To Revert Is Right To 'Go-on' Is To Look Good

As people come onto a team using continuous integration (CI) we usually hear:

• 'I cannot commit as there are too many changes. (Has not committed changes as done)'


• 'I cannot commit as I have conflicts. (Has not updated frequently)'
  

It is a learning curve, and usally works out. But now a new guys gave some great feedback (in my words as I do remember the exact quote):

The thing I have taken on is that reverting my changes enables me to deliver faster.

So true. But I notice that when somebody says at stand-up that they did X hours and then reverted all changes, it is often seen as a failure. An intereting reflection on time to deliver working code to measured effort/behaviour/complexity/expired time/working. I think we have another dimension to software development about measuring success.

Words seem to lead us. 'Perfromance' is about an act, delivery of working functionality in minimal time is about efficiency. Would we be better off talking about efficency than perfromance?

Compliance/Collaboration Confusion

I've realised that collaboration can be confused with compliance, and when it is, collaboration can then be confused with resistance.

Does Microsoft Not Want Australian Money?

I've been using a trial version of Visual Studio 2008 for a while now and the time has come to buy a license. So I click on the VS2008 license pop-up which takes me to Microsoft's site ... a couple of hours later I've given up. I do not think it is possible for somebody in Australia to buy a license on-line from Microsoft.

The Microsoft site takes you to their "Windows Marketplace" which is a front end to a regional "Microsoft Store". You must select a country ... no surprise Australia is not listed. Only about half a dozen countries are listed and I tried all of them. If you choose USofA you need to enter a US state. If you choose UK then your offered European countries, but no Australia. Similar story for the others, or I could not read Japanese, Korean, German, etc.
I tried navigating from the AU site and tried different links. Humbug! I'm feeling very unwanted. I dunno if it is a web site fault, an oversight in letting us know we a 'special', or if I've just missed the right link.