Proofreading is hard to do

Proofreading is an essential part of everyday life. I’m pretty anal about things like that, and constantly go over and over almost everything I write. The trouble is, I still notice problems with my posts after they’ve “gone to print”, despite the check-and-double-check approach I tend to take.

More worrying is when you spot a WTF in code you wrote some time ago, or yesterday. This happened to me today - while going through some code in a peer-review, I noticed that a method parameter was not being used in that method. So simple (and, I might add, in this case fortunately not an issue) and easy to miss.

I know what you’re thinking:

“Hah! If you’d written a unit test you would have found this much quicker!”

but I know already, and my point isn’t really limited to writing code. Blog posts, emails, letters forum posts, comments, you name it. How often have you only realised your mistake after clicking “Publish”?

FogBUGZ 6.0

Is great, and only misses two really important features for me:

• I know this sounds silly, because you can sort cases by any column, but what I want is an “order of work” column.  Each case chould know what case comes before it, and I (and my boss who decides priorities) want to be able to drag cases up and down the list.  This allows us to define which priority 1 to do first.
• When you “do something” to a case, FogBUGZ is clever enough to change it’s status (”Resolved (implemented)”, etc).  It’d be really nice if it then knew who to automatically assign it to based on the new status.  This might be an individual or a team, I don’t know, but would be great for assigning cases to testers when development work is done.  A full-blown user-configurable workflow would be amazing…

Oh, and as an amateur photographer I’d also like to be able to submit my own photos (or links to photos on Flickr) as the “Photo of the Day” thing.  I know it won’t improve the team’s productivity, but it would be cool!

Keep up the good work, Fog Creek!

Where to get good eye-candy?

I’m working on a new project, which is a web app for appointment booking. I want some slick icons and images to go in it, to give it a web-page feel, rather than the drab look it has now.

Thing is, while I can take photos and use Photoshop to spice them up, fade them, give them reflections and so on, icons are actually really hard. I’ve found a Photoshop tutorial that looks really good, but this isn’t my strongest area, and since it’s a spare-time project for a friend I might consider buying something.

I also saw the Crystal Clear icon set at Wikimedia Commons. It’s exactly the kind of thing I’m looking for, but doesn’t have some of the more specialist things I’m looking for. Maybe I need to employ the services of a freelance graphic designer for this, but I’m not sure that’s going to give me good value for money, as I won’t need hundreds.

Maybe I should just learn to do it myself?

Snug Fit

Recently (actually, a few months ago) I found I was getting backache from sitting in my chair all day.  My workspace is far from ergonomic, so I took a look at it and this is what I found:

• My chair is a woefully inadequate cheap “managers chair”, which has only up/down adjustment.
• My desk is 2 inches too high and non-adjustable.
• My laptop, while on a box on my desk, is an inch or so too low.
• My desk is too cluttered.

I decided to do something about it, and since my firm agreed to buy me a new chair I’m going to invest in some other things, too:

• A new chair.  I’ll be buying a nice Hag from the Total Backcare Centre.  I’ve linked to their website because I had a wonderful experience at their shop.  I got plenty of advice on posture and workspace setup, and then assessed for an appropriate chair.  They had loads of demo models in, and I was shown from one to another, with one-to-one help, to work out which was best for me.  Truly excellent.
• A new desk.  I’ll be going for the Galant system from Ikea, as it’s modular and offers good flexibility if we decide to move house.  In addition, it’s height-adjustable so I can get it just right.
• A monitor stand.  I use a cardboard box at the moment, but it’s not pretty.  Does anyone have any recommendations?  Some sort of swivel arm might be nice…
• A tidy up.  Hard work but worth it.  I’ve bought some storage already, so I just need to make better use of it.

Hopefully once this project is complete I’ll have a much more comfortable workspace.  As Jeff Atwood points out, you need to look after your second most important asset, and I intend to start now.

Other piece of advice I learned from the TBC:

1. Buy a good chair.  Don’t skimp here on price.
2. Buy a height adjustable desk, and find the correct height for your chair, before setting the desk so that the top of the desk is level with the bottom of your elbows when sat.
3. Try your mouse on the left.  It’s hard to become a lefty, but could be worth it.  Alternatively, get a keyboard without a numpad, and buy a separate one if you really need it.
4. Learn to use the keyboard more.  It’ll pay dividends in productivity terms, and avoid mouse-related RSI.

Anyone got any other tips I haven’t mentioned?

WinCE

WinCE

–verb (used without object)
1. to draw back from what is dangerous, fearsome, difficult, threatening, or unpleasant. Wince suggests an involuntary contraction of the facial features triggered by pain, embarrassment, or a sense of revulsion.

–noun
2. a wincing or shrinking movement; a slight start.

Actually, I love my PDA.  No, really, I do…

So… Who’s to blame?

Often when working in a team of developers, you find you’re coming across code that doesn’t work. A method that throws an exception, or a file that was added to the project but not checked into source control that prevents the application from building successfully.

Well, if your first instinct is to ask yourself “what have I done?”, then that’s commendable but not necessarily the quickest way to solve your problem. Sod’s Law may come to your rescue.

Sometimes the only way to spot your own mistakes is to ask someone else (or, worse still, blame them thinking it was their fault). The chances are you’ll work it out before they even open their mouths. Of course if you don’t, then you get egg on your face.

So while this may not do wonders for your pride, you may find that the very thought process of asking the question forces you to organise things in your head in such a way as to make you see the light.  Even if you’re just stuck on a seemingly unsolvable problem, having a sounding board can often help the thought process.

Try it out, let me know what you think.

Promises, promises

In my experience, there’s been an age-old war waging between sales and implementation. Salespeople often promise things to get the deal, or worse still promise things in less time than it’ll take to pull it off.

I’ve been on both sides of this fence during my career in the software business. I learnt that sometimes you don’t promise things you don’t have, then another vendor will (even if they’re in the same boat as you) and you’ll lose the deal and thousands in support contracts.

That doesn’t mean I’m saying it’s right. In fact, it points out a fundamental problem with the software industry in general. The competition has become so fierce that more lies are being told by vendors, resulting in more failed projects for customers, resulting in a general opinion in the press that “all” IT projects are doomed to miss deadlines, run over budget and fail to deliver the promises.

I guess many of us have come across this scenario before (I know I have), and found it to be a somewhat painful experience. If you’re a salesman, you’re worrying whether the developers are going to get it done on time, and if you’re a developer, you’re worrying whether you’re going to get it done on time.

Maybe it’s time for a sea-change? One where salesmen give realistic timescales and tell the truth about what they can and can’t do, and where customers are more trusting, and accept longer delivery timescales in the confidence that they will get what they asked for.

Laptop Development

I’m a developer, and yes, I use a laptop.

I have a nice 17″ Sony Vaio, which is nice and fast, well built etc. Since I work from home, it’s convenient for those days when I go to my boss’s house or the office. Here’s the spec (in case you’re interested):

Sony VAIO BX297XP Notebook - Intel Pentium M 760 2GHz - 2GB RAM - 200GBHD - DVD±RW(+R DL) - NIC - 802.11b/g/BT - TPM - Fingerprint Reader - Centrino - Win XP Pro - 17″ TFT WUXGA (1920 x 1200)

We’re led to believe that laptops are supposedly slower or less powerful than desktops. Or that usability is an issue.

Jeff Atwood proposes The Programmers Bill of Rights, which includes multiple screens. One of the added benefits of a laptop is that I can hook my monitor into the monitor port and go dual-screen! Nice.

The ergonomics falls a little way short of a conventional setup, as the screen is practically on my desk. But on the plus side my company kindly bought me a Micro$oft wireless keyboard and mouse, which has made life much more comfortable as it allows me to put the laptop on something to raise it up (apart from the obivous benefits of not using the built in mousepad).

The HDDs are a little slower than you’d get on a standard desktop machine, but I have 2, and it’s configured for optimal use which balances things out quite well.

In my opinion, laptops are definately a viable solution for developers. There’s a massive flexibility gain, and the only cost I can’t avoid is when it comes to upgrades. Maybe I could’ve got something more cost effective than a Sony, but it’s in constant use and I’ve used a few laptops over the last couple of years that couldn’t take the heat…

Working from home

You may already know I’m a C# developer. At the back end of last year I began work for the software team at a logistics
firm in the UK. The difference with this job? I get to work from home.

Now, I appreciate it’s not for everyone, but it works really well for me. I decorated the back bedroom of our house, rearranged my desk and now call it my office. I get up at the same time as I used to, and once my wife has left for work, I also “go to work”.

“But how do you communicate with the other developers?” I hear you ask. Well I have a company mobile phone, and us developers all have Skype installed on our laptops. This allows for instant messaging and file transfer, as well as voice calls and conferences. With the addition of the occasional meeting at the offices of a local distribution centre, it works.

So while it may not work for everyone (and I was sceptical at first) it seems that it was a gamble worth taking. I’m generally more relaxed, get more done, and don’t have the stress of the 1 hour drive up the motorway twice a day.

Anyone else tried it? Maybe have a different opinion?