The Highgroove blog. Sit pit-side with us to learn how we work. Sometimes technical, sometimes business-oriented, but always focused on simple solutions.
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by aubrey
At Highgroove, we aim to be fast. When we jump on a project, we work with the client to understand their goals and begin delivering functionality on the first day. As the project progresses, we strive to increase the velocity of work on the project with each passing iteration.
Our ability to deliver high-quality work at an ever-increasing rate depends heavily on our process—specifically, the three things we do on every project.
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by aubrey
Last month on the 37signals blog, DHH wrote about testing like the tsa. In the article David argues for less strict test driven development and quotes Kent Beck in saying:
I get paid for code that works, not for tests, so my philosophy is to test as little as possible to reach a given level of confidence (I suspect this level of confidence is high compared to industry standards, but that could just be hubris). If I don’t typically make a kind of mistake (like setting the wrong variables in a constructor), I don’t test for it.
At Highgroove, we feel this approach is not for everyone. Read on for more details on our approach.
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Highgroove really likes Pry. It's a great tool for digging into your code and seeing what's going on with tons of great features. However, there are situations where using a standard binding.pry breakpoint will not block your program and allow you to inspect it. I recently ran into this situation when trying to debug an application that used Foreman to manage it's processes. Luckily, the pry-remote project turned out to be a great solution.
by aubrey
Prior to working at Highgroove, I worked for a number of softare product companies. One of the best metrics I've found for measuring how great a company is to work for as a developer is the Joel Test, which is a list of 12 simple questions. I've worked at companies that have scored high and companies that have scored low, and please believe me when I can tell you that the issues on that list really do make a difference.
My only issue with the Joel Test is that it is really geared toward software product companies. While a lot of the ideals translate to a software consulting company, the specific questions don't always apply when you are working on a lot of projects for a number of clients. So, in an effort the help measure what makes great software consulting teams so great I present...
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by aubrey
While getting to know the very sweet Github Api v3, I ran into a little bug when trying to page though results coming back from the service. While it was frustrating at the time, Github's support and resolution blew me out of the water.
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by aubrey
I'll be honest. My reaction to my first morning in the Highgroove office was one which I thought I would not be sharing. After talking to a couple other Highgroovers, however, I realized it was a pretty common reaction. To us, our first day felt a little bit like Christmas morning.
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