You Want IT When?

The second quarter was another successful three months for yuwantithwhen.com.  A number of essays were very popular with the site’s visitors.  The most popular essay for the quarter was “Why It Takes So Long.”  Thanks to Steve Johnson over at Pragmatic Marketing for directing his readers to the posting.   There are often very good reasons it takes longer than expected to deliver a software product, but there are things that we often do to make projects take longer than they should.  I’m thinking of writing the sequel to the essay:  “Why it Takes Longer Than it Should.”  I’m not sure when I’ll pen that one, but it’s in the queue.

Recently, I was thinking about what keeps me motivated to blog, and I find blogging to be similar to fishing.   Writing the story is like preparing for the fishing trip.  There’s a  lot of work involved in planning the fishing trip and traveling to the fishing spot.   Baiting the hook and casting the line is like publishing the story.  Then, you wait.  You wait for readers.    As you follow the web statistics to see how well the story is attracting readers, you get excited as you see many visitors reading the story.  It’s like fish nibbling at the bait. Sometimes, you see readers visiting from their web email accounts or links from other sites.  It’s like a chum trail to your posting. You’re hoping to finally hook one of those readers into posting a comment, and when they do, it’s like the joy of reeling in a fish - at least to me. 

Recently, I stumbled on Stevey’s Blog Rants.  After reading a few of his essays, I thought about giving up blogging on software development.  This guy is good.  He writes well, he is an engaging storyteller, and I find his point of view interesting and thought provoking.  It’s his storytelling ability along with his technical acumen that I find most appealing and unique.

He has one of the more interesting criticisms of the Agile methodologies that I’ve ever read in his essay, “Good Agile, Bad Agile.”  In it he describes Google’s software practices, which he identifies as “Good Agile.”  It’s an interesting approach to software development that I don’t believe is easily replicated:  even Steve is surprised that Google has managed to scale the approach.  It’s an interesting essay give it a read.

I plan to post less frequently during July and August.  Posting every week while juggling all my other responsibilities can be challenging at times, and in the summer, it’s even more challenging.    For July and August I plan to post once each month, and I will resume with my weekly target in September again.

The top ten stories for the second quarter of 2008 are as follows:

1. “Why It Takes So Long“
2. “Is Formal Project Management Necessary“
3. “Reflection Unrealistic Schedules“
4. “Danger Agile Practices at Work“
5. “A Strategy for Building Stable Applications“
6. “Simple by Design“
7. “Embrace Change“
8. “Agile Isn’t a Process“
9. “Does Agile Solve the Right Problem“
10. “It Ain’t Easy“

 The top ten countries visiting “You Want IT When?” for the second quarter of 2008 are as follows:

1. United States
2. United Kingdom
3. India
4. Canada
5. Australia
6. Poland
7. Sweden
8. Netherlands
9. Hong Kong
10. New Zealand

In Closing

Thanks for visiting, and especially thanks for commenting.  Please keep reading, tell your friends about “You Want IT When?”, and Email me if would at “bill(at)yuwantitwhen(dot)com”  to share your thoughts, critical or positive commentary or even topics that you would like me to cover in future articles.