.NET
The Massive Testing Update of .NET 10
You can expose a .NET API to the network to help with UI tests. Apparently there was some issue with getting Playwright to interact with things (he went over this quickly with lots of hand waving).
Agile
It’s a set of criteria to assess the quality of a user story (developed in 2003). Independent, negotiable, valuable / vertical, estimable, small, testable. Another tip is to use gen AI to evaluate an existing user story to rate that story from 0 to 10 on each of the INVEST criteria.
AI
Research: Gen AI Makes People More Productive — and Less Motivated
Gen AI enhanced the quality and efficiency of some tasks, but it left workers less engaged when they switched to non-AI tasks. AI reduces a worker’s sense of control (which is important for intrinsic motivation). “If employees consistently rely on AI for creative or cognitively challenging tasks, they risk losing the very aspects of work that drive engagement, growth, and satisfaction.” Companies can address this by (1) blending AI and human contributions, (2) design engaging solo tasks, (3) make AI collaboration transparent, (4) rotate between tasks, (5) train employees to use AI mindfully.
Fixing Chatbots Requires Psychology, Not Technology
This article had some interesting examples of responses that make chatbots more accepted. Label your chatbot as “constantly learning” (like a new employee). Prove your chatbot’s accuracy by displaying success metrics. Use flattery carefully. Behave like a person to reduce fraud. Stick to the point with angry or hurried customers. Deliver positive decisions in a human-like manner.
Open source AI to tackle your backlog
- Disclaimer: I neither listened to this podcast nor read the transcript myself. I used ChatGPT to consume the transcript so that I could ask questions about it — primarily what the authors present about backlog management, and further inquiry about what that looks like.
- Things AI can help with: classifying/tagging issues, grouping similar items, estimating effort or impact, suggesting prioritization, surfacing actionable items.
Coaching
- You can’t compel someone to act; they choose to. Although you can’t control people, you can influence perspective through dialogue.
- Instead of fixing resistance, get curious and explore its roots to foster mutual understanding.
- Resistance isn’t negative — it signals engagement.
- Be open to modify the request and foster open dialog.
Software development
Crystal-Clear Code with Decompose Conditional: Demo
Writing clear, easy to read code is helpful not only for other humans, but for Gen AI so it can give you better suggestions. (Also in this example she specifically turned off AI tools and solely relied on deterministic tools in the IDE so she could focus on learning.) The decompose conditional pattern is taking the conditions (within parentheses) and refactoring them into methods, while also taking the body of the conditionals (within curly braces) and refactoring those into methods. (See also Tennis kata.)
Technical Coaching: METRICS Your Developer BOSS Cares About
Managers generally care more about getting new features out. They care about bugs if they are interfering with the business (stock price, customer churn). (Emily calls these “extinction events” rather than bugs because they happen so rarely.) Better software delivered sooner for a lower cost is the aim. Productivity is very difficult to measure (and many smart people have tried), and cannot be reduced to a single dimension (per Nicole Forsgren who developed the SPACE framework). Developer well-being makes a difference, which coaching can directly impact. They’re motivated by doing a good job and something worthwhile. Skills and teamwork also make a difference, and are easier to measure. Remember Goodhart’s Law — whatever you measure becomes a target to be gamed.
The SPACE Framework Explained by Nicole Forsgren | Measure Developer Productivity
There is no single measure of productivity. Have two or three metrics that are in tension with one another, and make sure there are different units. SPACE framework (not metrics!) = satisfaction and well-being, performance (e.g., quality metric/outcome), activity (e.g., PR count, commit count), communication and collaboration, efficiency and flow. Those 2-3 metrics need to focus on difference parts of the framework — e.g., don’t pick all Activity metrics. Tip: Don’t survey individual people too often or they’ll ignore it. Have an experimental mindset with an aim to learn things.