Week 506 - Interesting links

Space4 Impact: 1 year building London’s home for digital co-operatives

It’s really good to hear that Space4, the co-operative co-working and events space in Finsbury Park, is going from strength to strength. We know how hard Outlandish, and particularly Polly, have worked to make it a success! Having put a lot of their own resources into the project, they’re now keen to find partners who can help them out with cash, publicity and strategic growth. Do get in touch with them if that might be you! — JM

The Rise and Demise of RSS

I’ve started using an RSS feed reader again recently, so I was interested to read this article documenting the history of RSS. — JM

Sprints, marathons and root canals

This article attempts to answer the following questions: How to prioritise technical debt against business features? How do we convince them that refactoring is important? How can anyone estimate the value of technical stories?

I really agree with the section which suggests “the sprint metaphor has now taken on a dangerous literal meaning”. And “if there is a racing metaphor for software product delivery, it would be a marathon, not a sprint”.

I was also really interested to read that:

Alistair Cockburn wrote about finite and infinite games, those that have a clear completion state and those that are played for the purpose of continuing the game. He also categorised games into collaborative or cooperative, concluding that software development is a collaborative infinite game.

I do think it’s a bad idea to schedule technical tasks, but I’m not totally convinced about his idea of creating a sustainability budget. — JM