http://refactr.com/blog informs on and evangelizes best practices of using <a href="http://refactr.com/the-agile-manifesto/">agile methods</a> when designing and developing what are currently being called “Web 2.0” products and applications. Mon, 25 Aug 2008 13:14:05 +0000 http://backend.userland.com/rss092 en Bex Huff says that work-life balance is nearly impossible for good computer geeks. I couldn't disagree more. There's a distinction between creative work that people do for "work" and what they do outside of work. Work/life balance for computer geeks, knowledge workers, or artists has nothing to do with not being ... http://refactr.com/blog/2008/08/worklife-balance/ There is plenty to be said for (and against) the new iPhone and all the new apps flooding to our screens but aside from the sluggish response times and occasional crashes, the biggest problem I have is keeping track of and organizing all these apps. Applications of all types are now ... http://refactr.com/blog/2008/08/iphone-gone-wild/ At Refactr we don't often get RFP's (Requests for Proposals). Most of our consulting project work comes from word of mouth and referral where we help brainstorm what is to be created at the outset. It is the only time in a project where there are routinely meetings for more ... http://refactr.com/blog/2008/07/repsonding-to-rfps/ Lean-to is live! We haven't done a great job of keeping the work we have been doing under wraps but we haven't been promoting it either. Since we gave a demo of our agile project tracking application, Lean-to, at minnebar in May, we have been adding features and tweaking ... http://refactr.com/blog/2008/06/lean-tos-got-agile-project-tracking-covered/ I personally haven't heard this question before, but Martin Fowler mentions that he has been asked whether a team should use agile development or lean development for a project. The answer is that they're not alternatives. Lean development is a type of agile development. In fact, Mary and Tom Poppendieck title their ... http://refactr.com/blog/2008/06/lean-vs-agile/ This is a little bit older, but pretty interesting: Nine Things Developers Want More Than Money. It should be inherently obvious, but seeing lists like this every once in a while is a good reminder that creating and maintaining high-performing teams is clearly more about people than it is about process, ... http://refactr.com/blog/2008/06/nine-things-developers-want-more-than-money/ http://refactr.com/blog/2008/06/this-is-for-sota/ Much has been written in blogs and in the news media about Best Buy's Results Only Work Environment (ROWE). And while the idea (do whatever you want, work however you like, as long as you get your work done.) is cool and it is nice to see a big company ... http://refactr.com/blog/2008/06/best-buy-tries-its-hand-at-being-small/ One of the best parts of Minnesota's barcamp, minnēbar this year was the panel discussion on the state of technology in Minnesota. During the discussion everyone got the chance to hear from and ask questions of some leaders in the Minnesota tech and business communities, including: Doug Olson (Founder of Authorware, led ... http://refactr.com/blog/2008/06/160/ Here's the coolest utility I've seen in a while: OS X Trash. It allows you to manipulate the Trash from the command line; trash files, list the contents, and empty it all from the command line. I'm actually wondering if I might want to try aliasing rm for this. I've ... http://refactr.com/blog/2008/05/command-line-trashing/