Projects
Travel Photos
South America
Pilafian Bio
- Master of Engineering in Computer Science, University of Colorado (masters project: Java workflow system). Bachelor of Science in Computer Science, Arizona State University. Founder Institute graduate.
- Founding Engineer at Bluenose and Coterie. Product Manager at Model N, Open Terracotta, and Selectica. Mentor at TogetherSoft. Software Engineer at Honeywell.
- Panel Expert at Epicentric Summit and Technology Crossroads conferences and Panel Moderator at Atypon User Conference.
- Speaker on "Metric-Driven Refactoring", Silicon Valley Java Users Group.
- Speaker on "Software Remodeling", Worldwide WebSphere User Group, Phoenix.
- Speaker on "Tools to Facilitate OO Analysis and Design", UCSC Extension.
- Co-author of "MD-11 Aircraft Alerting Function", Scientific Honeyweller.
- First Aid and CPR instructor, American Red Cross. Special Citation for Exceptional Volunteer Service, American Red Cross. Member Advisory Council, Boulder County Branch of the American Red Cross. Disaster Action Team captain, American Red Cross.
Videos
Dem's Rules
In the pursuit of productivity...
- Results trump effort — reward accordingly.
- It's all about Rapid Feature Development.
- If you can't get the UI right, close up shop.
- Quality is driven by an obsession to detail.
- Beware of people who are smart but not helpful.
- Software development can be predictable or efficient — choose only one.
- Artificial deadlines impose unnecessary inefficiencies.
- No amount of project management can fix bad coding practices.
- Compromising on code quality to speed up development is like expecting to win the Indianapolis 500 in a rusted out go-kart.
- Document and comment software thoroughly — not verbosely.
- If it's not concise, there better be a good reason.
- If you are not happy with it, your customers won't be either.
- It is better to work with thinkers than talkers.
- The Grand Illusion: It takes more time to code good software than bad software.
- Knowledge of who to ask is no less powerful than firsthand knowledge.
- Cleverness, unfortunately, is easier to spot than intelligence.
- Excellent work should be valued more than answering emails at 11pm.
- Your best job will be both high intensity and low stress.
- Specific positive feedback reinforces and furthers business objectives, but saying "Thanks" to an employee is meaningless and condescending.
- Stability does not reduce risk -- it delays risk. Delayed risk is bigger risk. Only branch if really needed.
- Lead, because good people hate being managed.
- In business, sentences starting with "I" are a warning that an irrational statement is imminent.
- Hours sitting at a desk are easy to measure — real results are hard to measure.
- Highly productive software development emphasizes priorities over scheduling and efficiency over predictability.
- Repeatable, lightweight processes are the expressways of quality.
- Judge employees by their results not how many hours they work.
- Promote leaders not hustlers.
- Planning and scheduling are no substitute for a lack of vision.
- The only thing that is constant is product requirements change.
- People who need deadlines to be productive are not a fit here.
- No matter how compelling the technology, it cannot be sold with an uncompelling story.
- People should not talk in meetings just to hear their own voices.
- Distractions to developers have 10x the impact you think they do.
- Clean, simple code enables iterative changes.
- A good software engineer can write quality code more quickly than hack code.
- Mentoring is the exponential use of knowledge.
- Make design change for the sake of good not the sake of change.
- Your opinion means nothing, but your analysis is vital.
- Judge employees by how many problems they prevent not how many they solve.
- Judge employees by how well they make their co-workers look not how well they make themselves look.
- The talent to come up with good ideas is less powerful than the talent of cultivating good ideas from others.
- Get the basic sales pitch down solid first, then customize.
- Delivering features quickly is value — estimating when features will be done is a placebo for value.
- Be nimble — requirements always change.
- Thinkers drive more results, but talkers get more credit.
- Keep working groups small — avoid death by committee.
- Technical debt is not the price of rapid feature development — it's the barrier to rapid feature development.
- Irreplaceable means unpromotable.
- If you are not sure why you are doing it, don't do it.
- Simplicity is quality.