I try to learn a new programming language every year. Not necessarily to an expert level, but well enough to solve non-trivial problems with it. Last year's language was Groovy. The year before was Python. This year's language is (drum-roll please)...
Continue reading "My 2009 Language: Javascript" »
Is very difficult to improve upon perfection.
If you have the ideas in your head that your (product, tool, process, organization, whatever) is perfect, or even close to perfect, you're not going to have the right mindset to improve it.
Even if it was perfect at some point (highly unlikely), it's probably not now. A commitment to continuous improvement is the hallmark of a true craftsman. You have to accept the fact that everything you do is a hack; A workaround until you can find another way that's less hacky. That's not to imply that you shouldn't make it as good as you can get it...you should. You just need to realize that it can always be made better.
The Agile manifesto declares that it's adherents favor Individuals and Interactions over process and tools. But all software development teams use tools, so what kind of tools match this mindset? Here's two characteristics that I see:
Agile tools are easy to replace. They provide value without increasing the cost of change. If you get locked in to a tool, you'll have to find a replacement thats MUCH better before it's worth the effort to change. 5 years could go by while you're waiting for that to happen. The more adapted you are, the less adaptable you become.
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