Software Delivery Notebook

Episodes

  • Work Is Water: Flow, Not Drowning

    Work Is Water: Flow, Not Drowning
    The Software Delivery Notebook
    Work Is Water: Flow, Not Drowning
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    From the article Work Is Water on The New Stack.

    Modern work environments often overwhelm individuals with an endless stream of tasks, akin to a river flooding its banks. It suggests that attempting to rush work through only exacerbates the problem, leading to more interruptions and a feeling of being constantly submerged.

    Embrace a “flow” mentality inspired by natural waterways and find out how slowing down, continuous small-scale planning, and intentional decision-making is how you get things done.

  • Restorative practice for software teams

    Defining Restorative
    The Software Delivery Notebook
    Restorative practice for software teams
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    Looks at the Defining Restorative paper from Ted Wachtel, founder of the International Institute for Restorative Practices (IIRP).

    The explores the historical evolution of restorative justice from ancient roots to modern applications and outlines a supporting framework and how it can be used in the context of software teams.

    It builds trust, fosters buy in, and reinforces that social capital.

  • The 2025 State of GitOps report

    State of GitOps 2025
    The Software Delivery Notebook
    The 2025 State of GitOps report
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    The State of GitOps Report is the first in-depth investigation into the adoption, practices, and benefits of GitOps, drawing on data from 660 survey responses and expert interviews. Its goal is to understand what constitutes successful GitOps implementation.

    The report finds that GitOps adoption is increasing, with 93% of organizations planning to continue or increase their use. It explores adoption not just by prevalence (breadth across systems) but also by the number of key practices implemented (depth or maturity). The report identifies a model of 6 core practices considered necessary for successful adoption.

    The data showed a clear correlation: Applying more GitOps practices across more use cases, and over more of your productions systems leads to better results. Depth and breadth matter.

  • Test-Driven Development

    Test-Driven Development
    The Software Delivery Notebook
    Test-Driven Development
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    Lets look at the paper Evaluating the impact of Test-Driven Development on Software Quality Enhancement, published in I. J. Mathematical Sciences and Computing.

    Find out the hurdles and outcomes of a TDD approach. Hurdles include lack of experience, time constraints, difficulty creating comprehensive tests cases, and integration issues. Benefits are things like user satisfaction, product quality, defect reduction, and code maintainability.

    It’s not magic. TDD takes effort.

    Source: Md. Sydur Rahman, Aditya Kumar Saha, Uma Chakraborty, Humaira Tabassum Sujana, S. M. Abdullah Shafi, “Evaluating the impact of Test-Driven Development on Software Quality Enhancement”, International Journal of Mathematical Sciences and Computing(IJMSC), Vol.10, No.3, pp. 51-76, 2024. DOI: 10.5815/ijmsc.2024.03.05

  • Brooks – No Silver Bullets

    No Silver Bullets
    The Software Delivery Notebook
    Brooks – No Silver Bullets
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    The landmark paper by Fred Brooks, No Silver Bullets, is stuffed full of smart thinking that applies today just as much as it did in the 1980s.

    Find out about accidental and essential complexity and the factors in software that make it hard to share a mental model about the systems we create. Crucially, find out why the promised “silver bullets” of the 80s are not unlike those being hyped today.

    No language of technique removes the essential complexity of the software we create.

  • Understanding transformational leadership

    Understanding transformational leadership
    The Software Delivery Notebook
    Understanding transformational leadership
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    Find out what transformational leadership looks like and how it benefits work performance and employee wellbeing and satisfaction.

    Based on DORA’s research program, this episode looks at one of the most impactful capabilities you can bring to your software team, which is based on 5 qualities:

    • Vision: Having a clear concept of where the organization and the team are going and where they should be in five years.
    • Inspirational communication: Communicating in a way that inspires and motivates, particularly in uncertain or changing environments, and inspiring pride in being part of the team.
    • Intellectual stimulation: Challenging followers and the team to think about problems and basic assumptions in new ways.
    • Supportive leadership: Demonstrating care and consideration for followers’ personal needs and feelings.
    • Personal recognition: Praising and acknowledging achievement of goals and improvements in work quality, and personally complimenting outstanding work.

  • Improving developer experience

    Improving developer experience
    The Software Delivery Notebook
    Improving developer experience
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    This paper on Psychological Affordances and their influence on DevEx improvement interventions from Catherine M. Hicks is a goldmine for understanding how to make a lasting difference to development teams.

    Find out what a “psychological affordance” is, how definitions of developer experience differ, and how to create the right conditions for success.

    For that code cleanup up tool to actually get used effectively, it’s not enough to just provide the tool. Leadership needs to actively signal that this work is valued, is visible, is important.

  • The AI playbook for UK Government

    UK Government AI Playbook
    The Software Delivery Notebook
    The AI playbook for UK Government
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    A tour of the 10 principles that guide safe, responsible, and effective use of AI in government from the Artificial Intelligence Playbook for the UK Government.

    1. You know what AI is and what its limitations are
    2. You use AI lawfully, ethically and responsibly
    3. You know how to use AI securely
    4. You have meaningful human control at the right stage
    5. You understand how to manage the AI life cycle
    6. You use the right tool for the job
    7. You are open and collaborative
    8. You work with commercial colleagues from the start
    9. You have the skills and expertise needed to implement and use AI
    10. You use these principles alongside your organization’s policies and have the right assurance in place

  • Looking back at NATO ’68

    Looking back at NATO '68
    The Software Delivery Notebook
    Looking back at NATO ’68
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    Looking back at the history of software delivery is like discovering the kind of diamond mine you see in cartoons. Lights reflect from perfectly cut gemstones that simply need to be plucked from the walls.

    Well, way back in 1968, there was a NATO software engineering conference. Surely, there’s nothing to learn about software engineering from such an ancient conference? Well, maybe there is.

    People chasing shiny new things, struggling to measure software delivery without driving the wrong behavior, and estimation are all topics that continue to be relevant even today.

    That sounds remarkably like agile thinking doesn’t it; iterative development and adjusting based on feedback.

  • Impact of generative AI in software development

    Impact of Generative AI in Software Development
    The Software Delivery Notebook
    Impact of generative AI in software development
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    Dives into the new DORA report, titled Impact of Generative AI in Software Development, which looks at the outcomes of using AI for code, docs, and other software delivery tasks.

    The report looks at benefits and problems at the individual and team levels, uncovering some surprises along the way like the vacuum hypothesis and the five key perspectives on AI.

    Here’s another one of those head-scratching moments. Despite all these positive indicators in code and in process the researching surprisingly links AI adoption to negative impacts on overall software delivery performance.