Humane Development

Agile. Scrum. Kanban. Waterfall. TDD. BDD. OOP. FP. AOP. WTH?

As a software developer, I can adopt methodologies so that I feel there's a sense of order in the world.

There's a problem with this story: We are humans, developing software with humans, to benefit humans. And humans are *messy*.

We wrap ourselves in process, trying to trade people for personas, points, planning poker, and the promise of predictability. Only people aren't objects to be abstracted away. Let's take some time to think through the tradeoffs we're making together.

Transcript

1. Ernie Miller humanedevelopment.org @erniemiller
   Humane Development
   

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2. erniemiller
   

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7. It’s not my fault.
   

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8. Aptenodytes ashamed
   Dave Morris
   CC BY 2.0
   

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9. Lots of penguins
   Brian Gratwicke
   CC BY 2.0
   

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10. Walking away
    Mindy Kimball
    Used with permission
    

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11. Software
    

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12. Software
    + Team
    

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13. Software
    + Team
    + Culture
    

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14. Software
    + Team
    + Culture
    It’s totally my fault.
    

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15. STORY TIME!
    

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19. Simple Kanban Board
    Jeff Lasovski
    http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0
    

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21. “You’re thinking of this all wrong. Think of it like another
    development task. Your team members are objects in
    the system and you’re doing engineering just like you
    would with software.”
    — A Former Boss
    

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22. “You’re thinking of this all wrong. Think of it like another
    development task. Your team members are objects in
    the system and you’re doing engineering just like you
    would with software.”
    — A Former Boss
    

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23. I HAVE NO IDEA
    WHAT I’M DOING
    

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24. Person.is_a? Object
    

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25. Person.is_a? Object
    # => SO MUCH FALSE
    

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27. Please Use Revolving Door
    Thomas Hawk
    CC BY-NC 2.0
    

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29. Tell me
    about your
    childhood.
    Personal space. Have
    you heard of it?
    

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31. “The Business” Values
    

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32. “The Business” Values
    1.Predictability
    

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33. “The Business” Values
    1.Predictability
    2.Measurability
    

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34. “The Business” Values
    1.Predictability
    2.Measurability
    3.Control
    

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35. © Jorge Royan / http://www.royan.com.ar / CC-BY-SA-3.0
    

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37. Man in a Box
    Keith Allison
    CC BY-SA 2.0
    Abstraction!
    

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38. Human
    

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39. Human Resources
    

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40. Resources
    

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41. We are humans
    working with humans
    to develop software
    for the benefit of humans.
    

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43. Humane Development
    

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44. humane
    

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45. humane
    

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46. Source: New Oxford American Dictionary
    humane |(h)yo
    ͞ oˈmān|
    adjective
    1 having or showing compassion or benevolence
    • inflicting the minimum of pain
    2 intended to have a civilizing or refining effect
    on people
    

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47. Agile
    

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48. The Land That Scrum Forgot
    Robert C. Martin
    

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50. “Martin Fowler and I sat down and said ‘You know, we
    should form an organization.’”
    – Robert C. Martin, “The Land That Scrum Forgot”
    

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51. “We called this the ‘Lightweight Process Summit’.”
    – Robert C. Martin, “The Land That Scrum Forgot”
    

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52. “It was at that meeting we coined the term ‘Agile’.”
    – Robert C. Martin, “The Land That Scrum Forgot”
    

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53. “It was Ward Cunningham, I believe, who said
    ‘You know, what we need here is a few
    statements where we don't disparage the old
    way of working. We say that we value the
    old way of working, but we value these
    other things more.’ ”
    – Robert C. Martin, “The Land That Scrum Forgot”
    

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54. We are uncovering better ways of developing
    software by doing it and helping others do it.
    Through this work we have come to value:
    Individuals and interactions over processes and tools
    Working software over comprehensive documentation
    Customer collaboration over contract negotiation
    Responding to change over following a plan
    That is, while there is value in the items on
    the right, we value the items on the left more.
    The Agile Manifesto
    agilemanifesto.org
    

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55. “At this meeting, Kent Beck reiterated his mission,
    his vision. He said again, ‘You know, this Agile
    thing, if we're going to call it Agile — it should
    be to heal the divide between business and
    development.’ And we all agreed.”
    – Robert C. Martin, “The Land That Scrum Forgot”
    

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56. “Who do you think was taking these courses — these
    Certified Scrum Master courses? Was it
    developers? No. See, I was a developer, and I
    thought it was stupid. And all the other developers
    I talked to said ‘This is stupid.’ Who was it that
    didn't think it was stupid? Project Managers!”
    – Robert C. Martin, “The Land That Scrum Forgot”
    

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57. “A Scrum Master was a coach. A Scrum
    Master was not a manager — explicitly
    not a manager, not supposed to be a
    manager.”
    – Robert C. Martin, “The Land That Scrum Forgot”
    

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58. “[...] the role was supposed to rotate through the
    various team members. [...] And frankly, the idea
    of the role was to slowly kind of fade away
    so that in the end you wouldn't need a Scrum
    Master.”
    – Robert C. Martin, “The Land That Scrum Forgot”
    

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59. “I don't think that the Project Managers who
    took the Certified Scrum Master course liked
    that particular interpretation.”
    – Robert C. Martin, “The Land That Scrum Forgot”
    

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60. Individuals and interactions over processes and tools
    Working software over comprehensive documentation
    Customer collaboration over contract negotiation
    Responding to change over following a plan
    

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62. Speed
    

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63. Hustle
    

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66. hustle
    

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67. hustle
    

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68. hustle |ˈhəәsəәl|
    verb
    1 force (someone) to move hurriedly or unceremoniously in a specified
    direction
    • push roughly; jostle
    • hurry; bustle
    2 obtain by forceful action or persuasion
    • coerce or pressure someone into doing or choosing something
    • sell aggressively
    • obtain by illicit action; swindle; cheat
    3 engage in prostitution.
    noun
    1 busy movement and activity
    2 a fraud or swindle.
    Source: New Oxford American Dictionary
    

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69. HUSTLE
    

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71. F5 tornado Elie Manitoba 2007 — Justin1569 — CC BY-SA 3.0
    

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72. The notion of hustle-as-a-
    virtue is one of the most
    damaging memes afflicting
    software developers today.
    

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74. POINTS
    

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75. VELOCITY = ZOMG!
    

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76. Jeremy Wariner, ©2007 Phil McElhinney, CC BY-SA 2.0
    

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77. Dr. Izumi Tabata
    

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78. Tabata Intervals (2:1 work/recovery)
    Typical Sprint (1:3 work/recovery)
    = 10 seconds
    

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81. An unsustainable pace is
    less than worthless.
    

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82. The Big Picture is not on
    a “Need to Know” Basis
    Unless maybe you work for the CIA.
    

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84. Estimates are lies.
    

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85. Most deadlines
    are lies.
    

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86. Most “urgent”
    things aren’t
    really urgent.
    

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87. Why?
    the importance of
    

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89. But the site is down! It’s
    actually urgent!
    

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90. Why?
    

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91. Because it’s down!
    Bad
    

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92. Because while it’s down, we’re losing
    [credibility|exposure|$x/hr].
    Good
    

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93. Recursive Non-Answers
    

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94. Recursive Non-Answers
    We need this feature by March 20th.
    

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95. Recursive Non-Answers
    We need this feature by March 20th.
    Why?
    

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96. Recursive Non-Answers
    We need this feature by March 20th.
    Why?
    So we can have this other feature by April 20th.
    

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97. Recursive Non-Answers
    We need this feature by March 20th.
    Why?
    So we can have this other feature by April 20th.
    Why?
    

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98. Recursive Non-Answers
    We need this feature by March 20th.
    Why?
    So we can have this other feature by April 20th.
    Why?
    …
    

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99. “The Divide” is a lie.
    

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100. We are humans
     working with humans
     to develop software
     for the benefit of humans.
     

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101. There is no “us.”
     

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102. There is no “them.”
     

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103. A mission statement
     is not enough.
     

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104. Empathy
     

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105. Honesty
     

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106. Smoke and Mirrors
     Flickr user: theilr
     CC BY-SA 2.0
     

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108. Crunch Mode is an
     Exceptional Situation
     

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109. def build_feature
     do_work
     rescue Timeout::Error => e
     sacrifice_time_and_sanity
     end
     

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110. I’d rather live in a Gotham
     that didn’t need Batman.
     

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111. I’d rather live in a Gotham
     that didn’t need Batman.
     

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112. MY BEST
     CODE EVER
     

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114. 100% TEST
     COVERAGE
     

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115. ZERO
     MAINTENANCE
     

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116. DOES EXACTLY
     WHAT YOU THINK
     

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117. Formalized
     processes are code
     for your company.
     

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118. Be skeptical of
     someone else’s
     processes.
     

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119. Integration
     

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120. Integration
     MiniTest
     

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121. Integration
     MiniTest
     

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122. – Chad Fowler, “The Curse of a Name: How to Kill a Good Idea”
     “I can ‘Do BDD’ in the same way I can
     sign up for a membership at the gym. I
     feel the sense of accomplishment without
     the need to actually get healthy.”
     

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123. Processes are a
     problem statement.
     

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124. Trust
     

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125. Process
     

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126. Address the source
     of the problem.
     

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127. Use processes as a
     last resort.
     

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128. Legacy
     

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129. Process
     Metaprogramming
     

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130. Glenn Vanderburg
     @glv
     

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134. “Please note that this roundabout diagram is
     an example only and does not represent all
     roundabout designs.”
     

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135. “Always drive so that everyone
     around you knows what you’re
     going to do before you do it.”
     – Thad Vanderburg
     

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137. A Theory of Evolution for Tools
     

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138. A Theory of Evolution for Tools
     1. Reflect
     

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139. A Theory of Evolution for Tools
     1. Reflect
     2. Become
     

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140. A Theory of Evolution for Tools
     1. Reflect
     2. Become
     3. Define
     

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142. Build small tools.
     

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143. Small tools are
     honest.
     

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144. Small tools are
     honest.
     (and probably won’t turn sentient and decide to use you as a power source)
     

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145. Leave room
     for choices.
     

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146. Dr. Martin Seligman
     The Father of Positive Psychology
     

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148. Dr. Ivan Pavlov
     Nobel Laureate, Grower of Splendid Beard
     

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151. Learned
     Helplessness
     

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152. Dr. Ellen Langer Dr. Judith Rodin
     

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153. The Effects of Choice and Enhanced Personal Responsibility for the Aged:
     A Field Experiment in an Institutional Setting
     

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154. The Effects of Choice and Enhanced Personal Responsibility for the Aged:
     A Field Experiment in an Institutional Setting
     Experiment Control
     You’re responsible for yourself Staff is responsible for you
     You have freedom to make choices Choices are made for you
     Choose and care for a plant Plant is assigned and cared for by staff
     

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155. The Effects of Choice and Enhanced Personal Responsibility for the Aged:
     A Field Experiment in an Institutional Setting
     Experiment Control
     You’re responsible for yourself Staff is responsible for you
     You have freedom to make choices Choices are made for you
     Choose and care for a plant Plant is assigned and cared for by staff
     Questionnaire ratings and behavioral measures showed a significant
     improvement for the experimental group over the comparison group on
     alertness, active participation, and a general sense of well-being.
     

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156. – Every abuser of power, everywhere
     “If you don’t like it, leave.”
     

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158. AND NOW FOR
     SOMETHING
     COMPLETELY
     DIFFERENT
     

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162. Helpless?
     

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163. We can work…
     

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164. We can work…
     …any time.
     

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165. We can work…
     …any time.
     …anywhere.
     

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166. We can work…
     …any time.
     …anywhere.
     …in many different ways.
     

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168. Empathy
     Honesty
     Trust
     

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169. Control
     

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170. Autonomy
     

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171. People are just like objects!
     OOP, baby!
     — Horrible Boss
     

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172. Object-Oriented Programming
     isn’t about objects.
     

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173. Object-Oriented Programming
     isn’t about objects.
     
     

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174. Everything about your
     organization is encoded in
     communication.
     

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175. Processes are just
     reusable messages!
     

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176. Processes are just
     reusable messages!
     (good)
     

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177. SNR
     

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178. Must be willing to
     relocate to 1992
     

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179. Must be willing to
     relocate to 1992
     to 1992
     

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180. Stop trying to
     substitute throughput
     for efficiency.
     

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181. PROGRAMMING IS
     WRITTEN
     COMMUNICATION
     

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188. – Tony Robbins, Author
     “Change happens when the pain
     of staying the same is greater
     than the pain of change.”
     

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189. Thought Work
     

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191. Work
     

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193. Really hard work
     

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194. – R. Keith Sawyer, Ph.D.
     “In creativity research, we refer to the
     three Bs—for the bathtub, the bed and
     the bus—places where ideas have
     famously and suddenly emerged.”
     

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195. You are literally
     always working.
     

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196. Lead by
     example.
     

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197. Empathy
     Honesty
     Trust
     Autonomy
     

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198. Stop looking for
     people to control.
     

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199. Why?
     

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200. That’s not how
     relationships work.
     

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201. Ernie Miller @erniemiller
     Humane Development
     humanedevelopment.org
     

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202. Ernie Miller @erniemiller
     Humane Development
     ❤
     humanedevelopment.org
     ZOMG STICKERS!!
     

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