planning
The Hardware Store and the Cost of Software Maintenance
So, who knew a trip to the hardware store would lead me to a theory about how to calculate a team's velocity, not in story points, but in complexity points?
The Code Gardener
Hello! And, welcome to The Code Gardener—an occasional newsletter about writing software well. My name is Alan. My friend, Fito, and I will be your hosts. Between the two of us, we have over 45 years of experience writing software. In that time, we've picked up a thing or two. Now we want to share. Our approach to development is different. We believe that software development is more like tending a garden than building a bridge. To keep the codebase healthy, you need to spend time weeding and feeding it. So, pull on your Wellies, roll up your sleeves, and let's get our keyboards dirty in a big ball of mud!
Subscribe to our occasional newsletter
Articles
abstraction
Red, Green, Premature Refactor
"Red, green, refactor" promotes premature abstraction.
I had all the information to come to this conclusion 20 years
ai
Indispensable
In 1962, an IBM mainframe computed the flight data for a manned spaceflight for the first time. The astronaut on
management
Vision, Mission, Values
A vision statement should be an inspirational postcard from an aspirational future. It should be brief. It should paint a picture. And it should make you wish you were there!
ruby
Think big. Start small.
# My new favorite strategy for getting things done.
def actualize(vision)
think_big
start_small
deliver_value
earn_trust
grow_
agility
We Can't See the Trees for the Forest
There's an expression in English that says, "You can't see the forest for the trees." It means you are too focused on the details and not seeing the big picture. In software engineering, my experience tells me that we actually have the opposite problem.
hexagonal-architecture
Hexagonal Architecture + Rails
When learning the Ports & Adapters pattern, I found it confusing. For some reason, it never clicked that the term adapter was a direct reference to the Gang of Four Adapter Pattern. Discovering that was a real face-palm moment for me. And, it was the key to unlocking my understanding of the pattern.
Public Speaking
First Try! Software Foundry
Rubyist
An opinionated, LSP-enabled VS Code theme for Rubyists.
Liberty
A minimalist web-framework for Ruby that gets out of your way so you can focus on your most valuable asset — your business logic.
Manufacturable
Manufacturable is a factory that builds self-registering objects.
Ruby Flog
Ruby Flog is a Visual Studio Code plug-in that runs flog locally against your code and displays relevant metrics in the status bar.
