It's that time of year again... I've updated my Essays Index with my best essays from the past year. I've also updated my list of most popular essays based on my traffic and readers' reviews.
I've also revamped the categories in the index page to make it easier for you to find what you're interested in. The new categories include "Adopting Agile," "Collaboration," "Coding," "Design," "Metrics," "Release Planning," and more. See the index for the full list.
- Top Ten
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The Decline and Fall of Agile - 14 Nov, 2008
It's human nature to only do the stuff that's familiar and fun, and that's what has happened with Agile.
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Quality With a Name - 5 Apr, 2006
What is good design?
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An Approximate Measure of Technical Debt - 19 Nov, 2008
Introducing: The Spag.
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Kanban Systems - 15 Oct, 2008
How, when, and why to use Kanban systems to eliminate iterations.
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Use Risk Management to Make Solid Commitments - 8 Oct, 2008
How to use risk multipliers and risk-adjusted burn-up charts to make solid commitments to your executives.
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Continuous Integration is an Attitude, Not a Tool - 18 Aug, 2005
CI tools make it easy to do the wrong thing.
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Beyond Story Cards: Agile Requirements Collaboration - 21 Mar, 2005
Agile requirements, in-depth.
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Design Debt - 1 Feb, 2004
Why we trash seven-figure software investments.
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Continuous Integration on a Dollar a Day - 27 Feb, 2006
An easier, cheaper (and better) way to do continuous integration.
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Change Your Organization: A Diary - 10 Mar, 2006
Six months of changing an organization from within.
- New in 2008
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An Approximate Measure of Technical Debt - 19 Nov, 2008
Introducing: The Spag.
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The Decline and Fall of Agile - 14 Nov, 2008
It's human nature to only do the stuff that's familiar and fun, and that's what has happened with Agile.
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Kanban Systems - 15 Oct, 2008
How, when, and why to use Kanban systems to eliminate iterations.
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Estimate Inflation: A Cautionary Tale - 9 Oct, 2008
An example of What Not To Do, featuring scope creep, pushy stakeholders, and poor decisions.
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Use Risk Management to Make Solid Commitments - 8 Oct, 2008
How to use risk multipliers and risk-adjusted burn-up charts to make solid commitments to your executives.
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Coulda, Shoulda, Woulda - 1 Oct, 2008
In MoSCoW, plans prioritize you!
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The Case of the Missing Visionary - 17 Sep, 2008
Beth was smart and capable, but everyone knew she wasn't Charlie.
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The Documentation Myth - 3 Sep, 2008
What are we really looking for when we turn to documentation?
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The Crucible of Great Teams - 27 Aug, 2008
Collective ownership doesn't have the flash or controversy of other practices, but it's part of what makes an agile team "agile."
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Testing Private Methods - 19 Aug, 2008
What to do when you want to test a private method.
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Forces Affecting Continuous Integration - 13 Aug, 2008
Warning: this brain dump is long, aimed at advanced readers, and not particularly well written.
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Living in the Punch-Card Era - 30 Jul, 2008
Good builds are game-changing.
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Paranoia, Control, and $30,000 of Tooling - 23 Jul, 2008
Software configuration management is important, but the tools aren't up to the task.
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Singed Egos - 16 Jul, 2008
The evolution of the "No Bugs" section in The Art of Agile Development.
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The Cornerstone of Agile Planning - 9 Jul, 2008
If you have trouble making and meeting commitments, start here.
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Work In Progress - 11 Jun, 2008
The challenges of measuring performance.
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Watch Out For These Common Problems - 5 Jun, 2008
The most common issues I see new teams struggle with.
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It's a Trap! - 4 Jun, 2008
Two reasons teams can't make and meet iteration commitments.
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Get a Life! - 21 May, 2008
People get really worked up over coding standards, and I mean really worked up.
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Cargo Cult Agile - 14 May, 2008
Following the rituals of agile development without understanding the underlying ideas.
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That Funky Metaphor Stuff - 30 Apr, 2008
Ubiquitous Language, System Metaphor, and a bit of history.
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Should We Adopt Scrum or XP? - 26 Apr, 2008
A thoughtful look at two methodology choices.
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The Importance of Personal Success - 23 Apr, 2008
It's so damned personal.
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I Want Subtext - 17 Apr, 2008
An experimental programming language from Jonathan Edwards.
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Time-Lapse Author - 16 Apr, 2008
A screencast showing how I wrote the first draft of the "Sit Together" practice in The Art of Agile Development.
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Colophon - 15 Apr, 2008
How I produce this website.
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Change is Hard, Even for Service Organizations - 12 Apr, 2008
Notes from the field... far afield.
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JS Kit: Lessons Learned - 11 Apr, 2008
Notes on installing JS-Kit, a comments and ratings service.
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An Exercise About Trust - 9 Apr, 2008
Split into pairs, and use the worksheet to take turns interviewing each other.
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The Stunning Truth at the Center of the Pigeon Story - 6 Apr, 2008
How do we get people to do what we want?
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Mistakes - 4 Apr, 2008
"Failures, repeated failures, are finger posts on the road to achievement."
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In the Privacy of Your Own Thoughts - 26 Mar, 2008
Keep your brain switched on at all times.
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We ♥ Tools - 19 Mar, 2008
Stop being a slave to the software.
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How to Turn Smart People Into Ordinary People - 12 Mar, 2008
When shit rolls downhill, expect crappy results.
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Iterative Writing - 5 Mar, 2008
The evolution of the "Pair Programming" practice in The Art of Agile Development.
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Marick's Missing Manifesto - 20 Feb, 2008
Real success takes real work. It's worth it.
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Practices or Principles? - 15 Feb, 2008
What's more important, using agile practices or understanding agile principles and values?
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Truth or Clarity? - 13 Feb, 2008
Sometimes, truth isn't clear, and clarity isn't truthful.
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Your Brain on Agile - 6 Feb, 2008
A story cut from The Art of Agile Development. With a monkey.
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TANSTAAFL - 30 Jan, 2008
When you're buying something expensive and valuable that's meant to last a long time, you put real effort into it.
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Études for Excellence - 22 Jan, 2008
Exercises for improving coding skills.
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Who's in Charge Here? - 17 Jan, 2008
If the customer isn't in charge, then who is?
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Opinionated and Antisocial - 16 Jan, 2008
The right method for your team is customized to the needs of your team. The question is, how do you get there?
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Why Not? - 9 Jan, 2008
I can't convince anybody to do anything.
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Our Professional Responsibility - 8 Jan, 2008
Look them straight in the eye and say "No."
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A Project Planning Pop Quiz - 4 Jan, 2008
When will the project finish?
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Shu-Ha-Ri and The Art of Agile - 2 Jan, 2008
In order to do agile development your way, you have to do it some way first.
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Gopher Holes - 30 Dec 2007
How is it possible for codebases to get easier to modify over time? This is how.
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Value Velocity: A Better Productivity Metric? - 18 Dec 2007
Another approach to measuring productivity.
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Scrum and XP Practices: Cross Reference - 13 Dec 2007
A comparison of Scrum, both editions of XP, and The Art of Agile Development.
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