Knowing how they spend the time, is key to improve their productivity. TLDR; it is even less, starting with meetings, plannings, … — In this story, I will try to create a comprehensive list of all the tasks that a developer is facing in its day job, so we can understand better how they spend the time, and how we can improve their productivity. I have read some sources pointing that the time…

Learn how to write a compiler is more useful than it seems, but you probably do not know why. — Are we teaching compilers to new programmers? Something that is not surprising is that most of the current developers do not know how to write a compiler. But something that is surprising, is that every day more computer engineering degrees do not teach compilers at all. The first time that I observed this tendency was in my…

Often, when we focus on quality, we believe that we have to test everything, but that is not right. — Some months ago, one of my students explained to me how she felt about my teaching on testing. The events that she explained occur one course before the mine. …

It is common and widespread across QA teams, but its utility is dubious, and far from the main objective. — Gherkin as scripting language Before begin, I want to put things clear. Currently, I have seen two uses for Gherkin: BDD and QA-Scripting. The latter is when we use Gherkin with intention to write a script, it shows what the user will do when interacting with the user interface. …

It is probably the most underrated, and undervalued, technique and way to collaborate. — Some time ago, I wrote a short story about why do not trust pull requests. Why Do Not Trust Pull Requests There is something wrong with Pull Requests, and you can feel it, but you do not know whether it is real or not.levelup.gitconnected.com In that story, I raised all the problems that come with pull requests that are often overlooked. But I also gave one tip: when doing a pull requests, instead of just asking changes, ask how…

Often is seen as maturity and sign of expertise, the fact of being able to give specific and reliable estimates. But that goes against the nature of software development itself. — How reliable are estimates? The most difficult work in the software development is grasping the exact requirements. I often say that once we know exactly what we have to do, the job is done. That is because the job of the developer is translating the customer needs into computer code, but the effort is…

Are you not convinced that TDD fits your needs? Do you think that people tend to oversell it? Maybe it is not for you. The four realms of TDD It is well known that TDD is a controversial topic. On the one hand, you can find people that talk about TDD like the cure for…