The Software Craftsman

Abstract of the book "The Software Craftsman" from Sandro Mancuso

I really loved this great book from Sandro Mancuso.

Infography

I love this book so much that I have created an infography :

The Software Craftsman Infographic

418KB

The Software Craftsman.pdf

pdf

The Software Craftsman infography

Book notes

Introduction

• Good senior developer in the 90's : No one else can understand his code

• Working code

  • The minimum for a professional

  • How it is done is as important as getting it done

• Is

  • A mindset

    • For developers

    • For companies

  • Adoption of (XP)

    • Practices

    • Disciplines

  • Not a methodology

Ideology

A new reality

What modern developers do :

• Coding (But not only)

• Speak to customers

• Automate tests/deployment

• Make technical choices

• Work in distributed teams

• Help clients to define and prioritize requirements

• Present products to potential clients/partners

• Help with pre-sales activities

• Estimate time & costs

• Interview new team members

• Design and evolve software architecture

• Understand business goals

• Make decisions based on trade-offs

• Keep an eye on new technologies/methodologies

• ...

With agile methodologies, mentality is evolving. More collaboration and dev are now more proud to be dev

Agile

• 2 types of disciplines

  • Process oriented (Value)

    • Plan

    • Measure velocity

    • Roles people should play

    • Meetings

    • ...

  • Technical Oriented

    • TDD

    • Continuous integration

    • ...

Agility is about building the right thing, Craftsmanship is about building the thing right

• "Craftsmanship over crap", Robert C. Martin (2008)

• Team = responsible of the realization (all aspects)

• Being good at writing code is the minimum skill expected from software professionals"

Why do agile transformations fail ?

• In software project

  • Most important deliverable = software itself

• Change their process through coaching

• Nothing to help writing better software

• Agile coaches

  • Mainly focused on process

  • Not focused on technical excellence

Abstract

• To remain competitive companies need to deliver

  • Software faster

  • With better quality

• Agile vs software craftsmanship

  • Agile

    • Adopting Scrum

    • Daily stand-up

    • Manage backlog

    • Manage W.I.P

  • Agility does not

    • Improve magically the quality of the software

    • Make developers better

• Complements each other / need to be focused on both

  • Improve the process

  • Improve technical excellence

The Manifesto for Software Craftsmanship (2008)

4 values

Not only working software, but also well-crafted software

• Think about a software

  • Without

    • Tests

    • Team to explain code

  • You have to maintain and develop on it

  • It is a working software...

• Reasons of failures

  • Bad business strategy

  • Bad project management

  • Big Time To Market Organization do not pay attention to code quality

• Well-crafted

  • Automated tests

  • TDD

  • Business language in code

  • Simple design

• Quality of the code

  • Only visible by dev

  • No time allowed to refactor

Quality of the code may not guarantee the success of a project But can be the main cause of failure.

Not only responding to change, but also steadily adding value

• Not just

  • Adding new features

  • Fixing bugs

• BUT also

  • Improve constantly structure of the code

  • Keep it clean

  • Testable

  • Extendable

  • Change must be fast enough

• High Quality Software

Not only individuals and interactions, but also a community of professionals

• Sharing

  • Knowledge

  • Ideas

  • Successes and failures

  • Humility

    • Learning from each others

• Mentoring

  • Prepare the next generation

• Craftsmen want to work with

  • Passionates

  • Inspiring professionals

Not only customer collaboration, but also productive partnerships

• Productive partnerships

  • Not only do what you are told to do

    • Not factory workers

  • Passionate & talented people want

    • Success

    • Successful projects

  • We must help our clients

• Some clients are not ready

  • Software development = industrial process

  • Developer have to follow orders

  • Recrute cheaper devs

  • Will not listen devs Tech leads = outdated people

  • Very difficult environment for craftsman

Software Craftsman

• Believes that

  • Software is a craft

  • Writing good software requires

    • Skill

    • Careful attention

• Practices his craft

  • To become more skillful

  • To produce better software

• A professional

  • Work is consistently of high quality

Goal of the manifesto

Reduce the gap between Agile methodologies Technical world

Definition

• Is NOT

  • Beautiful code

  • Test Driven Development

  • Self selected group of people

  • Specific technologies/methodologies

  • Certifications

  • Religion

• Mindset

  • Consider software dev as a craft

  • A long journey to mastery

  • Choose to be responsible for their own careers

  • Constant learning

    • Tools

    • Techniques

  • Key words

    • Responsibility

    • Professionalism

    • Pragmatism

    • Pride

  • Learning from others

  • Share knowledge

  • Caring about what they do

  • Help customers

Attitude

• Constantly finding ways to become better professional

• Continuous learning

• "Who owns your career ?"

  • What if our company

    • Does not buy any books

    • Never sent us to any training course or conferences

    • Does that mean the company is bad ?

  • Ourselves

    • We are professionals

    • We own our careers

    • We must keep us up to date

      • Books

        • Tech specific

        • Conceptual

        • Behavorial

        • Revolutionary

      • Blogs

      • Tech websites

      • Social medias

• Practice, practice, practice

  • The more we practice, the more comfortable we become

  • Katas

    • Simple coding exercices

    • To practice

      • Techniques/approaches

      • Languages

      • Technologies

  • Pet projects

    • Real projects

      • Without pressure

      • You choose technologies & methodologies

  • Open source

    • Contributes to projects

  • Pair program

    • Enhances team spirit

    • Social activity

    • Knowledge sharing

    • Open minds

      • Learn

      • Share

      • Or both

  • Discovery

    • Second level of ignorance

    • I don't know what I don't know

    • Accept the fact that we have a lot to learn

      • Sign of maturity

      • A first step to mastery

  • Share

"I'm the smartest man in Athens because I know that I know nothing" - Socrates

Abstract

• Essential to a successful career

  • Determination

  • Passion

• The day we stop learning & practicing

  • The day we start losing control of our own careers

• Focus

  • Becoming better professionals

  • Not on "how do I get my promotion/bonus"

Peter's principle : "Only incompetent people are scared to lose their job"

Technical Practices

• For building the right thing :

  • Feedback loops

  • Visualizing WIP

  • Backlogs

  • Stand ups

  • User Stories

  • Acceptance criteria

  • Definitions : Ready / Done

• For building the thing right ?

• How do I sell tech practices ?

  • Focus on the benefits

  • Better understanding of requirements

  • Knowledge sharing

  • Reduction of bugs

  • Quick & automated releases

• Be pragmatic

  • Always a better way

  • Decide your practices

    • To answer a need

    • Not because someone says to

  • Compare values between practices