Product release reflections
We released a major update to our Milestone Tracking Matrix product this evening. When release milestones are achieved it is important to reflect upon the good points as well as the areas where improvements are needed. I’m tired tonight so I’ll simply share with you my scorecard for this release by including the e-mail I [...]
Read Full Post | Make a Comment ( 2 so far )Why are developers so bad at software estimation?
I read an article by Zeichick this morning discussing the reasons why developers are poor software estimators. While I have my own strong opinions on the subject I would love to hear what all of you think. I’m looking for opinions, not necessarily statements of fact so don’t hold back.
I’m looking forward to your votes [...]
Morning Survey: What programming language would you use for a new web startup?
When I worked at Brainshark we would often explore this question together. If we were about to join a brand new start-up, what language would we use to write the greatest software solution ever. If you have a second, let me know what you think (by voting) and why (by leaving a comment.
NOTE: I have [...]
Brief technical tip, slow running JavaScript
I have been researching a problem where a very complex piece of JavaScript code is occasionally causing the very annoying warning which states “A script on this page is causing Internet Explorer to run slowly. If it continues to run, your computer may become unresponsive. Do you want to abort the script?””. While developers have [...]
Read Full Post | Make a Comment ( None so far )With ActionScript simple things remain simple
At Swimfish, as with any small/start-up company, I have the pleasure of working with people that are decathletes. Everyone is capable of tackling tasks in a variety of areas which makes every day a true pleasure.
One of our talented support engineers has been helping out by working on a replacement for our small product ad that [...]
A challenge of sorts, formatting phone numbers
As I noted elsewhere I have been focused on releasing a new version of our Milestone Tracking Matrix product, one of Swimfish’s leading applications. One of the defects that I began looking into was related to how poorly we were formatting phone numbers within the application.
Simply put, are requirements are that we need to show US-based numbers [...]
Why is it that the best bugs are found at the end of a release?
It never fails. I have worked with QA groups ranging from 1 to 100 and you always end up finding the most interesting, and sometimes the most critical, issues right at the end of a product release. There are a number of reasons for this phenomenon, here are the ones I have seen most often:
QA does not [...]
Read Full Post | Make a Comment ( 14 so far )Are you about to invest in Mobile Enterprise product development? You need to develop on the web first, here’s why
This has recently been a topic that I have been discussing with a lot of different people. In general, people tend to disagree with me until we talk it out. Their argument is that the performance and the functionality available on each device is superior to what you can create with a web application. They [...]
Read Full Post | Make a Comment ( 4 so far )Unit testing, for better and for worse
For the sake of this post, unit testing is defined as testing the individual functions and code routines that make up your application. You might be doing this manually or via automated tools. The code you are writing might be part of the command console for a NASA mission, a stored procedure, or test automation. [...]
Read Full Post | Make a Comment ( 4 so far )Should you “throw it over the wall” or implement QA hand-offs?
As developers we often feel that our code is of high quality, that we’ve nailed the requirements, that we have unit tested to the best of our abilities. We’re often wrong.
When I worked at Lotus, dozens of years ago, we once had a team that was convinced that there was no need for a test [...]
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