What Stringer's Reading

Quotations from stuff that I'm reading

System Roles

As much as you can, stick with user roles that define people, as opposed to other systems. If you think it will help, then identify an occasional non-human user role. However, the purpose of identifying user roles is to make sure that we think really hard about the users that we absolutely, positively must satisfy with the new system. We don't need user roles for every conceivable user of the system, but we need roles for the ones who can make or break the success of the project. Since other systems are rarely purchasers of our system, they can rarely make or break the success of our system. Naturally, there can be exceptions to this and if you feel that adding a non-human user role helps you think about your system, then add it.

Cohn, Mike (2004-03-01). User Stories Applied: For Agile Software Development (Kindle Locations 1058-1062). Pearson Education (USA). Kindle Edition. 

Automated Testing - Reach for the Skywriter Font

Wherever possible, tests should be automated. This means strive for 99% automation, not 10%. You can almost always automate more than you think you can. When a product is developed incrementally, things can change very quickly and code that worked

Cohn, Mike (2004-03-01). User Stories Applied: For Agile Software Development (Kindle Locations 945-947). Pearson Education (USA). Kindle Edition. 

Put the spike in a different iteration

When possible, it works well to put the investigative story in one iteration and the other stories in one or more subsequent iterations. Normally, only the investigative story can be estimated. Including the other, non-estimatable stories in the same iteration with the investigative story means there will be a higher than normal level of uncertainty about how much can be accomplished in that iteration.

Cohn, Mike (2004-03-01). User Stories Applied: For Agile Software Development (Kindle Locations 921-923). Pearson Education (USA). Kindle Edition. 

Story size needs to be just right...

Like Goldilocks in search of a comfortable bed, some stories can be too big, some can be too small, and some can be just right. Story size does matter because if stories are too large or too small you cannot use them in planning.

Cohn, Mike (2004-03-01). User Stories Applied: For Agile Software Development (Kindle Locations 877-879). Pearson Education (USA). Kindle Edition. 

Stories only valued by developers

you want to avoid are stories that are only valued by developers. For example, avoid stories like these: All connections to the database are through a connection pool. All error handling and logging is done through a set of common classes.

Cohn, Mike (2004-03-01). User Stories Applied: For Agile Software Development (Kindle Locations 835-837). Pearson Education (USA). Kindle Edition. 

Physical Education

Physical education is the fundamental discipline of life, but it is actually despised, neglected, and taught intellectually, because the true intent of our schools is to inculcate the virtues of cunning and calculation which will make money, not so much for the students themselves as for those who employ and govern them, and who, in turn (because they were educated in the same system), do not know how to transform money into physical enjoyment.

They were never taught how to husband plants and animals for food, how to cook, how to make clothes and build houses, how to dance and breathe, how to do yoga for finding one's true centre, or how to make love.


Alan Watts - In My Own Way

The Future

Unless one is able to live fully in the present the future is a hoax.  There is no point whatever in making plans for the future which you will never be able to enjoy.  When your plans mature, you will still be living for some other future beyond. You will never, never be able to sit back with full contentment and say "Now I've arrived!" Your entire education has deprived you of this capacity because it was preparing you for the future, instead of showing you how to be alive now!

Alan Watts - The Book: On The Taboo Against Knowing Who You Are