I loved this analogy: Cycling is awfully similar to being a woman. It nicely describes how it feels to be marginalised and not quite “normal”. But there are some things that I’d like to add:

Information related to the currently-ongoing effort to redesign the Java driver for MongoDB.

As I constantly talk about in my how-to-get-more-women-into-technology talks, we, the developers, the people who do this job, need to get out there and tell people what’s so great about what we do.

A hastily thrown-together list of some of the places to get more information on how to write performant code.

Just a quick note to say I was interviewed for another podcast (Update 2020: apparently no longer available), again to talk about all-female events. It’s only a short one and there’s probably not much in there that I haven’t said before, either on here or in person. From the 21st May, I’m at GOTO, both Copenhagen and Amsterdam. I’ll be talking about code & the Disruptor, thank goodness, and will be trying not to rant about the subject of women in technology.

Tori Wieldt from the Oracle Technology Network interviewed me at Devoxx. Because I was there to be on the Why We Shouldn’t Target Women panel, the interview is just another platform for me to air my views on this subject again. Yes, I am actually wearing pink….

Last Tuesday Mike and I unveiled our brand shiny new presentation: Understanding the Disruptor, a Beginner’s Guide to Hardcore Concurrency. This was a preview of the talk we’ll be doing at JAX London on the 2nd November. A video of the session is available, as are the slides. I promise not to say “so” anywhere near as many times when I repeat my performance at JAX (is there anything more painful than watching yourself on video?

Remember I posted about having to write .NET? Well, the code and the tutorial are available for you, my lucky readers, to rip to pieces view. I am not the only person responsible for this code though, so be kind.

I’m honoured to now be listed on three aggregated blog feeds: The new and somewhat embryonic blogs.lmax.com. The London Java Community Aggrity. ThoughtWorks Alumni, along with a whole host of distinguished names. The pressure’s on to try and write useful stuff. Oh OK, I’ll settle for “entertaining”.

I have not (yet) seen the presentation this post is referring to. But I think many of the comments Ted makes are very valid, and our industry as a whole should occasionally stop and think. I’ve seen Ted speak at QCon, and I’ve had a lot of time for his comments ever since. I’m aware that this blog is rapidly filling with comments about gender and perceptions and people-y stuff, when I originally wanted it to be a purely technical blog.

…in fact, it’s actually a good thing.

Having experienced Flaccid Scrum, I find this article interesting, and agree with most of it. I’d also like to add though, that if you do the scrum practices (story cards, stand ups, retrospectives, etc) but don’t buy into the fundamental principals, you will not succeed. And that means everyone on the team, not just the people in charge. In particular, if the team is not empowered, is not committing to the estimates and the iteration plan in its heart, and and does not trust, then you are probably better off using traditional processes.

Why to Start a Startup in a Bad Economy

I’m very interested in the subject of gender stereotyping, which probably isn’t surprising as I’m a girl in a predominantly male industry. And I like cars, and sports, and get irritated if people assume I’m not “allowed” to be interested in these things.

Far from being discriminated against, however, I find many people ask me why there aren’t more women in the industry and what can be done to encourage girls into IT. If these questions were easy to answer, they wouldn’t have to be asked.

This is a great example of what happens when you try to incentivise intelligent people on very simple metrics. They cheat. This was well described in Freakonomics, and something Mr On Software bangs on about regularly. It’s clear that there isn’t really a good answer to the problem - actually that’s not true. The answer to the problem is to have everyone working in a job they are happy in and proud of, one where they are intrinsically motivated, and give them enough information to allow them to make the correct calls when it comes to prioritising work.

This is a bloody good idea. It builds upon my own Virgoen tendancies to write lists and tick things off, but what the list model lacks is the “in progress” state. Plus occasionally my lists get confused. See today’s notebook page:

I might be too late in writing my own thoughts on QCon, but a bunch of other people have done a pretty good job.

From spellfecker today: Certifiction (n.) : a professional endorsement which states only that the holder had the money to pay for the exam. …which reminded me of this debate, particularly the first comment.

…there are a number of points in this interview with Paul Oldfield which are interesting to consider when thinking about “doing Agile right”. It seems to be compatible with my “people over process” view - I’m not stating that having good people negates the need for any form of process or discipline, I have seen that this is simply not the case. I do however think that agile techniques in particular rely heavily upon the “right” people / team, for some nebulous definition of “right”.