Archive for the ‘People’ Category

Full Size Kata Project

Saturday, October 16th, 2010

So I’m sitting here at SCNA, and it’s great to talk about improving our craftsmanship, but what are we doing about it? And I’m very struck by what Keavy says about artists having a culture of critical review, which we totally don’t have. So I talk to Max, and I say, “We’ve got all the right people in the room, but we’re not pushing the state of the art forward!” And I whine about the state of programming education, and how we don’t have the culture of critique, and all that, and he says, “We need a fully worked example that we can all stand behind, like a Kata, but for a full size problem.”

So, that’s what we’re going to do. Thirty days of development, with review and commentary on the code at each step, hopefully tracking real changes to requirements and being a full sized app. We want reviews of the code at each step, and as much feedback as we can get. Once we get the thing “complete”, We should build a finished “episode” with code, commentary, and reviews. Ultimately, We’d like something that someone can read and get a good example of how software craftsmen work and do a full sized project.

We have a twitter hashtag: #fullsizekata

Questions: What is the best way to foster consensus on each iteration?

Mad props to my Peeps

Tuesday, April 15th, 2008

No man is an island. If I have any good ideas, it’s because I have good people to bounce them off of. I have to put out a major shout-out here to my some-time partner in crime, Matt Heusser. We’ve worked together on a few projects, and it’s always come out great. He’s a sharp dude.

Also, you should apply to go to his Workshop on Technical Debt. I can’t go because I have a prior engagement, but it definitely looks like a good deal.