our blog

The Highgroove blog. Sit pit-side with us to learn how we work. Sometimes technical, sometimes business-oriented, but always focused on simple solutions.

Posts by the author stafford

You are browsing posts by stafford. Check out all posts on our blog.

    by stafford

    Spree Conference 2012

    Published March 15, 2012 tagged with: Ruby on Rails Open Source Community

    Spree Conference 2012

    Last month I had the privilege of attending the very first SpreeConf in New York City. If you aren't familiar with Spree, it is an awesome Rails e-commerce engine you can use to build a full-featured online store. The conference was held over two days; the first day featured several training sessions. The sessions covered a range of topics including theming, configuring, and testing Spree. The second day was filled not only with talks related to Spree, but to e-commerce and Open Source in general.

    → Read More

    by stafford

    Mailcatcher: Making email testing a breeze

    Published February 09, 2012 tagged with: Ruby Open Source Testing Awesome

    Mailcatcher Logo One of my least favorite chores as a developer is dealing with email. I’m not talking about my inbox. That is a post for another day ;). I’m talking about emails sent by web applications. Whether it is a sign up confirmation email, a receipt from a purchase, or reminder for your dog’s birthday. Chances are, if you have a web application, it sends email.

    Traditionally, my workflow for testing these emails has not been very elegant or even efficient. It would either involve creating a bunch of users with different emails accounts I own, or telling the back-end to send all emails to my email address. While both of these work to some extent, the former is very time consuming and the later isn’t really testing the system the way it is meant to be used.

    Mailcatcher one-ups both of these methods big time. Mailcatcher provides you with a local SMTP server for you to send your emails to in your development environment. Mailcatcher also provides you with a webmail interface to view all the emails your system has sent.

    → Read More

    by stafford

    Great Office Rearrangement: Sit where you want

    Published January 27, 2012 tagged with: ROWE

    At Highgroove we are are always trying out new ways to improve our process and environment. One of my favorite experiments has been doing away with assigned seats. Our Results Only Work Environment allows each person to decide when and where they do their work. While it is true no one is required to come into the office, the reality is many people prefer to be in the office. It is not hard to see why. Every member of the team gets a massive monitor, a super comfy Aeron chair, and all the espresso and snacks anyone could ever need. Although most people come into the office regularly, each team member's hours can vary wildly. When we had assigned seats you could come in the office and be isolated just because your neighbors on a different schedule. Conversely, you could come in and be surrounded by a couple developers talking out a difficult problem when you really need to get something else done. In short, assigned seats just aren't very ROWE.

    → Read More

    by stafford

    My First Week at Highgroove

    Published August 09, 2011 tagged with: ROWE

    I just finished up my first week at Highgroove. Highgroove is a bit different from agencies I have worked in the past. Most places
    I have worked, developers would receive requirements for projects
    from a project manager. At Highgroove, developers are the project
    managers. We are in constant contact with our clients. At first this
    seemed daunting, but so far it has been awesome! I find it very
    helpful to have direct feedback and input from the client as we build
    their software. The constant feedback helps catch small issues before
    they become large problems, and reduces the chance of
    miscommunication.

    → Read More