The Gold Of Microtests: The Value

This entry is part [part not set] of 3 in the series The Gold of Microtests

Okay, twice now i’ve intro’d this question about the value of m-proof, the rather trivial proof microtests give: what the geek said is what the computer heard is what the geek wanted. Time to just deal with it, eh? Remember that all of the value that comes from microtests comes before we’re done with the […]

The Gold Of Microtests: The Value Read More »

The Gold Of Microtests: Another? Intro

This entry is part [part not set] of 3 in the series The Gold of Microtests

I made the claim that m-proof, the seemingly valueless dust that microtests give us, is actually gold. Not only that, but it’s gold whose working out clearly connects to the triple focus of our movement: the made, the making, and the maker. Microtests prove that what the geek said is what the computer heard is

The Gold Of Microtests: Another? Intro Read More »

The Gold Of Microtests: The Intro

This entry is part [part not set] of 3 in the series The Gold of Microtests

Okay, shall we take a breather from difficult concepts and do something at least a little more concrete and geeky? And the windswept trees whisper "yessssss, yessssss". Recall that a microtest is a tiny snippet of test code, run in a separate app, that depends on a tiny snippet of shipping code. It is typically

The Gold Of Microtests: The Intro Read More »

Difficult Concepts #2: Simple Causality In Humans Is Non-Existent

This entry is part [part not set] of 3 in the series Difficult Concepts

Difficult Concept #2: Linear single-factor causality in shared human activity is so rare it can be safely assumed to be non-existent. "Because" is a word with astonishing power. Like most powerful things, it can lead us rapidly to joy and just as rapidly to grief. In the mechanical world, the "becauses" are primarily linear —

Difficult Concepts #2: Simple Causality In Humans Is Non-Existent Read More »

Difficult Concepts #1: Doing, Knowing, Saying, Hearing, Learning

This entry is part [part not set] of 3 in the series Difficult Concepts

Difficult Concept #1: With most high-skill activities, the doing, the knowing, the saying, the hearing, and the learning are all dramatically different things. That’s pretty pithy, so I better unpack it a little. Let’s take one of my high-skill activities and break it out as suggested by the headline. I routinely, multiple times a day,

Difficult Concepts #1: Doing, Knowing, Saying, Hearing, Learning Read More »

Difficult Concepts #0: A Prelude

This entry is part [part not set] of 3 in the series Difficult Concepts

Difficult Concept #0 There are "difficult concepts", which can provide enormous value when we explore, experience, and act through them, but which we can never bring entirely within our reach. Welcome to a new series of muses, the difficult concepts series, to which this is the prelude. As always with the muses, these are improv,

Difficult Concepts #0: A Prelude Read More »

GeePawing & Mentoring

I’ve spoken of thick vs thin culture. And my earlier muse was mostly for boss-types, and I promised to do the same for non-bosstypes. But I need to pause here, and do something different. I need to talk about mentoring/coaching to create proper context. (I should pre-announce, i’m semi-lit. I doubt I could pull this

GeePawing & Mentoring Read More »

Thick And Thin Culture

What to do, what to do, around this larger topic i’ve been banging against recently: the extraordinary thinness of culture in geekery. I should say at the outset, I don’t have the answer. I don’t think there maybe even is a "the answer". And I don’t have an answer. I think there are several possible

Thick And Thin Culture Read More »

The Correlation Premise: Redux

This entry is part [part not set] of 9 in the series Underplayed Premises

My five TDD premises stuff has been well-received over the months since I put it out, but one of them seems still very underplayed, even by many died-in-the-wool TDD’ers: the correlation premise. The correlation premise says that the internal quality of our code correlates directly with our productivity. When the internal quality goes up, productivity

The Correlation Premise: Redux Read More »

Scroll to Top