Bitpicking

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It's Christmas so time to sit back, relax, eat heartily ... and think about your logging framework and what chaos might be happening in your infrastructure while you're arguing over which Celebration is the best. (Hint, it's Maltesers Teaser.)

Only just less exciting than a loot box, we try a homegrown random topic selector and see what happens.

Post-COVID, the world is a very different place, so the Bitpickers return with a hefty dose of the same old tosh, and the same lack of show notes. Sorry not sorry.

It's the season finale and we put down the keyboards and just have a good ol' chinwag. We'll be back in Spring 2021!

This week, the team talk about the good and bad of performance reviews

Laura talks about her experience as a mentor, and we discuss the value of mentor/mentee relationships in the industry.

In this episode we look at recruitment from the 'other side' as we welcome Steve Wright from Spectrum IT to discuss the role of the recruitment agent for todays job seekers.

This week we talk about 'visionaries' and 'evangelists' and how should a Development team respond when faced with exciting, but often unrealistic, new ideas.

Recorded as the UK starts easing out of lock down, we take a look back over the 15 weeks and discuss how we've coped, what changes we've seen in ourselves and others, and consider what things might stick or change as we adapt to the new working model. Wait But Why - Why Procastinators Procastinate Things Might Go Terribly, Horribly Wrong: A Guide To Life Liberated From Anxiety The Confidence Gap

Look, an episode! This week, we talk with Paul Newell, veteran of the defence industry, to get a view on the difficulty applying agile concepts to multi-year, multi-million pound projects. This episode was recorded over Zoom, so sorry not sorry about the audio quality.

It's another remote episode of Bitpicking TV, in audio form! This week, the team consider the sudden popularity of Zoom for conferencing, and whether anyone really cares about security and privacy if they can just get to change their background once in a while.  In an ironic twist of events, Skype lets us down halfway through, so we decide to try Zoom out for ourselves.  See if you can spot the join! Watch our happy little faces at https://youtu.be/2ZsPuE3kwAM

Desperate times, desperate measures....  The Bitpicking team congregate on Skype for what's probably the first of many remote sessions.  Naturally, the only topic in town is the impact of COVID-19 on the daily lives of software teams - remote working, changes in business priorities, and how long until we're all on Club Penguin... As an added bonus, you can now see our angelic little faces on Bitpicking TV!  Find us at https://youtu.be/xqthn2gMBM0 - like and subscribe! (that's what the cool kids say, right?)

Mark & Greg tackle TDD - Test Driven Development.  What is it?  When should you do it?  How can you make it stick?

Laura, Mark and Greg turn their sights on modern Agile - has it lost its way, and has it really changed anything in the meantime? (fact-check:  Semco is one of *Brazil's* largest conglomerates, not Britain's - clearly someone can't read and talk at the same time)

We welcome Matt Alner (@matthewalner), developer, TechDorset organiser, and serial side project-er to Bitpicking for a rambling chat about meet ups, bluetooth hacking, browser wars, TypeScript and more! TechDorset: https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/tech-dorset-pizza-and-chat-about-whats-new-in-dev-tech-and-tech-news-registration-49689447475

This week, Laura, Greg and Mark talk about the best way to get in to software development.  Do you need a CompSci degree to be a good coder? Or are you better off just getting on with the job? 

As we welcome in the new decade we look at Project Management and ask whether software teams need a dedicated Project Manager or not?

Like all good Christmas parties, it started with good intentions and ended in chaos, and now we can't remember what we spoke about but we'll blame the mulled wine. Loosely themed around side projects, expect lots of deviation!

This week, we discuss what makes a good working environment for teams.  Are you an open plan fan or a cubicle hermit?