Tag: I-recommend

Book: Henrik Kniberg “Scrum and XP from the Trenches”

No comments

Not long ago, on the last day of 2020, I wrote a review of the book Kanban and Scrum — Making the Most of Both, which I highly recommend to anyone interested in implementing Agile methodologies. However, this book was not the first by the author, Henrik Kniberg. His first book, published in 2007, also drew on his personal experience with agile methodologies and was titled Scrum and XP from the Trenches. Kniberg himself admits that he wrote this relatively short book over a single weekend, when he felt a strong urge to share his experiences with others.

This time, I won’t delve into the specifics of agile methodologies or why I’m singling out Kniberg’s books in particular, as I covered that in my previous review. Instead, I’ll briefly describe the book itself.

It’s also a very concise account of how he and his teams implemented various practices from Scrum and Extreme Programming in their work, with concrete examples and specific descriptions of the pros and cons. He’s not afraid to admit mistakes and point out what can go wrong. This is quite normal for agile methodologies, where much is governed by the motto “experiment and see what works best for your specific team.” The key is to frequently evaluate what’s been done (unlike older methodologies, where you might work for a year only to realize that you’ve been doing it wrong all along).

Read more

Book: Elena Rezanova “Never-ever”

No comments

“Midlife crisis.” A cliché term that encompasses many things but most commonly refers to a moment somewhere in the middle of life (since each person has a sense of how long they think they’ll live), when many start asking themselves questions like “Have I been heading in the right direction all this time?” or “What’s the purpose of it all?” The real problem isn’t the questions themselves but the fear that the most productive years of life may already be behind them. And people who start asking these questions essentially trap themselves, especially if they’re unhappy with their current situation or it simply no longer brings them joy (which, in essence, is the same thing). Getting out of this psychological dead end is very challenging.

Elena Rezanova’s book Never-ever is precisely about this situation and what can be done about it. Elena worked for many years in HR (the Russian language still lacks an equivalent for the English term “Human Resources,” but these are people who theoretically help employees develop, can serve as a psychological “shoulder to cry on,” and also resolve interpersonal conflicts in the workplace). At some point, however, she and her husband realized that their reasonably successful careers no longer brought joy to either of them. They decided to make a radical change, something neither of them has regretted, as they found new, fulfilling pursuits that continue to bring them happiness.

I had marked this book as “something I’d like to read” a while ago, as that very same midlife crisis eventually caught up with me as well (even though I have a wonderful family and have achieved a lot in my career).

Read more

Book: Henrik Kniberg & Mattias Skarin “Kanban and Scrum — Making the Most of Both”

1 comment

Since the beginning of the 21st century, the software development industry has undergone a tremendous number of changes. Nowadays, if you aren’t familiar with Agile methodologies and words like Kanban and Scrum leave you puzzled, chances are you might hear, “Out of the profession!”

Many people now see Agile methodologies as some kind of panacea for all problems. It’s like, “Back in the day, everyone worked with Waterfall, so things were slow, expensive, and unpredictable.” And if you suddenly switch to modern agile methodologies, happiness will immediately follow. But there is no cure-all, and any methodology requires proper application. In my experience, I haven’t seen a single company that fully applies all aspects of agile methodologies, and that’s generally fine. Agile is more about approaches and practices that each team should try, experiment with, and find what works best for them. Of course, there are certain principles that need to be followed.

I also know several companies (fairly large ones) that became disillusioned with Agile after trying the wrong approach or implementing it incorrectly. Personally, I’m not an avid fan of every methodology, but I’ve worked extensively with Agile, tried different approaches with teams, and continuously read about implementation practices—regardless of the old saying, it’s better to learn from others’ experience.

And I must say, there aren’t that many good books on the subject. Many authors provide rather superficial descriptions of techniques, while some are more focused on selling themselves as trainers than on helping companies understand what to do and how to do it. I can say that even some official certifications from the Agile community provide very superficial knowledge, and people then flaunt an official certificate without any real experience or, at times, even a basic understanding of how to work with the methodology.

Read more

Book: Maxim Dorofeev “The Jedi Way”

No comments

Three years ago, also in November, I wrote a review of Maxim Dorofeev’s book Jedi Techniques. In it, Maxim aimed to consolidate the essence of his time-management training. The book was very good, although it didn’t reinvent the wheel. Now, Maxim has released its follow-up, The Jedi Way.

However, calling it a sequel isn’t quite accurate. The new book is more a reflection on his earlier advice and a re-evaluation of his own methods. In this way, I actually liked it even more than the first.

As I mentioned, in the first book, Maxim compiled what he considered the best elements from numerous methods. He amusingly illustrated these concepts through the characters of a rational little person and a monkey, supposedly living in our heads and competing for our attention and time. These characters were borrowed from Tim Urban, and they fit seamlessly into the narrative.

However, these were largely well-known techniques and tips from other methods. Maxim simply brought them together and presented them in an appealing way.

Read more

Book: Boris Akunin “Just Masa”

No comments

The Winter Queen, the first novel by Boris Akunin about Erast Fandorin, was released in 1998 and almost immediately caused a sensation in literary circles. I usually approached widely popular books with caution, so I didn’t start reading the series about the remarkable detective until Boris Akunin had already written seven or eight books. But once I devoured the first one, I eagerly moved on to the next. And so it went until I had read them all in succession.

After that, I consistently bought each new book in the series as soon as it was released, read it right away, and waited for the next one. However, after the tenth book, The Diamond Chariot, I felt that the best days were behind. The books were still good, but they no longer sparked the same excitement as the earlier ones. The final novel, Not Saying Goodbye, where Erast Petrovich finally leaves, brought more sadness and melancholy than anything else. After fifteen novels, his story came to an end, but I still longed to revisit it, hopefully at the level of the best books.

Then, in 2020, Boris Akunin unexpectedly released the novel Just Masa. No, it’s not about Erast Petrovich, but rather about his loyal servant and companion—the Japanese Masahiro Shibata. Masa first appears in the fourth novel in the series, The Death of Achilles. As I recall, Akunin describes the first meeting between Erast Fandorin and the young yakuza from Yokohama in the tenth novel, The Diamond Chariot, where much of the story focuses on the young detective’s life in Japan.

Read more

Book: Alexander Feduta “Lukashenko: A Political Biography”

No comments

On August 9, 2020, my home country, the Republic of Belarus, held another presidential election, in which, according to the official results, the incumbent president, Alexander Lukashenko, once again won by a large margin. On that very day, I began reading Lukashenko: A Political Biography, written by Alexander Feduta, a former ally of the president who worked in his first campaign headquarters and in his first government. When he wrote the book, Lukashenko had already been in power for 10 years, and even then, the author noted many changes in the initial promises and direction chosen by the country’s first and, so far, only president.

Today, Lukashenko has been in power for 26 years. Many of today’s voters were born during his rule, attended kindergarten, went to school, grew up, and became parents themselves. And for the second month after the election, protests in Belarus have not subsided, as the authorities attempt to brutally suppress them.

Why did I start reading this book? In 1994, I was 17 years old, not yet eligible to vote, and probably not very interested in politics at the time. But my coming of age took place “in the Lukashenko era.” I wanted to understand how Alexander Grigoryevich came to power and what kind of person he was. I remember all the events described in the book, but I could hardly assess them back then in the way a person “over forty” can now.

Read more

Game: Metro Exodus

1 comment
metro_exodus

Though belated, I want to share my thoughts on the third part of the Metro game universe—Metro Exodus. But first, let’s dive into a historical overview of its origins and the earlier games.

The Metro series, developed by the Kyiv-based company 4A Games, is based on the works of Dmitry Glukhovsky. Glukhovsky wrote the first novel, Metro 2033, back in 2002, but it was not quite the novel we know today. It originally had only 13 chapters, and Glukhovsky published it online for free. Unexpectedly, the novel gained popularity, but readers didn’t like everything about it. So, in 2005, Dmitry made significant revisions to the book, expanding it to 20 chapters and altering the main character’s fate (in the original version, he dies). It was in this revised form that the novel first appeared in print.

The story is set in the year 2033, 20 years after a nuclear war that left few survivors, and Moscow itself became an almost uninhabitable place. To make matters worse, various mutants emerged, eager to finish off the last remaining humans. Only those who were lucky enough to be in the Moscow metro system during the attack managed to survive. The metro became their new home, eventually dividing into micro-states with their own authorities, rules, and even ideologies. The entire book is essentially a quest in which the main character, Artyom, must travel from one point in the metro to another. Along the way, he encounters various stations and faces both human adversaries and mutants, as well as supernatural elements.

Read more

Game: FRAMED Collection

No comments
FC_Key_Art_Header


This week’s unexpected discovery—FRAMED. Or rather, two games, as it’s sold as the FRAMED Collection, including both parts.

The game is remarkable for its concept: it tells a story through an interactive comic. Each level is like a page from a comic where you can interact with the “frames.” As you progress, new actions become available. At first, you can only swap two frames. Then, you must create a sequence that leads to the desired outcome. Each attempt shows how the story unfolds with the current sequence, helping you understand what went wrong. Eventually, you can rotate frames or change them mid-action, even multiple times.

Add to that vividly drawn silhouette-style characters, and the game becomes nearly a masterpiece.

It’s rather short, though. Both parts together took me around two hours. But my whole family was captivated, one by one, fascinated by the idea and the mechanics.

I highly recommend it to all puzzle game lovers. It’s worth every cent, 100%. And right now, it’s on a 60% discount on Steam, making it practically a steal.

Boris Akunin “The Un-Chekhovian Intelligentsia”

1 comment
nechehov

When I read Boris Akunin’s book The Life of Remarkable People and Animals a year ago, I had no idea that it was merely a selection of entries from the author’s blog. Moreover, it turned out to be the second part, and I had completely missed the first one. Then, one day, I came across a familiar-looking cover in my recommendations—aha, so that’s the first volume! Titled The Un-Chekhovian Intelligentsia.

Let me remind you that both books together (which I now know) form a collection of rather short notes by the author about various interesting people and facts, initially published by Boris Akunin on his blog, and later released as a book with the subtitle Short Stories About All Sorts of Things.

Yet, regardless of how much the author may veil it with this “all sorts of things,” it’s quite clear that he is primarily interested in people and their lives. The topics are very diverse: tyrants and geniuses, holiday histories, revolutionaries and the civil war, British spies and love stories… but all of it revolves around people.

Read more

Reza Aslan “Zealot: The Life and Times of Jesus of Nazareth”

1 comment

I am not a religious person; I do not believe in God, and, in general, I am very cautious about any religion. I certainly see a significant difference between a deity and the institution of worship built around it. However, religions are a huge part of modern civilization; they have influenced the development of humanity and continue to do so to this day. Therefore, I have always been interested in what lay at the origins, where various teachings began, and what truth has reached us through the ages versus what is merely interpretation and speculation from later generations.

Christianity is over two thousand years old, and everyone except the laziest knows the canonical story of Jesus, but what truly happened? From a historical perspective, who was Jesus of Nazareth? What took place two thousand years ago? This question is explored by countless researchers, presenting history from various perspectives, sometimes creating masterpieces of literature (Mikhail Bulgakov’s The Master and Margarita is worth mentioning). People try to find logical explanations for the contradictions in this history, as demonstrated in the recently described book The Gospel of Afranius by Kirill Yeskov.

But there are also works by genuine historians based on numerous sources. The book Zealot: The Life and Times of Jesus of Nazareth by Reza Aslan is one of them.

Read more