Agile Development

There are a number of methods that software development teams can use to help manage themselves. Years ago, teams would create detailed specifications over a period of months and then spend years coding only to discover they had built the wrong product. In 2001 a bunch of successful software developers met at a ski resort in Utah and created the Agile Manifesto. This then spurred a new process where developers would work on small pieces of the product with short release cycles so they could get constant feedback on what they were building. Then product users could provide instant feedback to ensure the development team is on the right track.

My current software development team uses Agile development and so the company hired an instructor to come in and teach a 2-day refresher course. It was interesting to spend a couple of days going through the training material. There were other teams new to the process taking part in the course and it was fun to see their reaction. Some were eager to embrace the method while others were less than eager to change their current development practices.

I have to say that there is one problem with Agile for me. I have a specific skill that requires me to work with a number of different teams. So while there is  about 4 hours a week of meeting overhead for the rest of the team members, I end up with about 12 hours a week of meetings. Considering there are only 40 hours of work during the work week, that means I only have 28 to get useful stuff done. So when someone gets all energetic about Agile, I have to bite my tongue to keep from grumbling too loudly.

I am hoping that the guys that created the Agile Manifesto will show up at Snowbird again, where they originally drafted the short statement, and come up with a way to keep me from going to so many meetings. I'd even provide a couple of lift tickets.

OpenDNS

Last Friday I briefly mentioned some of the dangers of the Internet. While most know that they exist, a large number of people are not quite sure what to do about them. When there was only one computer in the house, it was easy to install filtering software and make sure it stayed updated. Now it is not uncommon to have a number of computers and devices like iPhones, iTouches, and iPads using a common Internet connection. Trying to maintain all of those filtering software installations can be a chore.

Recently I had a friend explain OpenDNS and so I set myself up an account. Once you have an account, you can modify the router settings for your home Internet connection so that it goes through their servers. You can then control how much of the Internet all of the computers on your network can see. If you are only concerned about pornography, you can choose to filter out only those websites. While they still exist on the Internet, the domain name service or DNS system that is used to look up the offending site's computer address is redirected to a message saying the site is blocked.

There are a few other settings that I found particularly helpful. I really hate websites that try to install a bunch of junk on my computer and so there is a setting to filter out adware. When I first set up OpenDNS for my home network, I was only concerned about a few things. Since then I have set up a number of new filters, not because I feel they are bad for my kids, but because they are annoying. It is like being able to turn off all of the commercials on your TV. Now who wouldn't want that? I highly recommend OpenDNS even if it is just so you don't infect your computer with junk.

One Child, One Computer

I must confess that we are headed into the best time of the year. Football season is about to start. Ski stores have started gearing up for their preseason sales. Of course, let's not forget that school is just around the corner. Last year at this time, I mentioned that now is the time to start getting your computer ready for those kids in your house. I second my recommendations from last year and encourage you to make sure you have plenty of ink/toner for your printer and that your word processing software is up-to-date.

This year I only have one child at home using the family computer. That makes it effectively his own computer. My son knows better than to ask to put the computer in his room as we have a rule about that in the house. Good parents understand the dangers of allowing children, that is anyone under the age of 18, to keep computers in their rooms. While there is a lot of useful information on the Internet, there is also a lot that can harm your children as well. Even my college-age kids are encouraged to use their computers in the family room as opposed to their bedrooms.

My oldest daughter's laptop needs a new battery and so she wasn't able to fully comply with the laptop-in-the-family-room rule. That was not good for her this summer as she was constantly staying up late and watching Netflix into the wee hours of the morning. As she is 23, it didn't really bother me, but I use her as an example to other parents to show that pornography is not the only problem caused by computers in the bedroom. Luckily my daughter is wise and cancelled her Netflix subscription before heading off to school. She doesn't need anything else competing with her study time.

Hiking Yosemite

My son and I spent a week hiking around Yosemite National Park with my Scouts in California. It was a great trip and I highly recommend visiting our country's national parks when you have the chance. While my son has been to Yellowstone, Zions, and the Grand Canyon, he had not been to Yosemite.

My Scout Troop in California managed to get 3 campsites at the Hodgdon Meadows camp site where we set up a base camp. Two of the sites were adjacent to each other while the third was a short distance away. It actually worked out very well. We then had a number of hikes planned with one for each day we were there.

I relied on some of the other adults to know the trails and how to get to them. That was a mistake. We spent one day hiking all over Tuolumne Meadows looking for the trail head to Elizabeth Lake. I got home from the trip and did a quick Internet search only to get turn-by-turn directions on where to go. Had I done this same search before getting to Yosemite, my feet would have thanked me for saving them from a couple of extra miles I put on them that day.

My advice to everyone now is to do a quick Internet search before heading to any new place. Don't wait until you get there, do it before you leave. After all, we didn't have any phone service except in Yosemite Valley and so trying to use my iPhone's browser while I was there wouldn't have worked for this hike.