Are You Ready For PCI DSS 4.0?
- Robert Curlee tl;dr: If your organization handles or processes card payment data, an important milestone is upon you with the coming retirement of PCI DSS 3.2.1 and the following adoption of the new PCI DSS 4.0 standard. SonarQube can help you prepare for the new PCI DSS 4.0 requirements by identifying vulnerabilities, automating standards enforcement, conducting regular code reviews, and training developers on secure coding practices.featured in #498
Patterns Of Legacy Displacement
- Ian Cartwright Rob Horn James Lewis tl;dr: “We have spent most of the last couple of decades helping large organizations overhaul their legacy systems. In doing this we've learned a great deal about what works and seen many paths that lead to failure. We've decided to set aside some time to writing down what we've learned in the form of various patterns that we've seen used.” The authors believe the following four activities should be done in sequence: (1) Understand the outcomes you want to achieve. (2) Decide how to break the problem up into smaller parts. (3) Successfully deliver the parts. (4) Change the organization to allow this to happen on an ongoing basis.featured in #498
Estimating Software Projects: Breaking Down Tasks
- Jacob Kaplan-Moss tl;dr: Jacob describes his process: (1) Begin with a list of tasks or sketch. (2) Think through the steps you need to take to accomplish that task and write them down. Don’t worry about completeness. Each pass just needs to expand on the previous one. (3) For each item, ask the following: Do I understand what change is desired? Do I understand what “done” looks like? Can I define all the steps I would take to get to “done”? Do I have all the information I need? If the answer is “no”, take that task and break it down further using this algorithm again. (4) Repeat until all tasks are sufficiently broken down.featured in #497
Modern Practices For Goal Setting In Software Engineering
tl;dr: How do the best software engineering orgs set and track goals? LinearB’s upcoming workshop: (1) Explores the data behind effective goal setting in software development. (2) Shares strategies elite engineering orgs use for setting OKRs and KPIs. (3) Explains how to use goals to drive predictable software delivery. (4) Includes a free how-to guide + reporting slide deck.featured in #497
How To Give Actionable Feedback On Work Output
- Wes Kao tl;dr: “Super Specific Feedback is extremely concrete feedback primarily on work output. The goal is to strengthen the work product to get it closer to ship ready, and to help the feedback recipient improve their craft and judgment over time.” Wes provides 16 ways to give actionable feedback, starting with: (1) Get “permission” and sell why getting lots of feedback benefits them. (2) Explain the “why.” (3) Avoid the shit sandwich i.e. be intellectually honest and direct, and support it with evidence. (4) Share positive feedback so they know what to continue doing. (5) Aim to be tactical, actionable, concrete, and specific.featured in #496
What If We Rotate Pairs Every Day?
- Gabriel Robaina Kieran Murphy tl;dr: “We developed a lightweight methodology to help teams reflect on the benefits and challenges of pairing and how to solve them. Initial fears were overcome and teams discovered the benefits of frequently rotating pairs. We learned that pair swapping frequently greatly enhances the benefits of pairing. Here we share the methodology we developed, our observations, and some common fears and insight shared by the participating team members.”featured in #496
featured in #496
How To Find Great Senior Engineers
- Ken Kantzer tl;dr: Ken finds it hard to gauge experience when hiring and has developed 3 strategies to help: (1) Case Studies: Prepare a 1-2 page story that lays out, a particular technical scenario in deliberately broad brushstrokes, and then ask the candidate to figure out what they’d do. (2) Three Why’s Technique: Practice of asking someone to describe something, and then pressing them three more times for more details. (3) Ask them to Break the Rules: A more specific instantiation of a famous interview question “What important truth do very few people agree with you on?”featured in #496
An Engineering Leader’s Job Search Algorithm
- Kevin Conroy tl;dr: Word document written by Kevin, an Engineering Manager at Meta. “This outlines the algorithm I’ve used for my job searches. It’s not perfect. There’s no one right way to do this, and your mileage will vary. However, I’ve tried to capture the common elements and rules of thumb I’ve picked up over the years in the hopes that it will help someone else through what is all too often a very stressful process. I hope you, too, can overcome the imposter syndrome and anxiety you might have to get a job that you love and pays you what you are worth (or more)!”featured in #496
How Capable Leaders Navigate Uncertainty And Ambiguity
- John Cutler Tom Kerwin tl;dr: “What do leaders who are skilled at navigating complexity know how to do? What do they do differently? What would you observe if a leader had these skills?” The authors asked these questions, and answered them using general behaviors they’ve observed first. These include: (1) Accepting they are part of the problem and have contributed to the current situation. (2) Encourage new interaction patterns and not simply remove individuals. (3) Patient divergence by resisting the urge to converge on a path forward prematurely.featured in #495