Every morning I record a short video about software development. Subscribe and stay tuned!

Mornings!

The video is here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PYq05UAwzNk

M2: We must fully trust the architect, but regularly review the decisions he or she is making

The video is here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gMJNz9AWbQE

M1: Your enthusiasm may only harm the project if you can't deliver it incrementally

The video is here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_ppWQCCT8zE

M16: You either report bugs or implement features. You can't do any of that? You are out.

The video is here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=77pWgn_JVRk

M17: Algorithm-driven mining doesn't make a cryptocurrency more democratic, but less transparent

The video is here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MF0xMjyKdKk

M18: Writing unit tests or not is not the decision project makes, it's your professional choice

The video is here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tHeXxLdGqqI

M19: Want to pay-by-result? You have to do microtasking first, otherwise nothing will work.

The video is here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F3bjFXFRsI8

M20: Reporting bugs and deciding whether they should be fixed are two separate acticitives!

Very often I hear people saying that microtasking is only suitable for junior developers, who are ready to work like "coding monkeys", while professional senior programmers can't do that. That's a mistake. Junior developer simply can't do microtasking, because it's stressful and complex. It's something that only experienced programmers can do right and make money out of it. 

The video is here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1pHUx-ISrS8

M21: Junior developers are not a good fit for microtasking, they simply can't keep up.

I was asked to explain what Zerocracy is doing exactly, but a potential client of ours. Here is what I managed to create, in just 15 minutes (I wanted to do five, but didn't manage). The bottom line is that full-time hiring and outsourcing are two great recipes for disaster, for a young startup. To the contrary, Zerocracy is a life saver.

The full video is here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GozQCUH2D0I

M22: Both full-time hiring and outsourcing will lead your project to failure, Zerocracy won't.

If you need to demonstrate your investors that your software team is working hard on something great, you need a group of junior developers — they are easy to manage and are afraid of going into conflicts. On the other hand, if you need to develop a great product, you need senior developers. However, they are difficult to manage because they prefer to work for themselves, not for you and your project. Will you be able to manage them? 

The full video is here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SdrtZIW5JtY

M23: Senior developers are the best, but the most difficult to manage, and the most dagnerous

We claim that Zerocracy is an AI bot that is capable of managing people better than a human being. But very often I hear questions: How is it possible to make a computer so smart? Is AI so powerful already? In this morning video I ask you a question: Do you know what AI is? What exactly is happening in that "thinking" machines? Do they really "think" as you expect them to? No, they don't. Just like Zerocracy chatbot doesn't really think, but only does what its algorithms are designed to do. There are no thinking machines in the world, as of yet. And they won't show up in the near future.

The full video is here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XBZcVHc0LNE

M24: Artificial Intelligence is not a thinking machine, but a powerful calculator

I've got a meeting with a potential investor a few days ago, which asked me to help him develop some software, in order to prove that Zerocracy is an investable business. I refused and here is the explanation of my logic.

The full video is here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F3eRSRt-zDY

M25: Dear investors, Zerocracy is not an on-demand software shop, think bigger!

How do you protect your business ideas from potential theft by your own programmers? Do you sign NDAs? Do you hire only those who won't steal? Well, I believe you should do the opposite. Don't be scared of theft, just be prepared to prove that the idea was originally yours and share their success, when and if they get it. 

The full video is here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H56jeG_Xi64

M26: Don't be afraid of your programmers, just get ready to fight when they get rich on your idea

You know how much I love microtasking and paying-by-result, but you may wonder how can we estimate the future of our projects if we deal with very small pieces of work. I made an attempt to explain it in the video. Long story short, microtasks not only make estimation easier for computers, but ensure much higher accuracy and preciseness of the result. 

The full video is here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1rmZN3r5SWg

M27: Microtasking enables more accurate and precise estimates of a software project's future

Microtasking is a great management method, provided you can break your larger scope into smaller micro-tasks. Who should do this decomposition and how much time will work by itself will take? This question I hear very often when we start talking about paying-by-results and microtasking. We've spent a few years to find the answer and the methodology invented was called Puzzle Driven Development, here is how it works (the full video is there): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LmSaC_OjIbQ

M28: Microtasking works only if you can decompose tasks, PDD helps you do exactly that

In order to do the project right, you need the right person, right? Wrong! This type of thinking doesn't help at all and only leads to failures. It's the management that needs to be "right," not its people. Watch this morning video about this problem: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SSZnloEHeOk

M29: Instead of finding the right architect, find a way to manage the architect right

The average salary of american workers is growing 1% every year, while the paygap between similar jobs is decreasing. What do I think about this trend? Does it sound like people are getting more every year and it's good? Not at all. This trend is completely against what Zerocracy is fighting for: unequal pay for unequal contribution. We want to work with free people, who get what they deserve because of their work, not because of their place in the company. Meritocracy is yet another name for the movement we are leading now in the industry of software development.

The full video is here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mKZOuJ7AAas

M30: Pay equality and smaller pay gap mean only one thing: the management is weak

Do you know what micromanagement is? It's when your manager is telling you exactly what you have to do right now in order to achieve the results he or she wants. The micromanager doesn't trust you and that's why wants and needs to control every step you make. It's annoying and unproductive, but it's inevitable unless you have small tasks and a transparent and unambiguous system of rewards and punishment.

The full video is here: https://youtu.be/0Jte_LGR5Zk

M32: Micromanagement happens when tasks are big and motivation is not explicit

Proper management is very rare, happens only in some companies. Others are treating people like office slaves, expecting them to do stay in the office instead of delivering results. What do you do when you happen to be hired by such a company? How do you change it? How can you improve your team and motivate your management to shift to better management practices, like microtasking, paying by result, etc? You can't! And you shouldn't even try. 

The full video is here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Op3EIwhMxrg

M33: No don't need to be loyal to your employers, use them for your own good!

I know so many testers who think that they are QA engineers. They are so wrong that I decided to record a video about that. Testing is about breaking the software and finding bugs. QA is about watching the entire software development process and improving its quality indicators. They are two absolutely different activities.

The full video is here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hp4PL0AJAVo

M34: Testing and Quality Assurance (QA) are two entirely different things!

Software developer at Huawei, founder of Zerocracy, author of Elegant Objects, creator of Zold

Mornings!

@yegor256