The Software Craftsman chapter 11 & 12

Chapter 11 is titled “interview anti-Patterns”. This chapter talks about the wrong processes to go about conducting an interview as a developer. They should avoid doing things like being a smart-ass interviewer, using brainteasers, asking unnecessary  questions, and trying to seem superior in knowledge. After we’ve worked hard to find a qualified candidate, the last thing we want to do is steal the opportunity they have to shine. We want to convince them that our company is the best they can work for, because a good developer will also be looking for a company that is best for them.

Chapter 12 talks about the cost of  low morale and how unmotivated people seem to represent that very well. Unmotivated people tend to destroy companies because this can change the motivation of other workers significantly. I believe that the attitude of the people you work with can have a huge impact on the way you work; they can either motivate you or suck the morale out of you. In this chapter we learn that people become like that and that is mostly due to companies beating the passion out of developers. Manager and agile coaches are the last people to motivate developers because they are demanding and punctual about everything. The only person that can motivate a developer is another developer. Not just any developer, but a software craftsman that every team needs.

 

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The Software Craftsman Chapter 7 & 8

Chapter 7 addresses a number of technical practices such as TDD, pair programming, SCRUM and their usefulness in improving our software delivery process. These agile methodologies are about delivering value to customers in the shortest time frame possible. Even though these practices are very effective in the software development process, it is difficult to convince manger to adopt them. Many companies do not use these practices because they fail to identify why they need them, when to use them, or simply does not believe that they are effective. It is not easy to get developers to adopt to these practices because there is a learning curve and it will take some time to understand. To figure out which practices to use, first we must know what area we need to improve and what we are trying to achieve.

Chapter 8 is titled “The long Road”. This chapter is perfect for aspiring developers because it talks about what to look for when choosing our careers. It summarized the career requirements into three things autonomy, mastery, and purpose. Having a successful career is not easy; we must figure out where we want to be and work hard to get there. We must treat every job as an investment to craft the career that will makes us happy. And if you are among the ones that do not know where they want to be, this chapter has a lot of suggestions to create options that can help decide the next step. Things like attending conferences, blogging, studying new things, and networking with other developers and business-people can open a lot of doors. Our career is important and carefully crafting it is the best way to reach where we want to be.

The Software Craftsman Chapter 5 & 6

Chapter 5 of The Software Craftsman titled “Heroes, Goodwill, and Professionalism” essentially covers the communication between the client and the programmer.

There is a limit to satisfying the clients needs. From their perspective, they are not aware of how difficult and elaborate the process for a software project is. They usually have a demand and expects immediate and accurate results because after all that is what they pay us for. However, how we handle situations like this in this field is what determines our level of professionalism. It is our job to communicate with our clients and say “no” when they have unrealistic requests. We need to be upfront on what is possible, what is not, and set realistic deadlines so we can have enough time to work with no pressure. If we fail to communicate, then we end up looking unprofessional.

Chapter 6 is title “Working Software” and it is about keeping the quality of our software as polished as it can be. We must never sacrifice quality for the sake of meeting a deadline; that is bad practice. Our software must be written well enough to adjust to changes, otherwise we will become “hostages of our own software”and that will hinder the business progress. This makes perfect sense because as technology advances, our software needs to be able to adapt quickly. Adding new features should be implemented into with ease if we have good quality software. I like how Sandro relates code to a garden. He mentions that ” with basic and regular maintenance, the garden will always look great but if we neglect it, even for a short period of time, it will require much more effort to make it look good again”. I think this comparison accurately describes how we should treat our code. The same thing can happen to our code if we neglect it; it will deteriorate or loose quality and will require more work to regain quality.

 

 

Software Craftsmanship Chapter 3 & 4.

Chapter 3 of this book really translate what software craftsmanship is. It gave us a number of definitions including one from Wikipedia. Each definition shows a different perspective and what stuck out to the most was looking at software craftsmanship on a personal level. The book defines this as

a mindset where software developers choose to be responsible for their own careers, constantly learning new tools and techniques and constantly bettering themselves.

I see this being the most constructive definition or how software craftsmanship should be defined.  If we have this mindset then everything else like team work and professionalism should fall right into place. This also extends into chapter 4 because its about attitude and how software developers should represent themselves. No matter how much we rely on the workforce to gain experience, we have to realize that were in charge of our own careers and our advancement within it.

Software Craftsman chapter 1 & 2.

The first chapter of software craftsman talks about how different being a software engineer is today. Knowing how to code is not sufficient to be considered a craftsman, we need to have the knowledge to aid a company in other areas as well. I can see how this is important because in the workforce we have to prove ourselves to be an asset to the company we work for. It is not just about mastering our craft, it is also about showing that we are flexible enough to learn new things and adapt to changes .  Like the book explains having experience in one area is not always the best route. Someone with less experience in the field maybe more knowledgeable in more areas. Chapter 2 Talks about the agile transformation which embraces processes and tools such as Scum and other methods. My experience with scrum has only been in my classes.  But i can see how practicing scrum and other tools alike really contribute to the Agile Manifesto.