Training or Learning?

Many training classes are designed to reduce variation—to ensure that people approach a task the same way. These classes reduce variety another way. They’re designed for people in a particular functional role or specialty. Think programming language classes,...

Mess or Problem?

Most of us in the software field are problem solvers. When we face a problem, we try to solve it. But some problems are vexatious—they don’t stay fixed. In that case you may be facing many problems that are all tangled together—a mess. The Zeroth Rule of Problem...

Solving Other People’s Problems

I love to solve problems. Most people I’ve met in software development love to solve problems too. When you develop skill at problem solving, you get bigger, more complicated problems. These problems are given to you by someone such as the product owner, your...

What Is Congruence?

At its very simplest, you might think that congruence  means “say what you mean and mean what you say.” However, that definition has real limitations. Consider a conference session I attended. Brad, a consultant, stood at the front of a packed room, and shared stories...