It’s New Years again!
We are excited to announce the most popular articles on Thoughtworks Insights, as well as the editors’ picks for 2015.
Our articles are written by Thoughtworkers and our friends from around the world, who share their real world experience through valuable tips and insights. The results show that our readers are incredibly passionate about the latest technology and trends, technical excellence, and business transformation. People are also focused on improving their skills— whether it is learning new management skills, decoding the process of giving feedback or even running meetings more effectively.
This list also shows that you and other readers never stop learning, striving or looking for inspiration to think outside of the box.
We hope that these provoke you to think differently! Enjoy these articles a second time around, and let us know about your top content in the comments.
In alphabetic order, here are the top 15 posts of 2015.
1. 5 Tips for Being an Effective Tech Lead — Pat Kua
A Tech Lead is responsible for an entire development team. This means dealing with people, both technical and non-technical. This article helps those taking on this role, with tips to do so.
2. Challenging Paradigms in Health Informatics — Vivek Singh
An understanding of less commonly cited systemic patterns that have been observed when it comes to the development and implementation of Health Information Systems for Governments and NGOs in particular.
3. Composition vs. Inheritance: How to Choose? — Steven Lowe
Composition and inheritance are both fundamental, so what’s the big deal? The big deal is in thinking that one can replace the other in all cases, or that one is better or worse than the other. Like everything else in software development, there are tradeoffs to be made.
4. Effective Navigation in Pair Programming — Carlos Villela and Viviana Terceros Cordova
We find Pair Programming to be one of the most effective ways to keep our developers productive, sharing knowledge and experience in Thoughtworks. It is important to remember that both roles in the pair are equally important with specific expectations and responsibilities during pairing.
5. Implications of Tech Stack Complexity for Executives — Jim Highsmith, Mike Mason and Neal Ford
In order for organizations to thrive in the digital environment, leaders need to understand the implications of the changing technology landscape on our organizations. This is the first article in Technology Radar Echoes, a new series where authors share their insights and experience on the technology problems and solutions driving business differentiation for enterprise leaders. Thoughtworkers Jim Highsmith, Neal Ford and Mike Mason collaborated on this piece looking at the complexity of the tech stack for the executive.
6. Introducing Agile Analytics - Ken Collier
Like Agile software development, Agile Analytics is established on a set of core values and guiding principles. This first chapter of Ken’s book outlines the tenets of Agile Analytics and establishes the foundational principles behind each of the practices and techniques that are introduced in the successive chapters of Agile Analytics: A Value-Driven Approach to Business Intelligence and Data Warehousing.
7. Is QA Dead? - Rouan Wilsenach
The most powerful benefit of test automation is what it frees you, the QA, to do. This article won our internal Great African Blogging Competition in 2015.
8. Monoliths are Bad Design... and You Know It - Sam Gibson
In principle, it is possible to create independent modules within a single monolithic application. In practice, this is seldom implemented. Code within the monolith, most often and quickly, becomes tightly coupled. Microservices, in contrast, encourage architects and provides developers the opportunity to develop less coupled systems that can be changed faster and scaled more effectively.
9. Moving to the Phoenix Server Pattern - Part 1, Part 2 - Ama Asare and Pablo Porto
10. Potential, not a Panacea: Tech in Low-Resource Health Delivery - Dr. David Walton
The potential of rational technology and its ability to improve the delivery of care in these settings is endless, often limited by our own failure of imagination.
11. Text-to-Buy: Convenience Meets Personalization in Retail - Rachel Brooks and Daniel Pallozzi
Text based offerings bring new meaning to ‘anytime, anywhere’ convenience. Will this become the preferred channel for customers to shop? How is your company preparing for this new wave of customer interaction?
12. The 22 Rules of UX - Valeria Spirovski
This piece uses Pixar’s 22 rules of storytelling adapted for UX — because both are about creating great experiences!
13. The QA Role - What Is It Really? - Kenny Cruden
A QA has a fundamental understanding of each of the roles in the team and, as such, is a ‘generalist by trade’. They require this broad understanding of the roles to be able to understand how projects and their products are progressing and, as a result, provide feedback on practices or processes that could be improved.
14. The Unfinished Business of Organizational Transformation - Aaron Sachs and Anupam Kundu
This is the first piece in which the authors shared their insights on organizational change management — the drivers, anti-patterns and signals to be cognizant of and to address early on. Most of the stories are from their personal experience and modern media.
15. Work from Home like a Pro - Jennifer Quraishi
Is working from home actually productive? Definitely, say many studies; it not only increases productivity, it also increases employee retention and reduces absenteeism. Get tips for getting the most out of your work-from-home day.
Happy holidays, and see you in 2016.
We are excited to announce the most popular articles on Thoughtworks Insights, as well as the editors’ picks for 2015.
Our articles are written by Thoughtworkers and our friends from around the world, who share their real world experience through valuable tips and insights. The results show that our readers are incredibly passionate about the latest technology and trends, technical excellence, and business transformation. People are also focused on improving their skills— whether it is learning new management skills, decoding the process of giving feedback or even running meetings more effectively.
This list also shows that you and other readers never stop learning, striving or looking for inspiration to think outside of the box.
We hope that these provoke you to think differently! Enjoy these articles a second time around, and let us know about your top content in the comments.
In alphabetic order, here are the top 15 posts of 2015.
1. 5 Tips for Being an Effective Tech Lead — Pat Kua
A Tech Lead is responsible for an entire development team. This means dealing with people, both technical and non-technical. This article helps those taking on this role, with tips to do so.
2. Challenging Paradigms in Health Informatics — Vivek Singh
An understanding of less commonly cited systemic patterns that have been observed when it comes to the development and implementation of Health Information Systems for Governments and NGOs in particular.
3. Composition vs. Inheritance: How to Choose? — Steven Lowe
Composition and inheritance are both fundamental, so what’s the big deal? The big deal is in thinking that one can replace the other in all cases, or that one is better or worse than the other. Like everything else in software development, there are tradeoffs to be made.
4. Effective Navigation in Pair Programming — Carlos Villela and Viviana Terceros Cordova
We find Pair Programming to be one of the most effective ways to keep our developers productive, sharing knowledge and experience in Thoughtworks. It is important to remember that both roles in the pair are equally important with specific expectations and responsibilities during pairing.
5. Implications of Tech Stack Complexity for Executives — Jim Highsmith, Mike Mason and Neal Ford
In order for organizations to thrive in the digital environment, leaders need to understand the implications of the changing technology landscape on our organizations. This is the first article in Technology Radar Echoes, a new series where authors share their insights and experience on the technology problems and solutions driving business differentiation for enterprise leaders. Thoughtworkers Jim Highsmith, Neal Ford and Mike Mason collaborated on this piece looking at the complexity of the tech stack for the executive.
6. Introducing Agile Analytics - Ken Collier
Like Agile software development, Agile Analytics is established on a set of core values and guiding principles. This first chapter of Ken’s book outlines the tenets of Agile Analytics and establishes the foundational principles behind each of the practices and techniques that are introduced in the successive chapters of Agile Analytics: A Value-Driven Approach to Business Intelligence and Data Warehousing.
7. Is QA Dead? - Rouan Wilsenach
The most powerful benefit of test automation is what it frees you, the QA, to do. This article won our internal Great African Blogging Competition in 2015.
8. Monoliths are Bad Design... and You Know It - Sam Gibson
In principle, it is possible to create independent modules within a single monolithic application. In practice, this is seldom implemented. Code within the monolith, most often and quickly, becomes tightly coupled. Microservices, in contrast, encourage architects and provides developers the opportunity to develop less coupled systems that can be changed faster and scaled more effectively.
9. Moving to the Phoenix Server Pattern - Part 1, Part 2 - Ama Asare and Pablo Porto
A server should be like a phoenix, regularly rising out of the ashes.
10. Potential, not a Panacea: Tech in Low-Resource Health Delivery - Dr. David Walton
The potential of rational technology and its ability to improve the delivery of care in these settings is endless, often limited by our own failure of imagination.
11. Text-to-Buy: Convenience Meets Personalization in Retail - Rachel Brooks and Daniel Pallozzi
Text based offerings bring new meaning to ‘anytime, anywhere’ convenience. Will this become the preferred channel for customers to shop? How is your company preparing for this new wave of customer interaction?
12. The 22 Rules of UX - Valeria Spirovski
This piece uses Pixar’s 22 rules of storytelling adapted for UX — because both are about creating great experiences!
13. The QA Role - What Is It Really? - Kenny Cruden
A QA has a fundamental understanding of each of the roles in the team and, as such, is a ‘generalist by trade’. They require this broad understanding of the roles to be able to understand how projects and their products are progressing and, as a result, provide feedback on practices or processes that could be improved.
14. The Unfinished Business of Organizational Transformation - Aaron Sachs and Anupam Kundu
This is the first piece in which the authors shared their insights on organizational change management — the drivers, anti-patterns and signals to be cognizant of and to address early on. Most of the stories are from their personal experience and modern media.
15. Work from Home like a Pro - Jennifer Quraishi
Is working from home actually productive? Definitely, say many studies; it not only increases productivity, it also increases employee retention and reduces absenteeism. Get tips for getting the most out of your work-from-home day.
Happy holidays, and see you in 2016.
Disclaimer: The statements and opinions expressed in this article are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the positions of Thoughtworks.