My view on the current state of Agile

Stick along long enough in software development, and you may have come along the ride for Agile software development practices, methodologies, and/or frameworks. Stick along long enough in that community – ok, that might be a reach too far, given that community only exists about 30 years or so. All of the above said, I notice some developments lately around the term Agile, and need to get my thoughts down. Not that I think I have a particular relevant perspective to start with. But maybe I can offer some perspective to one or another reader.

If you know me, you probably know that I have a tendency to look back on where did we come from to better understand things happening in the present. If you are not that kind of understander, maybe this blog entry might not be for you. So, be warned before moving on.

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Getting started with Rust and shinqlx

Since minqlx seems to stand for “Mino’s Quake Live eXtension” and I go by the player name of ShiN0 in QL, I thought an obvious name for my Rust implementation of minqlx would be shinqlx for ShiN0’s Quake Live eXtension.

But before we dive into the first steps I took, maybe a few introductory words and maybe some references in case you want to go a similar route.

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So…, I got a bit rusty lately

I recall discussions in the early software craft days on the mailing lists. One thread, in particular, comes to mind today, that was about whether a good crafter should learn a new programming language every year to learn new coding styles and paradigms, and maybe bring those back to their usual work environment.

Last year, Craig Larman recommended learning the programming language Rust to help, especially with embedded programming. Linus Torvalds also allowed Rust as a third language in the Linux kernel development around the same time. It took me a while to actually try it when I found the perfect for me pet project to dive into.

Over the next couple of blog entries, I want to dive into some of my learnings and approaches. Today, let me give you an introduction to the project I picked for my personal Rust learning curve, where I am, and maybe give you an update now and then about the things I still have open to learn.

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Remembering Jerry: Experiential Learning: Beginning, Inventing, Simulation

It’s been five years since – sadly – Gerald M. “Jerry” Weinberg passed away. Ever since then, I struggled with some public mourning about him, until recently I had just the right idea. I already covered Jerry’s physical books in the past year. There are some gems left in some of the books he later published on Leanpub. This week, I will dive into three of them in one blog post: Experiential Learning: Beginning, Inventing, Simulation. (You can get most of the content of the physical books I reviewed on Leanpub as well – some might have a slightly different name.)

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Remembering Jerry: Agile Impressions

It’s been five years since – sadly – Gerald M. “Jerry” Weinberg passed away. Ever since then, I struggled with some public mourning about him, until recently I had just the right idea. I already covered Jerry’s physical books in the past year. There are some gems left in some of the books he later published on Leanpub. This week, I will dive into Agile Impressions. (You can get most of the content of the physical books I reviewed on Leanpub as well – some might have a slightly different name.)

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Remembering Jerry: The Gift of Time

It’s been four years since – sadly – Gerald M. “Jerry” Weinberg passed away. Ever since then, I struggled with some public mourning about him, until recently I had just the right idea. On a weekly basis, I will publish a review of a book I read that Jerry either wrote himself or is about some of his work. One of the final physical books I recall reading is about Jerry’s work, not written by him, but by his students: The Gift of Time, edited by Fiona Charles with contributions from James Bach, Michael Bolton, Esther Derby, Naomi Karten, Tim Lister, Johanna Rothman, Dani Weinberg, his wife, and more. My copy of the book is copyrighted in 2008 and published by Dorset House.

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Remembering Jerry: Amplifying your Effectiveness

It’s been four years since – sadly – Gerald M. “Jerry” Weinberg passed away. Ever since then, I struggled with some public mourning about him, until recently I had just the right idea. On a weekly basis, I will publish a review of a book I read that Jerry either wrote himself or is about some of his work. For today, I picked Amplifying your Effectiveness, edited by Jerry, James Bach, and Naomi Karten. It contains collected essays from authors attending the AYE conference format that Jerry co-organized for a couple of decades. My copy of the book is copyrighted in 2000 and published by Dorset House.

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Remembering Jerry Weinberg: Weinberg on Writing – The Fieldstone Method

It’s been four years since – sadly – Gerald M. “Jerry” Weinberg passed away. Ever since then, I struggled with some public mourning about him, until recently I had just the right idea. On a weekly basis, I will publish a review of a book I read that Jerry either wrote himself or is about some of his work. With not so many books from Jerry left on my shelf, I picked Weinberg on Writing – The Fieldstone Method, published by Dorset House in 2006.

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Some housekeeping

Today has been the last day of work for me in 2022. I will be on vacation for the next couple of weeks. That said, I will cut back my publishing pace a bit. I intend to post a weekly review of Jerry’s books for a while, but can’t promise to write much more in between.

That might change in 2023 – or I might be back on a regular hiatus. As with all my writings, I try to keep my writing as an exercise for me, to get my thoughts straight, train the muscle to take something away from a day of work that I want to write about every day at work, and reflect on the things I perceive during the work day. I just took you along for the ride for the past few months.

I hope you will occasionally check back for new content, and maybe during brighter days, there will be an opportunity to meet in person in the future. Thanks for reading along all my thought-sorting here. I hope I can keep my writing going, but doubt I want to continue this particular kind of pace from the past months.

Merry Christmas, happy holidays, and a Happy New Year.

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