Developer on Fire
Developer on Fire
Episode 102 | Michael Feathers - Providing Options
Guest:
Michael Feathers - talks with Dave Rael about legacy code, testing, improving happiness, and the importance of options
Michael Feathers is the Founder and Director of R7K Research & Conveyance, a company specializing in software and organization design. Prior to forming R7K, Michael was the Chief Scientist of Obtiva and a consultant with Object Mentor International. Over the past 20 years he has consulted with hundreds of organizations, supporting them with general software design issues, process change and code revitalization. A frequent presenter at national and international conferences, Michael is also the author of the book Working Effectively with Legacy Code (Prentice Hall, 2004).
Chapters:
- - Dave introduced the show and Michael Feathers
- - Motivations for Working Effectively with Legacy Code
- - What is legacy code?
- - Michael on Symbiosis
- - Michael's definition of value - emphasis on options
- - The things that "light Michael" up
- - How Michael got started in software
- - Michael's story of failure - obsession with perfection, hubris regarding vision, falling short of making work a happy place
- - Impact on organizational culture
- - Michael's stories of success - joy in programming, joy in legacy code, making work better
- - How Michael stays current with what he needs to know
- - Michael's book recommendations
- - The things that have Michael
- - Michael's greatest sources of pain
- - The things about which Michael likes to geek out apart from software
- - Michael's prediction for the furture of software
- - Michael's top 3 tips for delivering more value
- - Keeping up with Michael
Resources:
- Michael's Company Website
- Michael's Blog
- Michael's Blog
- Extreme Programming
- Extreme Programming Explained: Embrace Change - Kent Beck, Cynthia Andres
- Refactoring: Improving the Design of Existing Code - Martin Fowler
- Interview with Kent Beck and Martin Fowler from 2001
- Conway's Law
- Symbiosis - A Provocation About Organizations - Michael Feathers
- Symbiosis - Implications
- TRS-80
- Esther Derby on Developer On Fire
- Michael's Thoughts on Ups and Downs and Life's Roller Coaster Contrast Those of Scott Hanselman
- Michael on Beyond Error Handling
- Collection Pipeline Programming - Martin Fowler
- Mark Seemann
- APL
- L
- K
- Q
- Conway's Game of Life
Michael's book recommendation:
Michael's top 3 tips for delivering more value:
- Really listen
- Understand what people want and need
- Understand the impact of what you propose
- Undertand the problem you trying to solve
- Think outside the box in which you find yourself
- Maximize options
