2025–06 My Substack Exclusive Articles
Read them on Substack.
1. What is a Proper Agile Iteration (Sprint)? Part 1: User Story *
As we all know, a User Story in Agile is a customer requirement (feature or change request).
A common mistake is managing user stories in a digital form, such as in Jira.
Some readers might object, “How can you say that? I thought digital user stories were a hallmark of Agile.” Well, that’s a misconception. Let me share quotes from two co-authors of the Agile Manifesto.
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2. Two Key Skills Mid-Level Software Engineers Need to Become a 10X Developer *
I classify (feel free to disagree) mid-level software developers based on their skills, not their job titles. In fact, nearly all the principal software engineers and solution architects I’ve met over the past 20 years were, in my view, mid-level. To me, the level above mid-level is what I consider a 10X developer.
I became a 10X developer in 2006 after learning two essential skills through pair programming with a world-renowned 100+X software engineer (yes, such people really do exist) in 2005.
During my daughter’s first year studying Computer Science at the University of Queensland, someone organized a talk by an alumnus, now a senior engineer at Google USA. On that day, I heard Courtney casually mention, “I’ll be home late because of this event”.
After hearing the event, I said half-jokingly, ‘He’ll probably focus on these two skills/practices: … and …’
When she got home that night, the first thing she said to me was, ‘You were right!’
The two skills/practices are: …
