of Value and Independence

Recently I stumbled into a conversation with a client about the virtues of smaller stories when analyzing and estimating work. One business consultant asked a the question,

Have you found that there is confusion around people thinking that because a story should have business value and be independent that this means it is essentially impossible to break things down smaller than a minimum marketable feature?

Why I Still Like Radiant For My Blog

I never did figure out why my website freaked out when I tried to install any sort of Radiant plugin. But even without plugins I was able to make several improvements to this blog.

MEME: What Was Your First Useful Program?

I woke up this morning thinking to myself, “how can I boast about the very first program I ever wrote?” Then, 2.1ms later, I remembered twitter. Moving beyond my own rampant narcissism, I want to know about the first useful computer program you ever wrote.

I suggest the following format:

#myfirstprogram unix, shell, “The Awesomizer” substituted the word “awesome” for my name in any document

But hey, it’s Twitter, so go wild, make it your own.

Simple Design And Testing Conference 2009

Over the last couple of days I have been putting together a position paper for the Simple Design And Testing Conference in Pittsburgh, PA. This will be the first year I attend that event, and I’m looking forward to it. The open space format sounds like a ton of fun and I look forward to some really fascinating discussions.

Digging Up Bones: The Legacy Code In Your Head

Back in 1998 or so, I picked up an out-of-date edition of Teach Yourself Perl in 21 days book at a Borders Books Outlet store. My love affair with Perl helped me to steadfastly avoid PHP, and prepared me to jump into Java, which drove me to Ruby. But after all this time, I’m still finding Perl artifacts in my head.