The Best of the Week (Jan 16): Agile Zone

Make sure you didn't miss anything with this list of the Best of the Week in the Agile Zone (January 16 - January 23). Here they are, in order of popularity:

1. Manifesto Mania: Thoughts on the Half-Arsed Agile and Anti Agile Manifesto

• I recently came across The Half-Arsed Agile Manifesto and the Anti Agile Manifesto. And as is so often the case, when you have to smile about it, it hits too close to home. So I wanted to provide my perspective on these.

2. Productivity Hacks from Top Developers: Kim MacCormack

• Developer productivity is not all about how many lines of code you can write in a day and it’s not about how fast you can complete a given task. We set out to get advice from the most talented and productive developers we know on how they manage their time to stay on task and productive.

3. Undefining "Technical Debt"

• For me, technical debt is defined pretty loosely as stuff you don’t like in the code and need to change to keep up velocity. However, I’ve seen lots of articles lately discussing a precise definition of "technical debt." I hate this characterization of technical debt. I hate it because it’s damaging.

4. Making Remote Work: Tools

• I recently wrote about my experiences working on a remote team. This blog entry will list each tool referenced. However, I cannot emphasize enough that this list is a snapshot of what we're using, not a recommended set of tools.

5. Pair Programming Lessons from Improv

• A few years back, I took a course in “Beginning Improv Acting.” I don’t plan to make a living performing improv theater, but I thought it would be beneficial for becoming more comfortable and competent at public speaking. It did that, but it also taught me some deeper lessons about collaboration, some so deep I can’t yet articulate them.