Me, Jim This site is brought to you by me, Jim.

I have been building solutions for clients in the cloud on Microsoft Azure since 2012 and building solutions in general for 20 years and more. Now, I head up information technology for biBerk Insurance, overseeing both software development and IT operations.

I’m working on Jim’s Rules to share my experience and (shaky) opinions about teamwork and leadership in software development. In my opinion, there aren’t enough people talking about these topics at a broad level. When the topics do come up, they are focused on how to manage processes and tasks (e.g., Agile Software Development, Scrum, Kanban, Continuous Integration & Development). Enough digital ink gets spilled on those topics, I would just be going over the same ground if I discussed them directly. Instead, I will focus on the broader topics related to team, people, and getting stuff done. That will mean we touch on things like Agile and CI/CD, they just won’t be the main focus.

I also don’t dive deep into technology for the same reason. There are so many people who generate technology content daily that I would just be echoing what’s already been said. What I can do is share a little of what I’ve learned with those technologies and everyone around them to help navigate the world of software development to not just create software, but also create successful products and have a fulfilling career.

Favorite techy things to do:

Cloud Architecture, Application Architecture, Integration Architecture “.Net Stack”: C#, ASP.NET (MVC, WebAPI2, OWIN), dotNet, T-SQL, SQL Server Web Technologies: AngularJS & Angular 2, JavaScript, HTML (HTML5), CSS (CSS 3) Microsoft Azure including: Azure Active Directory, Azure App Services/Web Sites, Azure SQL Database, Azure Service Bus, Azure API Management, Azure Storage, Azure Virtual Machines, Platform-as-a-Service (PAAS) and Infrastructure-as-a-Service(IAAS) TDD, Unit and Integration Testing Azure DevOps, Azure Resource Manager, Powershell Git, Visual Studio Team Services (VSTS, formerly Visual Studio Online), TFS Agile Software Development, Continuous Integration, DevOps, DevSecOps

Mentoring in all of the above and more

  • Scott Hanselman's blog
    Scott Hanselman is programmer, developer, speaker, and Microsoft employee who runs multiple podcasts, blogs, etc. He covers both technology and tech culture.
  • .NET Rocks!
    .NET Rocks! is a weekly talk show for anyone interested in programming on the Microsoft .NET platform. They've been around 20 years, so lots of history there. The hosts, Carl Franklin and Richard Campbell, are frequent conference speakers and each contributes or hosts other podcasts.
  • Coding Blocks
    Coding Blocks digs about as deep as a podcast can into software development topics while still being entertaining and often silly. Hosted by Joe Zack, Allen Underwood, and Michael Outlaw.
  • The Unhandled Exception Podcast
    Another deeply technical, but still entertaining, podcast about software development. Hosted by Dan Clarke.
  • The Azure DevOps Podcast
    Yet another deeply technical, but still entertaining, podcast about software development. Hosted by Jeffrey Palermo.
  • Fictitious Intelligence by Jim Leonardo
    My substack feed for fiction. Also available through www.jimleonardo.com.
  • Escape Artists
    A non-profit producing multiple fiction podcasts - sci-fi, fantasy, horror, and cat.

Links to favorite books

Software - Leading

  • The Software Architect Elevator
    Redefining the Architect's Role in the Digital Enterprise
    Gregor Hohpe
    Are you a software architect or do you want to be one? This book is fast becoming a classic for bit of job advice for anyone who is leading or wants to be a leader in software development, regardless of job title.
  • The Mythical Man-Month
    Essays on Software Engineering
    Frederick P. Brooks Jr.
    It may be old, but still very much relevant. The essays on Second System Effect and No Silver Bullet alone are worth finding a copy of this book.
  • Team Topologies
    Organizing Business and Technology Teams for Fast Flow
    Matthew Skelton, Manuel Pais
    Organizing teams is challenging, especially when you have to mix generalists and specialists. This guide gives helps you understand your organization, your needs, and how to create high performing teams.
  • The Lean Product Playbook
    How to Innovate with Minimum Viable Products and Rapid Customer Feedback
    Dan Olsen
    Wondering how to go about creating a product that people actually want? Dan Olsen has a step-by-step guide to help you figure out what to build, how to build it, and how to know when you're done.
  • Working in Public
    The Making and Maintenance of Open Source Software
    Nadia Eghbal
    Great insights into what it means to work on open source software. The historical perspectives and the challenges of working 'in public' are covered in this sociological analysis of open source software.

Software - Technology

  • Building Microservices, 2nd Edition
    Designing Fine-Grained Systems
    Sam Newman
    Don't let the title fool you, this book is a great primer for anyone designing software systems, especially web apps. Oh, and it covers microservices too.
  • Enterprise Integration Patterns
    Gregor Hohpe, Bobby Woolf
    The website is Gregor Hohpe's, but the book is by him and Bobby Woolf with contributions from others. This book and website catalog common patterns used in enterprise software design with a focus on messaging patterns.
  • The Data Warehouse Toolkit
    The Definitive Guide to Dimensional Modeling
    Ralph Kimball, Margy Ross
    New to data warehousing or otherwise thinking about how to analyze data? This is one of the seminal books on the topic.
  • Hands-On Rust
    Effective Learning through 2D Game Development and Play
    Herbert Wolverson
    Do you want to learn about the Rust programming language but don't want a dull tutorial? Learn by building a game with this book.
  • Secure by Design
    Dan Bergh Johnsson, Daniel Deogun, Daniel Sawano
    How many Dans can write one book? At least three. While the title calls out security, I thought this book to be a good read for how to build reliable software that anticipates problems rather than reacts to them.
  • The Art of Unit Testing
    Roy Osherove, others depending on language
    Learn unit testing in depth. Osherove has worked with others to produce versions of this book for different languages including C#, JavaScript, Java, and Kotlin.

Writing and Communication

  • The Visual Display of Quantitative Information
    Edward R. Tufte
    This will change how you look at data, how you look at charts, and how you create powerpoint presentations.
  • On Writing
    A Memoir of the Craft
    Stephen King
    There are plenty of books on writing, this is Stephen King's take. As the title suggests, it is as much a memoir as a book on writing. His life has some dark parts, so be prepared for that.
  • The Elements of Style
    William Strunk, E.B. White
    A slim volume with tons of advice on writing. When you are writing on the go, bring this with you.
  • The Chicago Manual of Style
    The University of Chicago Press Editorial Staff
    This is a massive tome that covers almost anything you need to know about writing style. When you need to know the right way to cite a source or need to know everything there is to know about commas, this is the book to grab.