Many people recommend writing software so that it automatically works around errors. This results in software failing in mysterious ways later on. "Fail Fast" means writing your software to fail immediately and visibly when an error occurs. It results in more robust software with fewer defects. (Article hosted on Martin Fowler's website.)

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Continuous design is the process of using refactoring to continuously improve a program's design. In this article for Martin Fowler's IEEE Software "Design" column, I discuss my experiences with continuous design, particularly with seemingly difficult scenarios such as internationalization and transactions. (Article hosted on Martin Fowler's website.)

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I work with people who want to be great. People who are willing to take risks, rock the boat, and change their environment to maximize their productivity, throughput, and value. If that's you—particularly if you're in a product-focused, entrepreneurial environment—I want to hear from you. We can do great things together.

James Shore is a thought leader in the Agile software development community. He helps development teams worldwide achieve high throughput, market focus, shrinking costs, and joyful work. James is the co-author of The Art of Agile Development (O'Reilly, 2007). You can find more of his writing on his Art of Agile blog at http://jamesshore.com.