Darren Hobbs

Check my weblog for current info: http://www.darrenhobbs.com

About me

Just another ThoughtWorker

History

[January 2002]

Left Yell, and joined ThoughtWorks.

[November 2001]

Considering whether to switch to a DvorakKeyboard (I touch-type on QWERTY and going back to the beginning of time speed-wise while I learn all the new positions is not a fun thought). But having started suffering forearm pains, I have developed a keen interest in ways to reduce the damage I'm doing to myself.

Having spent a weekend practicing, I'm up to 12-14 wpm on Dvorak compared with 50 on Qwerty. Not bad for a couple of hours effort a day over 3 days. Still in two minds about the benefits though.

Bought a trackball hoping it will might be better than a mouse in terms of the risk of RSI / CarpalTunnelSyndrome.

Discovered IntelliJ's IDEA editor recently. Superb. I was a staunch Jbuilder fan until I saw what an IDE should be like. And the refactorings are just brilliant.

[September 2001]

Now trying to introduce a Wiki to the team as a great way of implementing a KnowledgeBase? and TroubleShooting? system without having to mess around with Notes databases or too much excessive bureaucracy.

Managed to garner some support for XP from the team - automated UnitTests are gaining popularity and I'm now pushing ContinuousIntegration as the next step to take.

[Early 2001]

Currently trying to sneak XP techniques into the team, starting with unit testing using JUnit. Have done a small amount of pair programming, usually when someone asks for help, 'sure, you type, and I'll sit next to you and we can talk through it'. It seems to work well, especially in the area of knowledge transfer. Not being a project manager, I can't really effect a full XP revolution, except by (hopefully) demonstrating the techniques as 'A Good Thing' for getting tough projects done well.

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