Our Blog

Debunking the Parable of the Product Roadmap

Last year I went on a speaking tour across the United States. During that time, I attended many Agile conferences, meetup groups and private company meetings. At these events, I kept hearing the same parable over and over. I heard it so much that I believed it, and since then, I’ve been spreading that story myself. It’s a shame, since I now believe it’s actually more harmful than it is productive.

Build a better product by spending less time planning.

I’m a morning person. I enjoy rising early to plan my day and anticipate what I’ll accomplish. This routine provides clarity of thought and a hunger to act. It challenges me to be alert, prepared, and persistent toward the day’s priorities. Ultimately, it provides an energy and momentum that nourishes me throughout the day, and that—through my action—helps to nourish my team and the software projects we’re responsible for.

Why your developers should think more like a designer

Software exists to create an experience for a user, be it solving a problem or some other business value. Any development process that loses sight of that experience, even for a second, will miss opportunities to create something great.

Agile and Lean practices are crucial to creating products with great experiences. They put the customer at the center of the process and encourage team collaboration.

How we designed our Codemash t-shirts

We presented an idea to the Codemash Conference for a new t-shirt design this year. They decided not to print t-shirts this year, so this design was just for our own enjoyment.

Even though this design doesn't work on the apparel the conference selected, we wanted to share the process we went through to design it.