The Software Craftsman

The Software Craftsman

Gøran HansenAspiring Software Craftsman Senior Consultant @ Capgemini

http://goeran.nomail@goeran.no

http://twitter.com/goeran

Outline

• Why do we need Software Craftsmen?• Characterization of a Software Craftsman• Manifesto of Software Craftsmanship• How to become a Software Craftsman

Why do we need Software Craftsmen?

“The best processes in the world will not save a project from failure if the people involved do not have the necessary skills to execute the process; conversely, really good developers can make any process work”

– Pete McBreen, Software Craftsmanship: The New Imperative

The Total Cost of owning a Mess

“As the mess builds, the productivity of the team continues to decrease, asymptotically approaching zero. As productivity decreases, management does the only thing they can; they add more staff to the project in hopes of increasing productivity.”

“Furthermore, they, and everyone else on the team, are under horrific pressure to increase productivity. So they all make more and more messes, driving the productivity ever further toward zero”

- Robert C. Martin, Clean Code

“You have probably been slowed down by messy code. The degree of the slowdown can be significant. Over the span of a year or two, teams that were moving very fast at the beginning of a project can find themselves moving at a snail's pace.”

“Over time the mess becomes so big and so deep and so tall, they can not clean it up. There is no way at all”

How Scrum Can Fail

“Agilists assume craftsmanshipOnly few people pursue craftsmanship”

- Jurgen Appelo

http://www.noop.nl/2009/05/agile-wrongfully-assumes-craftsmanship.html

Why do we need Software Craftsmen…?

… Because crappy code amplify the risk of failure – even for agile projects!

When do we write crappy code?

Pressure

When we have to “Get It Done”!

”Get It Done”vs.

”Get It Right”

An idea

Constant Pressure

Every Week

Pressure

Every Month

Pressure

Every Year

Pressure

What differentiate between making the choice of “Get It Done” vs. “Get It Right”?

Skill deficiency

A Software Craftsman will choose “Get It Right”

Because he has the skills to do so…

Not only will he “Dot It Right”, he will also do it for the right reasons…

The characterization of a Software Craftsman

He will “Do It Right” – also under pressure

He takes responsibility

He takes pride in his work. Both the end product and the process towards it

He signs his work

“Software Craftsmanship is all about putting responsibility and pride back into the software development process. As Hunt and Thomas (The Pragmatic Programmer) state, we need to start ‘signing our work’ again, just as other craftsmen do”

– Pete McBreen, Software Craftsmanship: The New Imperative

He is a continuous learner. When he doesn’t work, he spends his time studying, to find new methods and tools can refine him as a Software

Craftsman

“An investment in knowledge always pays the best interest”

- Benjamin Franklin

He practice deliberately, and understands the difference between practice and work. He

practices in order to be prepared for work

He writes code

“Knowledge is not the same as having the skills and practical ability to create software”

– Pete McBreen, Software Craftsmanship: The New Imperative

He has the right attitude towards Software Development

He contribute to the community

Characterization of a Software Craftsman

• Will “Do It Right”• Take responsibility• Take pride in his work• Signs his work• Continuous learner• Practice deliberately• Write code• The right attitude • Contribute to the community

How to become a Software Craftsman…

Tips from The Pragmatic Programmer:1. Care about your craft

2. Think about your work

Start learning

Take responsibility for your professional career and apply what you’ve learned

Start to Practice

• Code Dojos• Code Katas• Pair programming with other fellow Craftsmen

What to practice?

• TDD – can be applied to all languages• Functional, dynamic and statically typed languages

– learn the different paradigms• Refactoring – learn how to change your code

efficiently• Design patterns• Tools (ReSharper, Visual Studio, Ndepend, Pex etc)• Frameworks (Nhibernate, Mongo db etc)

A special thanks toCorey Haines, for letting me using his slides.

http://www.slideshare.net/openagile/the-craftsman-developer-in-an-agile-world

http://www.coreyhaines.com

The Software Craftsman

Gøran HansenAspiring Software Craftsman Senior Consultant @ Capgemini

http://goeran.nomail@goeran.no

http://twitter.com/goeran