The company I work for is tossing the idea around of moving to Agile. Most likely it’ll be the ‘bake your own’ process method bringing in a coach and analyst to get the best processes down. Any of you have any advice on what to watch out for. I’ve worked for an agile shop before, but the process was already in place and working well before I started. I’ve never worked at a place that has transitioned from Waterfall to Agile before.

I should note that all the key players are/will be in place for the switch should we decide to switch, and I’m not the one making the final decision.

Please comment.

–dez

So I have always kind of wondered this, but today I finally decided to ask the question:

Why do car blinkers blink at different speeds and is it only me that cares/notices?

Apparently not. One of my favorite comics (XKCD) did a blinker comic

I also found another cool blinker story here which made me glad that I don’t put THAT much thought into why they don’t go at the same rate. However I was able to find out that all flashers must comply with FMSVSS108-S.A.E. J590b that’s mumbo jumbo: Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standards 108 – Socient of Automotive Engineers J590B. Even though I couldn’t find the text that specifically said it, I was able to find a product reference to being compliant and going between 60 and 120 Flashes per second. So there’s my answer. There IS a standard, it’s just really varied… it would be pretty awesome someday to sit behind a vehicle that happened to turn their flashers on at the same time and blink at the same rate.

As it is now, I’m happy to know that ‘03 VW Passats and ‘05 Mercury Cougar Coupes blink at NEARLY the same rate (my experience today).

–dez

I’ve been writing regression tests today. Here is my post-work test case in web application style:

Steps:

1. Login to residence using key
2. Navigate to item ‘Refrigerator’
3. Drag-n-drop ‘Refrigerator’ door from right to left
   1. This may vary depending on version of ‘Refrigerator’
4. Search for “Beer” in ‘Refrigerator’
5. Add quantity one(1) ‘Beer’ to ‘Counter’
6. Drag-n-drop ‘Refrigerator’ door from left to right
   1. This may vary depending on version of ‘Refrigerator’
7. Open ‘Beer’
   1. Version 1: Use item ‘Bottle Opener’ on Cap
   2. Version 2: Use hand to grasp and twist Cap counter-clockwise
8. Navigate to ‘Couch’
9. Save ‘Self’ to ‘Couch’
10. Put opening of ‘Beer’ to mouth
11. Using ‘Arm’ lift opposite end of ‘Beer’ upwards
12. Repeat steps 2-11 as necessary
13. Pass out

I’ve got my plans for the night… what about you?

**Expected results intentionally left out.

–dez

After my 5 days with using the Verizon Droid as my main phone, I’m actually somewhat jealous of the fact that I can’t have it. I was expecting to be underwhelmed by the product after being overwhelmed by the advertising hype.  I wasn’t. One of the major things things that I noticed when I first held the phone was the weight of it. There is something to be said about paying ~$200 for a phone and actually feeling the purchase you made in your hand.

Don’t worry about the difference in applications between the iPhone’s app store and the Android app store. Yes, the iPhone’s App Store has 100,000 applications (but you can’t install them all on your phone at once) and the same goes with the Android’s App Store. There’s 10,000 applications, but you can’t have them all installed at once anyways. This is besides the fact that there are a TON of duplicate use applications. With the number of phones coming out that are based on the Android OS the number of apps will inevitably rise.

My vote is for the Droid and any other Android phone to do well. Why? I like the idea of an open marketplace where people buy and download based on other user comments or previous applications from that developer. I hope that soon there won’t be a question of “which app store is it available on” that it will be “cool, let me get that for my <insert name phone opposite of the other person in the conversation>”.

My final verdict on the Droid is to buy it. It’s a serious step up from all other non-iPhone phones on the market right now and it’s the closest anyone has gotten to the excitement that the iPhone had.

Pros:

• Metal Frame
• Availability of physical keyboard
• Slider style
• Lots of memory
• Lots of storage for multimedia files (songs, pictures, videos)
• 5MP camera WITH flash
• Customizable operating system

Cons:

• Physical Keyboard (buttons are too flat and it’s easy to press more than one key at a time
• Network availability (ok, maybe this is just for me since I’m not on Verizon)
• The inset power button which also serves as a wakeup button
• The placement and sensitivity of the camera button
• Lack of send and end buttons (I need these, it’s a phone)