Those of us who work in a client-focused bespoke-software development arena know the joys of working on multiple platforms for multiple-clients, all wanting their own work first.

In such an arena it’s difficult to keep account holders updated with sprint plans and priorities. It’s even more difficult explaining how sprints work and why sprints have to stop on specific days and why work that doesn’t fit can’t just roll over a sprint and push everything back by a day or two. Keeping clients and account managers happy, keeping track of what’s booked into specific sprints, all with client deadlines and delivery dates, quickly becomes a nightmare task. Continue reading

“Once in every show there comes a song like this..”
Spamalot

My personality means I am always wanting to push myself further by learning new things, pushing my boundaries and taking on new challenges. This was, in part, the reason why I took on the challenge of presenting at DDD events many years ago and a major part in the difficult decision to leave my current position as Development Director at Morning Data. It is an inevitable decision once you realise you’re not pushing yourself as much as you should, much like the inevitable emotion-rousing song in musical theatre.

When I joined the company back in February 2003 I was the very first employee and the first to introduce the company to the world of the Microsoft .NET Framework. Bring us forward to the current day and I leave the company as their Development Director having risen through the roles of Senior Developer and Head of Development. I leave behind me a fantastic team of excellent, talented, first-rate developers and co-workers whom I have had the pleasure of calling my colleagues and will continue to call my friends.

With the company we broke the golden rule of rewriting software and successfully proved that it is possible if managed and handled properly within the team. Between us we introduced Continuous Integration, Build Radiators, Continuous Deployment, Unit Testing, TDD, Kanban boards, morning stand-ups, the infamous WAT board and as much agile as we could stomach. The company is now poised for many, many great things and wish them all the success in the world. For me its onto a brand new challenge and it all starts tomorrow.