Frequently Asked Questions

Are you writing another book?

I'm always writing another book - it's an addiction. You can find my progress here.

I have written an article or framework based on your work, would you review it for me?

Sadly I pretty much always have a large list of material to look at, so I'll almost certainly not have time to read it. (A particular point to this, don't send me Microsoft Word documents. Since Microsoft Office documents can contain executable code they may contain malware. As a result I never open Office documents from strangers, and I would strongly advise you not to as well.)

Where can I download code from your books?

None of my books have downloadable code in any edible form. See CodeExamples.

Can we persuade you to speak at our conference?

I'm afraid you almost certainly can't. I've given too many talks over the years and have become sick of speaking. So now I hardly ever say yes to speaking requests. You'll notice I didn't say 'never', so there is a chance, but most of the time I prefer not.

I would like you to write an article for my magazine or web site.

At the moment I only write for my own web site (and don't do enough of that).

Can I get some advice from you about a problem I'm wrestling with?

Almost certainly I can't help much with dealing with issues over email. Like most things is due to lack of time - I'd rather concentrate my time on my writing. Digging into a problem over email is inherently hard - particularly the kind of design stuff I work on, so even questions that seem simple to answer (such as "which persistence framework should I use?") require a lot of back and forth to answer. In general you would be better off getting some help from my colleagues at ThoughtWorks. After all most of what I do these days is steal ideas from them. (For very useful general advice about asking questions over the net make sure you read this.)

I've found an error in one of your books or articles, how do I let you know?

If it's a book, first check the errata page for the book (linked from my books page). If it's not mentioned there then email me and I will get it fixed one way or the other.

Can I republish one of your web articles?

Possibly. I do update articles from time to time and would prefer not to have old versions floating around. However I don't update them so often that I think it would be a problem. Send me email and I'll think more clearly.

Can I translate one of your web articles?

Yes. I'm happy for people to do translations. All I ask is that you put a link to the original article and the date of the translation in the translation. (The date helps people spot if I've changed the article since the translation.) Once you've done that please let me know and I will link to it in my paper. The only exception to this is material that I'm working into a book, such as the EAA development work and the DSL work in progress. I have to be careful with these since they will be published commercially.

Is there a way to add comments to your blog?

Sadly no. Part of the reason is I'd have to write that capability (since the bliki is all custom code). But the main reason is that I don't want to deal with comment spam. If you have thoughts, do email me, but don't expect a rapid answer.

Are your books available in an electronic form?

You can get hold my books online via Safari.

Do you have powerpoint presentations for your book?

I'm afraid not. I rarely give talks these days, and I hardly ever use slides when I do.

I have this tool that I think you would really be interested in - will you take a look?

As with so many things, lack of time means that I rarely get the chance to take a look at software tools. In particular it isn't part of my role at ThoughtWorks to do tool evaluations - indeed the reverse is true. The best way to get me interested in a tool is when a project or two at TW uses it and I start hearing good things from the trenches. I've seen (and done) too many demos to believe you can ever learn about the real value of a tool without trying it out on a real project.