Tools and Automation for the Software Development Lifecycle
8 May 2008
In this issue:
- A Word with the Wise: Book Smarts with Linda Rising
- What's Happening at StickyMinds.com
- Featured Tool: McCabe IQ Enterprise Edition
- Outside the Toolbox: Binary Mom T-shirt
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A Word with the Wise: Book Smarts with Linda Rising
by Joey McAllister
Linda Rising is a regular speaker at Software Quality
Engineering conferences and contributor to StickyMinds.com and
Better Software magazine. An expert on patterns, Linda is the
co-author with Mary Lynn Manns of Fearless Change: Patterns for
Introducing New Ideas, as well as editor of The Patterns
Handbook. In addition to being a published author, Linda is an
avid fan of books, both in general and as a tool for software
developers.
Joey McAllister: What books have had the most impact on your
work?
Linda Rising: When I think about books that have changed me, the
list includes a host of books about patterns. Design Patterns,
which I first saw in 1994 is, of course, at the top of the list.
I think of the world differently because of it, and I believe
that many software developers would agree with that choice. The
next most influential book is Fearless Change, which I wrote
with Mary Lynn Manns. When I started working on those patterns
in 1995, I would have described myself as a designer and
interested in patterns because of their technical impact. Over
the years until the book was published in 2005 (Do the math,
see how long it took?), I gradually became interested in how
people solve problems (Are patterns really the best way?), how
people with expertise help others learn about good solutions
(Again, are patterns best?), and how do people learn and
change (Can patterns help?). Now I describe myself as more of a
Renaissance person. I am interested in a broader view. I still
read technical books, but I also read books about cognitive
psychology, evolutionary biology, animals--that is, non-human
animals--and the larger, broader issues in software, not just
design. I've come a long way, and I know I wouldn't have been
able to predict this path if you had asked me at the start.
JM: What books would you recommend people read?
LR: I like to tell people that my presentations are an
implementation of A Christmas Carol by Dickens. I'm Marley and
my listeners are Scrooge! I try to tell the (mostly technical)
people in the audience not to make the same mistakes I did.
Learn from my struggles. Don't believe that technical solutions
are the answer to everything. Look at the other, softer (really,
the harder!) side. Software development is an activity carried
out by people, so to understand the issues that confront you,
you need to know more about people and their behavior. Read
technical books, of course, but stray outside that boundary and
pick up interesting books on learning, thinking, and other
behaviors.
JM: Are there any books that you keep on the shelf and go back
to occasionally?
LR: I have two sets of bookcases: One contains books I haven't
yet read but plan to read in the near future, and the other
contains books I have read. I don't keep every book I read--only
the ones I plan to read again. The second set of bookcases
contains technical books: everything by Gerry Weinberg, The
Mythical Man-Month, all of DeMarco and Lister's books, nearly
every pattern book that has been published, and lots of other
software methodology and language books. And I find that every
time I go back I find something I missed the first time! I also
keep books by Frans de Waal and Jane Goodall and several "brain
classics"--e.g., A Mind of Its Own by Cordelia Fine; A Brief
History of the Mind by William Calvin; Liars, Lovers, and Heroes
by Quartz and Sejnowski; Influence: Science and Practice by
Robert Cialdini; and Strangers to Ourselves by Tim Wilson, but
these are just the ones on top that I can see easily from my
desk. There are many, many others. The great thing about our
world today is that these authors are on the Web, and you can
begin by just reading through the many articles and free
chapters that are easily available.
JM: How important is reading to people in software development?
LR: I think that reading is so important that you could use it
as a metric of competence. Ask questions like "What books did
you read last year?" and include that in a performance review. I
think that people who read and read widely and those who attend
conferences and training are the people I want to work on the
software I care about.
JM: As you mention above, you co-wrote Fearless Change: Patterns
for Introducing New Ideas with Mary Lynn Manns and also edited
The Patterns Handbook, which features a collection of articles
about the value of patterns in application development. What are
some quick tips for those looking to make use of patterns to
assist in changes in their personal work or their organizations?
LR: I can remember a quote from Doug Schmidt from the early
patterns days that I went out to find in my introductory
patterns presentation:
Successful developers resolve challenges by applying patterns,
whether they are aware of it or not. Traditionally, these
patterns have been locked in the minds of experts. The primary
contribution of the patterns community is to capture,
document, and refine these patterns so we can all benefit.
The message in this quote is that when people have solved
problems successfully, they are applying patterns based on their
experience and the experience of others they have worked with.
Again, the Web is a wonderful place to start. My Web site,
lindarising.org, has articles about various pattern
topics, and, in the Books category, you can download the
appendix from Fearless Change. The appendix includes a brief
description of all the patterns in the book. These thumbnail
sketches and the articles can help interested folks make a
start.
If you're a PowerPass user, you can read more from Linda on
StickyMinds.com at http://www.stickyminds.com/STL20080501.
Are books an important tool in your work? What books have you
read lately? Email me at jmcallister@sqe.com to keep the
conversation going!
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Media Spotlight:
Gray Matters: John Engle
At last year's Agile Development Practices conference and again
at this year's STAREAST conference, John Engle led participants
in a collaborative discussion called Open Space. In this
podcast, Joey McAllister speaks with John about Open Space, its
history, and what it aims to accomplish. Listen to the April
Gray Matters podcast at:
http://www.stickyminds.com/podcasts#GM0408
StickyMinds SoundByte: Late April
In this episode, Danny Faught explains what hockey sticks and
onions have to do with performance testing. Then, Francesca
talks about Dion Johnson's column--the last chapter in his
taekwondo-mation series--and what's coming out in the May issue
of Better Software magazine.
http://www.stickyminds.com/podcasts#SMSB0408b
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What's Happening at StickyMinds.com
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way to get more testing done and save money doing it. But if it
isn't done right, automated testing will only help you get less
testing done and spend more money. Far too many companies find
themselves spending time and money on tools and tests that
bring them no value. Eventually, the tests they tried to develop
and the tools they bought could wind up sitting on a shelf
gathering dust. Join us May 13, at 11 a.m. ET. Register and
attend to win an iPod Shuffle! http://www.sqe.com/go?WS051308TL
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Featured Tool: McCabe IQ Enterprise Edition
Vendor: McCabe Software, Inc.
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Tool URL: http://www.mccabe.com/iq.htm
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Outside the Toolbox: Binary Mom T-shirt
Sure, you could be like every other tech-savvy son or daughter
out there and send your mom a digital picture frame loaded with
photos of the grandkids or your own childhood, but wouldn't it
be fun to get her something so brainy that she might be left
speechless at the sight of it?
That's what I thought. Hence, this month's Mother's Day Outside-
the-Toolbox special is the Binary Mom T-shirt. It says "Mom" in
big, friendly 0s and 1s on the front!
But what if you're the brainy mom? Tell your family to get this
for you, and you can get them the Binary Dad and Binary Kid
T-shirts.
Find out more about the Binary Mom T-shirt by visiting
http://www.stickyminds.com/STL20080502.
Know of any fun or unusual tools, toys, or other items that
might be slightly outside the software development toolbox? Tell
me about them by sending an email to jmcallister@sqe.com.
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