Lee Brandt

With .NET 10, you can just create an app.cs file and run it—no setup required. See it in action.

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Staff Consultant Brian Hughes breaks down the myth that software tests slow down developers. If you're doing it right, software tests can actually speed you up.

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They were whispering the answers off camera?!?! Let me explain... When selecting a software development sub-contractor or "development partner", how do you really know if they're any good? When hiring a developer as an employee, there will usually be a hands on element of the interview. Using this approach I've built exceptional in-house teams for clients, with resulting teams that benchmark at the top of the scale, let alone top of the industry (with the DORA Software Delivery Performance '4 keys' metrics – see: https://lnkd.in/eSf8zeAW ). Do you do the same with your suppliers/partners? If you don't, the resulting technical debt you inherit might not be apparent until long after the last of their invoices are paid and your in-house teams take over (seen this so many times)! Years ago, a client asked us to do such an evaluation. The supplier (a big name) was asked by our client to arrange for us to pair with the people that the supplier had in mind for the engagement. The results were shocking... Someone could be heard whispering instructions in the background! Even those instructions fell short of even basic competency. The consultants they had in mind were barely "advanced beginners" and certainly fell short of "competent" (see the Dreyfus Model)... And this was despite the supplier's sales people having talked a good talk, claiming they had the best people in the business. Suffice to say, the client went elsewhere. That was a smaller engagement... For larger engagements, I would start with a DORA 4 keys evaluation of a sample of the supplier's teams, which I'd also ask to see evidenced. Then, I'd select a random sample of those teams to mob-program with to reinforce that evidence. Only then could I endorse that supplier... So, when selecting your subcontractor/partner, just keep in mind that the firms with the best sales people with the biggest budgets to wine and dine you sometimes have the worst consultants... And sometimes the companies with the worst sales people, who sell on their people's merits and not expensive meals, have the best consultants. Navigating perceptions vs reality is the key. As they say, never judge a book by it's cover.

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A team member messaged me after a 4-hour call fixing dev issues. "I can't believe you were on that call." We have 100+ people at Genflow. I run a $100M agency. And I was right there debugging code with the team. It hit me how wrong most people get leadership. Everyone thinks being CEO means strategy sessions and vision boards. Wrong. Being CEO means being the captain who's still on the field. You show people how it's done by doing it alongside them. Not above them. The idea that you'll build a business and just work on "high-level stuff" while everyone else executes? That's not how you scale. You scale by staying close to the work. Understanding the actual problems. Building alongside your team. After 9 years of doing this, I've learned: The best CEOs aren't in corner offices. They're in the trenches when things break. They know the product inside out. They can still do the work if needed. Your team doesn't follow titles. They follow leaders who roll up their sleeves. What kind of leader are you trying to be?

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What if every line of code you’ve written becomes as valuable as a MySpace profile? I've been watching developers panic for 25 years. Still traumatized from that COBOL to Java migration? (At least COBOL didn’t pretend to understand sarcasm.) I get it. You're scrolling LinkedIn, watching junior devs post ChatGPT screenshots writing full React components, and you’re wondering if you should pivot to farming. But here's the thing about AI panic — it's usually wrong about the timeline, and completely clueless about the details. The question isn’t “Will AI replace developers?” It’s “Do you even understand what programming is?” We’ve seen this movie before: Visual tools were supposed to kill coding Low-code was going to replace engineers Outsourcing was going to wipe out dev teams Same pattern. New tool appears. Everyone panics. Tool finds a niche. Humans adapt. Life continues. This time is not different. AI is incredible at writing code. It’s terrible at knowing what code to write. ........................................................................................... Are you a dev trying to stay relevant, build smarter, and actually understand the tools you’re using? Join the Discord community. (Link in bio)

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People keep discovering/revealing how TDD is primarily about the design, but I find that's not what TDD is about. To me, TDD is about feedback. Design is a means toward attaining fast feedback. It is incorrect to assume that fast feedback is needed so that we could achieve good design. It's the other way around: good design is needed to achieve fast feedback. Let's not put the cart before the horse.

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