A Taxonomy of Yak Shaving

Yak Shaving is: doing seemingly-unrelated tasks to get some real task done. The name has obscure roots and doesn’t matter; the key is that it makes you think, “Why would you do that?” Yak shaving can be: I want to make dinner, but I’m doing stairs; moving objects around in order to clear a path … Read moreA Taxonomy of Yak Shaving

The Architects Below

This is the text of a short keynote for O’Reilly Software Architecture Conference 2017, New York. Power.Software developers have a particular power over the daily lives of our users. A hospital the nurse interacts with the patient, and they record those interactions in software. Software impacts the nurse: some things might be easier, but others … Read moreThe Architects Below