Continuous Deployment and the Unforeseeable

Posted by & filed under ContinuousDelivery, XP.

Can you afford not to do continuous deployment? Continuous deployment is the practice of regularly (more than daily) deploying updated software to production. Arguments in favour continuous deployment often focus on how it enables us to continually, regularly, and rapidly deliver value to the business, allowing us to move fast. It’s also often discussed how… Read more »

Delete your Tests

Posted by & filed under XP.

Tests, like any code, should be deleted when their cost exceeds their value. We are often unduly reticent to delete test code. It’s easy to ignore the cost of tests. We can end up paying a lot for tests, long after they are written. When embarking on a major re-factoring or new feature it can… Read more »

Thoughts from #pipelineconf

Posted by & filed under Conferences, ContinuousDelivery, XP.

This week I attended #pipelineconf, a new one-day continuous delivery conference in London. I did a talk with Alex on how we do continuous delivery at Unruly, which seemed well received. The slides are online here There were great discussions in the open space sessions, and ad-hoc in the hallways. Here’s a few points that… Read more »

Tools and Tradeoffs – CI Build Servers

Posted by & filed under XP.

There are some tools that are considered almost a universal good amongst developers. Revision control systems tend to fall into this category. Everyone ought to be using one. Continuous integration servers are also often bundled in to this category. It’s the kind of tool people ask you during interviews whether you use and judge you… Read more »

Cross-functional teams vs Software Architects

Posted by & filed under XP.

This week I have been reading Simon Brown’s leanpub book “Software Architecture for Developers”. It is an interesting read and has lots of useful advice for creating a shared technical vision and communicating technical concepts effectively via sketches. One thing I was struck by while reading it is just how many of the responsibilities of… Read more »

Pair Programming

Posted by & filed under XP.

There was a thread about pair programming on the London Java Community mailing list last week. I tried to contribute to the discussion there, but the mailing list doesn’t receive my replies. So I’ll post my thoughts here instead. I have been pair programming most days in an XP team for the past 3 years…. Read more »