In an effort to always learn, doing a post-mortem after any endeavor can be very helpful. I’ve found it’s best to keep the post-mortem as simple as possible and answer only three questions:
That’s it.
I think this cartoon from DevOps is spot on—unit tests often give a false sense of quality.
Source: DevOps
I recently completed 108 days of Yoga following the Ultimate Yogi Challenge. This DVD set is like the P90X of Yoga. I lost 10 pounds; can touch my toes with straight legs; have less lower back pain; and overall feel more tone. I highly recommend the program.
Two monks were washing their bowls in the river when they noticed a scorpion that was drowning. One monk immediately scooped it up and set it upon the bank. In the process he was stung. He went back to washing his bowl and again the scorpion fell in. The monk saved the scorpion and was again stung. The other monk asked him, “Friend, why do you continue to save the scorpion when you know it’s nature is to sting?”
“Because,” the monk replied, “to save it is my nature.”
There was an old farmer who had worked his crops for many years. One day his horse ran away. Upon hearing the news, his neighbors came to visit. “Such bad luck,” they said sympathetically. “May be,” the farmer replied. The next morning the horse returned, bringing with it three other wild horses. “How wonderful,” the neighbors exclaimed. “May be,” replied the old man. The following day, his son tried to ride one of the untamed horses, was thrown, and broke his leg. The neighbors again came to offer their sympathy on his misfortune. “May be,” answered the farmer. The day after, military officials came to the village to draft young men into the army. Seeing that the son’s leg was broken, they passed him by. The neighbors congratulated the farmer on how well things had turned out. “May be,” said the farmer.
From the book Commit to Win by Dr. Heidi Reeder, commitment “is the experience of being psychologically attached to something and intending to stay with it.”
And the formula for commitment is:
Level of Commitment = (Treasures – Troubles) + Contributions – Choices
Any defect reported (by internal QA or a customer) should include the steps taken to reproduce, the result one expected, and the actual result experienced. All too often defects fail this simple yet vital checklist.
In my diligent attempts at reaching inbox zero for email I find using the Do, Decide, Delegate, Delete method helpful. For me:
With the above, Delegate is the most difficult to manage with my email software. Does anyone have a creative way (or great software) to manage delegated emails?
