A junior developer recently asked for a daily responsibilities checklist. This question made no sense to me at first. A developer’s job isn’t so routine as a daily checklist. However, it sparked me to think about how a developer’s regular activities can be described concisely.

I realized that my Software Engineering Body of Knowledge (SWEBOK) posts reference, but never define, the 15 key knowledge areas outlined by SWEBOK. I intent to fix that with this post.

I recently tried to explain when a developer should be cautious versus when they should freely experiment. This caused me to realize I never learned this lesson explicitly. It’s an intuition I built over time and forgot I had to learn. I believe the answer aligns with what makes a good development environment.

Software Engineers are differentiated from other programming disciplines by economical, repeatable, and reliable results. Such consistency requires measurement, data on which to make informed decisions. I propose that source control and work item tracking are the kernel of such process.

I’ve long understood agile sprints to be a fixed set of work. Lately, I’ve had to examine why. I think the principle still stands, and here’s why.