Videos, a must see list

If you are like me, you think that video are a great way to learn stuff. Over the years, I’ve come across a few that I think really stood out. So to remember which they are and at the same time share them with you, I added them here. You’re welcome 😉

Writing unit tests for legacy code

Sandro Mancuso has this great video that shows you how to add tests to a code that has none, and that is not even written for it.

Writing code

“Any fool can write code that a computer can understand. Good programmers write code that humans can understand.”
— Martin Fowler

It takes skill to write code that is easy to maintain. The time we spend reading code is probably ten times more than we write it. Shouldn’t we make sure that it is readable?

This is our craft. This is what we have to be good at. Bob Martin has thought a lot about it, and this mammoth of a YouTube film gives you much to think about.

Alternative to old fashioned integration tests

J B Rainsberger introduces a way to use unit tests to do the same work as integration tests, but with fewer tests in the end.

This inspired me to write this article:
“Are integration tests really the best way?“

How to make a presentation interesting

James Whittaker knows the art of presenting. It’s just not enough to babble on. Create a coherent story and tell it in a catching way, or you will loose your audience. Here he shares how to do it.

Why Scrum works, Pull vs Push

Scrum, like other Lean thinking, has turned the way we think of how we assign things to do to the members of the team. Instead of a manager managing things, we have a self levelling system that reaches its optimal capacity automatically. The team works at a high capacity at the same time as it has a high throughput of work items, which in the end results in a lot delivered to the customer.

And remember, the time spent not working on a task (holding a ping pong ball in the film) is often utilized to all the little things that we never measure but always expect to happen. So even if we don’t look busy, we actually are.