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Wednesday, January 19, 2011

Two Rules for Connectathon

“   Two rules of software development
  1. Just get it to work
  2. If it ain't broke, don't fix it.

I've written about these rules before.  For connectathon they apply in spades.

Violate rule number 2 at your own risk.  If you decide that you need to do a clean install just before you get here, make sure you have it all.  Sometimes doing unnecessary work to fix things does more damage than living with what you had already tested.

On rule number 1, if you are having a problem, work first on getting it fixed to the point that it passes.  Make the fix elegant and maintainable when you have more time (and keep good notes).

There's another thing about rule #1.  If you cannot get it to work with partner A, don't spend hours trying to work it out.  Find another partner to test with to see if you can just get it to work.  Don't let a blocking problem keep you from completing other activity.

Finally, one last note:  If you cannot get it to work with A + B + C all at once, simplify.  Try to make it work with just one of them.  Then add the other, then put it all together.  Don't try ATNA TLS + ATNA Logging + PIX Query + XDS Provide and Register as your very first test.

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