archive: 2009/4

The Possessive Developer

Wrapping up our first pass at Development Project Archetypes we look at a common culprit on brownfield teams. During your first week on the project you’re assigned to have a mentor who has written a l

The 'Oooo...Shiney!' Developer

For the final few posts in the Development Project Archetypes we’ll focus on developers. An incestuous cousin to the Front of the Magazine Architect, this developer is easily distracted by any new tec

The Enhancing Tester/QA

Still avoiding developers, we continue talking about archetypes… Usually found in the confines of an organization that has heavily silo’d roles and responsibilities, the Enhancing Tester will be assig

The Over Protective DBA

Deviating from the developer sphere, we continue the Development Project Archetypes… A good many application require access to a database. If you’re lucky, you’ll have free rein over the database to m

The Hero Developer

Another in the Archetypes series… Everyone loves a hero. The PM, the architects and the client relish the long hours he puts into delivering results. When the client is told we don’t have the budget o

WCF and nHibernate redux

A while back I posted about a small framework that I wrote to make handling of nHibernate Sessions easier in a WCF world. There were a couple of problems with it and I’ve spent some time fixing it re

The "Experienced" Developer

The next post in the Software Development Archetypes series… Every project needs experienced people to improve the odds of succeeding. Skilled developer resources are hard to come by so you’re really

The Skeptic

Another post in the Development Project Archetypes series… Every time that the team attempts to implement a technique, process or technology that will address a project problem and better the team’s a

The Disinterested Developer

Transitioning into the realm of developers, we continue the Development Project Archetypes series… Though you will usually see the Disinterested Developer working diligently whenever you walk by, you

The Ex-Tech Project Manager

Resuming the Development Project Archetypes series… Monday morning and the Ex-Tech PM appears on the edge of the status meeting as an observer to the team’s daily ritual. One by one the developers tel

The Front of the Magazine Architect

The next post in the archetypes series… Once a month, every month, she visits the team and blurts out “We should use/do/implement <insert technology of the month here>.” The monthly rhythm of th

The Process-Heavy PM

Another in the archetypes series… This person is one of the most feared by developers around the world. While the team is working to deliver software, he is asking them to write action reports and det

The Disenfranchised Client

Continuing the series on archetypes… Beaten down by months of missed deadlines, misunderstood requirements and repeated defects, the Disenfranchised Client has lost all faith in the team’s ability to

The Absentee Client

The next instalment in the archetypes series… When the project starts the Absentee Client engages the team just long enough to build up some velocity. As soon as he perceives some progress being made,

Ivory Tower Architect

This is a commonly known archetype in the development world. Since it’s commonly known I figure it’s a great place to start this series of posts. Sporadically swooping into meetings with the rest of

Development Project Archetypes

As part of writing our book, Kyle and I have spent some time coming up with archetypes that exist on many of the software projects that we’ve been on. Our goal is just to describe what we’ve seen so