H/F Prodev - Peopleware > Software

In the software development industry, most of the problem are human in nature, not technological. We'll explore some of the psychological and social problems common in development teams, and some tips how to overcome them and become a better developer

Transcript

1. H/F PRODEV PEOPLEWARE > SOFTWARE RUBÉN MEDELLÍN (@CHUBAS)
2. DILBERT DILBERT'S GUIDE TO SOFTWARE DEVELOPMENT
7. DILBERT COMPANIES "There are two types of companies. Those that recognize that they are just like Dilbert and those that are also like Dilbert but don't know it yet." - Guy Kawasaki
8. PROGRAMMING IS A HUMAN ACTIVITY SOFTWARE SCIENCE != SOFTWARE ENGINEERING Applied discipline of software science Standarized approaches to common problems: Development methodologies System architectures Industry standards etc
9. SOFTWARE DEVELOPMENT
10. CONWAY'S LAW "Organizations which design systems are constrained to produce designs which are copies of the communication structures of these organizations" - Melvin Conway
11. PROGRAMMING IS A HUMAN ACTIVITY SOFTWARE SCIENCE != SOFTWARE ENGINEERING Applied discipline of software science Standarized approaches to common problems: Development methodologies System architectures Industry standards etc
12. THINKING DUAL MODE Humans have two modes of thinking SYSTEM 1 vs SYSTEM 2
13. THINKING DUAL MODEL System 1 System 2 Unconscious reasoning Conscious reasoning Implicit Explicit Automatic Controlled Low Effort High Effort Associative Rule based Non-Logical Logical Parallel Serial
14. COGNITIVE BIASES Cognitive biases are psychological tendencies that cause the human brain to draw incorrect conclusions
15. PLANNING FALLACY BELIEF THAT PEOPLE CAN ACCURATELY ESTIMATE TASKS, SPECIALLY WITH UNKNOWN ELEMENTS Wrong estimates (time, cost, effort) Blinded by wishful thinking - optimistic scenarios
16. CONFIRMATION BIAS THE TENDENCY TO SEARCH FOR, INTERPRET, FOCUS ON AND REMEMBER INFORMATION IN A WAY THAT CONFIRMS ONE'S PRECONCEPTIONS Tunnel vision when designing architectures Tendency to overlook defects, or fix the wrong issues
17. DUNNIN-KRUGER EFFECT THE TENDENCY FOR UNSKILLED INDIVIDUALS TO OVERESTIMATE THEIR ABILITIES, AND VICEVERSA Contributes to bad estimations and overcommitment Reflects in added complexity in code and bad programming practices
18. GENERATION EFFECT FALLACY TENDENCY TO BETTER REMEMBER INFORMATION IF IT IS GENERATED FROM ONE'S OWN MIND RATHER THAN SIMPLY READ Difficulty on understanding legacy systems Tendency to underestimate documentation and design documents
19. HYPERBOLIC DISCOUNTING TENDENCY TO PREFER SMALLER PAYOFFS NOW OVER LARGER PAYOFFS LATER, MAKING CHOICES THAT DISREGARD LONG-TERM PLANNING Hacks, TODOs... Technical Debt !
20. BANDWAGON EFFECT PEOPLE MAKE CHOICES WITHOUT EVIDENCE BASED JUST ON POPULARITY OR CONSENSUS Choice of the tools / frameworks Decisions taken by a team leader without team discussion
21. BIASES ARE UNAVOIDABLE Biases are part of our evolutionary mechanisms related to survival instincts. Conflict between System 1 and System 2
22. BRAIN POWER IS AN EXPENDABLE RESOURCE Ego depletion The elephant vs The rider
23. RETROSPECTION / INTROSPECTION "KNOWING IS HALF THE BATTLE" Look for past biases by looking at the consequences Spend conscious effort to think about your decisions Use safeguard tools for countering common biases
24. THINKING FRAMEWORK TOOLS FOR INTRODUCING OBJECTIVITY INTO YOUR DECISION MAKING Checklists, reminders, notes Ask the right questions, validate with other people Follow a PROCESS
25. CONCLUSIONS Software development is a human activity, and such is prone to human errors at the individual and organizational levels Cognitive biases are constantly present and almost unavoidable One of the best ways to counter them is to establish a thinking framework
26. REFERENCES Weinberg, Gerald (2011-03-08). The Psychology of Computer Programming: Silver Anniversary. Weinberg & Weinberg Kahneman, Daniel (2011-11-03). Thinking, Fast and Slow. Penguin Books Ltd. Heath, Chip; Heath, Dan (2011-10-31). Switch - How to Change Things when Change is Hard. Random House UK. Jørgensen, Magne, and Efi Papatheocharous. (2015) Believing is Seeing: Confirmation Bias Studies in Software Engineering In SEAA, Euromicro. Tore Dybå, Barbara Kitchenham and Magne Jørgensen, Evidence-based Software Engineering for Practitioners, IEEE Software, Vol. 22, No. 1, Jan-Feb 2005.
27. QUESTIONS? THANKS!