Link Round-Up for 8/23/07

August 23rd, 2007

Here are some links to interesting articles and blog posts I ran across this week on the subjects of VB.NET and software development teams.

To lead off this week, Jeff Atwood at Coding Horror wrote this piece, Leading by Example, that fits in well with my article on Marine Corps leadership, and not just because he has a picture of Gunny Hartman (R. Lee Ermey) from Full Metal Jacket in it. In the article he goes into the pitfall of being seen as an enforcer and not a leader. Good stuff.

In my article earlier this week, 10 Ways To Insure Project Failure, I mentioned the practice of using methodologies like Agile and Scrum as political cover for failed projects. To be fair, I should highlight that not everyone uses them as a way to do a CYA dance. While I’m still kind of skeptical about these processes, having seen and heard of them being misused, some organizations are using them successfully. If you want some further resources on Scrum and Agile development methods, check out this article by Billy McCafferty, Introduction to Scrum and Agile Development.

Over at dream.in.code they have free reference sheets for C++, Java, VB6, ColdFusion, and VB.NET. I recommend downloading them and tacking them up in your cubical.

On TechRepublic this week there was a lively discussion about this column by Jason Hiner, Sanity Check: Is IT still a profession worth recommending to the next generation? My opinion is that for most people entering the working world from college or making a career change IT is not a good career option for several reasons (which I may cover in depth in my own article later). Some people disagreed, some with good points other with cheesy patronizing platitudes. Anyway, it was a good discussion about IT careers and the future direction they may take.

If you want to get a heads up on what people are saying in the .NET world, check out DotNetKicks. It’s sort of like Digg for the .NET community where you can view current blog articles on .NET topics and approve of them by giving them a ‘kick’. If you like my articles, make sure you give them a kick by clicking the DotNetKicks icon on the social bookmarking bar at the bottom of the post.

That’s all the links for this week. If you know of any articles or blog posts related to VB.NET or general programming practices that you think I should take a look at, please leave me a comment or use the Contact Me page to send me a private note.

Entry Filed under: Link Round-Up

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