About

I’ve been a software developer for more than 25 years, and I’ve plumbed the depths of Big Design Up Front and found it to be ineffective in the projects I’ve been involved with; primarily business applications where responsiveness to business change is the most important determinant of success.

I found the Agile Manifesto (http://agilemanifesto.org/) the spring after it appeared, and I realized that it really reflected the way I believed that software should be built.  In fact, I was already doing most of those things only with the tools my clients wanted me to use.

After a couple of years working at getting clients to consider these agile methods, I took the plunge and joined ThoughtWorks (http://www.thoughtworks.com).  After so many years, I wanted to have fun and be challenged at my job again, and I found that at ThoughtWorks.

After 2+ years with ThoughtWorks, 100% travel took its toll and I accepted a position in Southern California (at the largest mortgage lender in the country) where I had an opportunity to mentor and coach a team to achieve the ideals of agile development.

Well that company was bought out in the tragedy that became the real estate meltdown and I find myself an employee of the largest retail bank in the country, and my opportunity to spread the agile ideals has grown to encompass the entire enterprise.

This weblog contains some random (and some not so random) thoughts on software development and other things that are important to me; things that I want to say out loud.

Read, comment, argue..  let me know what you think.

Thanks for looking in – Jon