Thu Dec 1
Earlier this month, we hosted Global Day of Coderetreat (GDCR) at our Toronto office. After a three-year hiatus, we wanted to re-awaken some of the community enthusiasm when we hosted the event for the first time back in 2019. This year we planned for a larger event which turned out to be a really good thing as we nearly doubled our attendance. And in case you were wodering, this is how we did it.
Wed Nov 2
On the one hand, labels can hold us back. They come with expectations on what we can and can’t do, or what we know and don’t know. Those expectations can be self-inflicted or put on us by others. This is especially true of job titles. This is why at a Coderetreat, we say that we leave our job titles at the door. For similar reasons, we delete our code at the end of a Coderetreat pairing session. Pre-existing notions, assumptions, or expectations oftentimes hold us back from learning — consequently, we discard them when possible.
Wed Oct 12
In this final edition of the Product Delivery Team Anti-patterns series, Paul Sobocinski, Director of Engineering covers the async fixation anti-pattern and how it straddles a fine line with async collaboration.
Wed Aug 24
Continuing the Product Delivery Team Anti-patterns Series, Paul Sobocinski, Director of Engineering covers the silo-ball anti-pattern in this edition and reveals how a virtual Kanban board can incentivize silos within remote Scrum teams.
Tue Aug 16
Great products are something we can’t help but love here at Connected. From products that simplify investing to ones that keep your information safe and secure, we have eclectic taste, and this edition is no exception as we dive into cars and specifically the electric vehicle manufacturer - Tesla. Paul Sobocinski, Practice Director, Engineering details why the Tesla Model Y is his favourite product and it may have to do with simplicity, practicality, versatility, and safety.
Tue Aug 9
Heroes on product delivery teams are members that have great technical expertise and are relied upon to solve issues. But, depending on one subject matter expert when crises occur is harmful to the team and the product in the long term. Paul Sobocinski, Practice Director, Engineering explains how to counteract the "hero" anti-pattern by implementing several processes including avoiding "soloing" to move faster!
Thu Aug 4
It isn’t uncommon for product delivery teams to have developed approaches that result in new team members being onboarded quickly via a self-paced, independent onboarding process. From asking engineers to create a developer setup in x hours by themselves to solving something on the backlog that requires no help of others, these teams are engaging in an anti-pattern called (fend-for-your)self-onboarding. Paul Sobocinski, Practice Director, Engineering explains how to counteract this anti-pattern by pairing new hires and how to effectively evaluate new members for their technical skills!
Thu May 19
When you think of product development, words that may come to mind are prototypes, market research, and user testing. Other words that probably surfaced are agile development, UX design, and innovation. But one that may not have made the short-list is likely: creativity. Product teams may not realize it, but they engage in creativity every single day from the approaches they take for building prototypes to figuring out ways to collect feedback accurately from users. Paul Sobocinski, our Director of Engineering, Practice shares how software product teams and creativity are better together than apart, and how to leverage the power of imagination (an aspect of creativity) during a retrospective.
Wed Apr 6
It isn't every day that the lessons 11-year old us learned would greatly impact our present-day selves. That is unless you're Paul and that lesson came from your violin teacher. That's because the lessons she taught served him well, professionally and personally, and today, he's going to share them with you.
Thu Sep 16
Great teams build great products, and great processes enable great teams. Our Practice Director, Engineering, Paul Sobocinski, shares his thoughts on planning poker estimation in the fourth part of his ongoing series focussed on software estimation on product development teams.
Wed Nov 25
In part three of his series on Software Estimation, Director of Engineering, Paul Sobocinski, walks us through the origin and application of story pointing and how it can be applied to help teams build better products.
Tue Sep 15
In the second article in his series on software estimation, Director of Engineering, Practice, Paul Sobocinski walks us through the four reasons why engineers should utilize the practice.
Thu Aug 13
Rallying a team around clear principles is the best way of creating alignment and delivering impact. In this piece, Paul Sobocinski, gives his view on the three key principles needed for effective software estimation.
Thu Feb 20
Great product builders are those who are constantly honing their craft. Connected’s Paul Sobocinski, Senior Software Engineer, explains exactly why attending Coderetreats is a valuable experience for junior and senior developers alike.
Thu Nov 7
Software Engineer Paul Sobocinski explains Intention Driven Pairing, a pair programming methodology that can help improve our software development practice combining uninterrupted focus and continuous feedback to realize the benefits of both.
Thu Jul 25
Find out if changing lanes will help you beat traffic!