Episode 189 | Steve Smith - Appreciating Perspectives

Guest: Steve Smith @ardalis Steve Smith talks with Dave Rael about the intersections of entrepreneurship and software development, mentoring, education, and social rewards Steve Smith (@ardalis) is an entrepreneur and software developer with a passion for building quality software as effectively as possible. He provides mentoring and training workshops for teams with the desire to improve. Steve has been recognized as a Microsoft MVP for over 10 consecutive years, and is a frequent speaker at software developer conferences and events. He is the top contributor to the official documentation on ASP.NET Core and enjoys helping others write maintainable, testable applications using Microsoft’s developer tools. Connect with Steve at ardalis.com. Chapters: 0:57 - Dave introduces the show and Steve Smith4:51 - The things that "light Steve up"5:51 - Feedback loops and automated testing7:25 - How Steve got started in software development9:56 - Steve the entrepreneur11:54 - Steve's involvement with ASP.NET Core and the nature of .NET Core and ASP.NET Core17:07 - Steve's story of failure - falling short on trying to fix an unsatisfying situation and coming to terms with things that can't be changed19:24 - Steve's success story - social rewards, turning technical scalability success to business success22:49 - Applying lessons of software to business23:45 - Different approaches to learning in software and business24:33 - Steve's book recommendations25:56 - Being and having a mentor28:43 - Parents as mentors30:41 - The things that have Steve most excited32:05 - Steve's sources of pain and suffering32:52 - Estimation in software vs other disciplines35:52 - Software Craftsmanship calendars38:03 - Steve's top 3 tips for delivering more value40:38 - Keeping up with Steve Resources: Steve's Blog DevIQ Steve's Pluralsight Author Page DevIQ Software Craftsmanship Calendars Microsoft Documentation ASP.NET Core Documentation Rachel Appel on Developer On Fire (also working on ASP.NET documentation at Microsoft) .NET Core Basketball Star Steve Smith of Michigan State (not Ohio State - oops) Donovan Brown on Developer On Fire (also working on ASP.NET documentation at Microsoft) Steve's SOLID Course on Pluralsight Doc Norton on Developer On Fire Domain-Driven Design: Tackling Complexity in the Heart of Software - Eric Evans Hofstadter's Law Derick Bailey's Blog Post - SOLID Development Principles – In Motivational Pictures Derick Bailey on Developer On Fire Steve's book recommendation: Clean Code: A Handbook of Agile Software Craftsmanship - Robert C. Martin Horse Sense: The Key to Success Is Finding a Horse to Ride - Al Ries Steve's top 3 tips for delivering more value: Deliver vertical slices of functionality rather than horizontal layers Make sure to build the right things and not just to build the thing right Trust must be given before it can be earned