Category Archives: Efficacy

Efficacy

On Developer Wisdom and Software Quality Attributes

Posted on February 7, 2013 by Hayim Makabee

What is wisdom? In order to answer this question, we will look into some ancient Jewish texts. From the Talmud (Tamid 32A), compiled 1500 years ago: “Who is wise? He who discerns what is about to come to pass.” In … Continue reading →

Posted in Agile, Efficacy, Jewish Sources, Software Evolution | Tagged , , , | 10 Comments

The Psychology of Reviews: Distinction Bias, Evaluability Hypothesis and the Framing Effect

Posted on October 21, 2012 by Hayim Makabee

Design Reviews are one of the most important activities in the software development process. If a bad design is approved and implemented, it is very expensive to correct that afterwards. Therefore, we want to have high confidence in our decisions … Continue reading →

Posted in Efficacy, Psychology of Programming, Software Architecture | Tagged , , | 10 Comments

Illusory Superiority: Are you a good programmer?

Posted on October 14, 2012 by Hayim Makabee

Programmers are known to be proud of their work. Some developers even feel that writing elegant code is a form of art, and thus they call themselves “software craftsmen”. I am sure that the desire to perform outstanding work is … Continue reading →

Posted in Agile, Efficacy, Psychology of Programming | Tagged , , | 11 Comments

Continuous Learning: Keeping up-to-date and acquiring new skills

Posted on September 24, 2012 by Hayim Makabee

According to the Bible, after Adam sinned and ate the forbidden fruit, God said to him: “By the sweat of your face you shall eat bread” (Genesis 3:19). Hard work has been the reality of humanity during known history, however … Continue reading →

Posted in Efficacy, Social Networks | Tagged , | 19 Comments

Planning Poker: Avoiding Fallacies in Effort Estimates

Posted on August 5, 2012 by Hayim Makabee

Many years ago I was working as a software developer in a team with three other programmers. We once had a meeting in which our Team Leader said: “You are late again! All of you are late! Actually, you are … Continue reading →

Posted in Agile, Efficacy, Psychology of Programming | Tagged , , | 20 Comments

Self-meetings: Avoiding distractions in the workplace

Posted on June 15, 2012 by Hayim Makabee

In the modern workplace, in which we are always connected, there are simply too many distractions. You need lots of discipline to really use your time effectively, besides the capacity to clearly define your priorities. You must be able to … Continue reading →

Posted in Efficacy | Tagged | 4 Comments

The Seven Rules of Effective Communication

Posted on June 3, 2012 by Hayim Makabee

In every professional environment, it is essential to communicate effectively with your peers. This is particularly true during meetings, in which people expect to discuss a subject, reach conclusions and make related decisions in a short time. Here are seven … Continue reading →

Posted in Efficacy, Jewish Sources, Psychology of Programming | Tagged , , | 4 Comments

Learning from a Shipwreck

Posted on January 19, 2012 by Hayim Makabee

In the last week we followed the story of the Costa Concordia disaster, the cruise ship that partially sank after hitting a reef off the Italian coast. When I first heard about it, I could not understand how this was … Continue reading →

Posted in Efficacy, Hiring | Tagged , | 6 Comments

Super-Productivity

Posted on November 1, 2011 by Hayim Makabee

In a previous post I discussed the reasons some programmers are much more productive than others. But the fact is that every programmer experiences periods of time when he is much more productive than average, and I think there are … Continue reading →

Posted in Agile, Efficacy | Tagged , | 4 Comments

An Inspiring Jobs

Posted on October 11, 2011 by Hayim Makabee

With the recent death of Steve Jobs, I decided to learn more about his life and his many contributions to the world of personal computers. During my searches, I found a very inspiring speech he gave in a graduation ceremony … Continue reading →

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