The Rules of Software Development

Communication is Key with Jos van der Linden

In this episode I'm chatting with Jos van der Linden, a Programme Manager at Infocare Healthcare.Jos and I talk about the stand-out attributes of a professional software developer. Agile methodologies and how deep a software developers knowledge should be. Teams and their skillsets and how teams with differing skillsets thrive. Communication methods and the downfall of some of those methods. And with Jos being a Programme Manager we talk about estimations, planning and how reliable are those estimations. Added to all this, Jos gives us a multitude of book recommendations and even one podcast recommendation!The Tim Ferriss Show by Tim FerrissGetting Things Done by David AllenThe Goal: A Process of Ongoing Improvement by Eli Goldratt. Measure What Matters: OKRs by John DoerrSteve Jobs by Walter IsaacsonIT4IT Reference Architecture by The Open Group Enjoy!Support the show

Roger Heim wants the Passion

Welcome to Episode 4 of The Rules of Software Development. In this episode I'm chatting with Roger Heim, Mobile Engineering Manager in Verizon Media. Roger and I talk about leading mobile teams and the challenges with two different engineering platforms. Roger is looking for engineers with a Passion for what they do and their chosen platform. We discuss how often mobile engineers can have a better understanding of the design principles for their chosen platform than some UX Designers. We also talk about commit messaging, how to hand Pull Request updates, the value of ownership and collaboration across teams. Roger gives us a great website and book recommendation. Software Lead Weekly, is a weekly newsletter for leaders in software who care about people, culture and leadership.  Leading Snowflakes by Oren Ellenbogan, is an Engineering Managers Handbook which gives practical tools and techniques for programmers who want to lead. Enjoy!!Support the show

Bryce Barrand wants you to be a Missionary

Welcome to Episode 3 of The Rules of Software Development. In this episode I'm chatting with Bryce Barrand, Senior Director of Product Management at Control4. Bryce talks about how to be a Missionary, not a Mercenary within software development. We look at the importance of having the software engineers as much involved in the product decisions as anyone, and Bryce talks about how he took his development team on a full day offsite to work with the Product team in the initial phases of product ideation. Bryce also talks about working with Charles Kindel at Control4 and that we should all be reading his blog: https://ceklog.kindel.com/And of course, we get a great Book Recommendation from Bryce:INSPRIED: How to Create Tech Products Customers Love By Marty CaganEnjoy!Support the show

Interview with Karolina Kurdybacha

In this episode, I am chatting to Karolina Kurdybacha, currently a Product Owner in Viasat Ireland. Karolina will give her perspective on what makes a professional software developer from the Product Owners viewpoint. We’ll talk about being honest with your product owner, understanding the full product end to end, knowing why there is an Agile process and how you can influence it. Also, we’ll discuss the need for developers to be engaged and proud of what they are building and why they should feel confident to raise concerns, whether technical or user based, to their Product Owner. I also quiz Karolina on how she feels about tech debt build-up and whether she believes we should be prioritising tests. Karolina also gives her book recommendation in Simon Sinek’s 'Start with Why' and we also mention The Phoenix Project during our discussion. Both books are linked below. As always if you enjoyed the podcast, please subscribe and leave a review. Books:The Phoenix Project: A Novel about IT, DevOps and Helping Your Business Win By Gene Kim, Kevin Behr and George SpaffordStart With Why: How Great Leaders Inspire Everyone to Take Action by Simon SinekSupport the show

Intro and Interview with Alvaro Pereda

Welcome to The Rules of Software Development podcast. I am Andrew Woods, a software development manager with 14 years experience in software. I have worked as a Java developer building out GSM messaging systems, a front-end developer using JSP, JavaScript and Struts, and later became an Android specialist. I've worked in the big companies and the smaller companies. I've worked with teams of 20 people, 5 people and as a sole developer, and recently I've been thinking about software professionalism and how it affects the development of a software product. This show is aimed at talking to different guests from different areas of the software industry about what, in their opinion, makes a professional software developer. This episode will introduce the show and we will talk to Alvaro Pereda, a technical lead at Infocare, an e-Health Startup in Dublin, on how he views professionalism in software. Alvaro has over 15 years experience working in software. He has worked with some of the biggest names in the industry and has projected his career from the Java developer to a mobile expert to leading and managing teams.Alvaro is the man who introduced me to Clean Code, TDD and many of the software principles that allow the development of scalable, testable and maintainable systems. As such, Alvaro is the perfect guest for the first episode of this show. During the episode we will discuss many topics, like:OKR'sThe Pomodoro TechniqueWorking with different personalitiesand a whole lot moreAlvaro also gives us a book recommendation that he feels everyone should read: Working Effectively with Legacy Code by Micheal FeathersSupport the show