A few words about software development

A talk given to the School of Code bootcampers.

Transcript

1. A few words about software development Luke Bennett Platform and Technology Manager, Bravissimo
2. Photo by True Agency on Unsplash
3. About me 20 years in software (web) development, 17 in a leadership role Skipped uni, started freelancing whilst still in sixth form Led development of SaaS apps (content/info management) Worked on projects across multiple verticals (banking, construction, property, public sector...) 10+ years in retail/e-commerce
6. Purpose
14. “Bravissimo is the champion of women with big boobs. We aim to inspire our customers to celebrate their figures and feel confident and amazing.
15. Photo by Jungwoo Hong on Unsplash
17. Autonomy Mastery Purpose
18. “ Each morning I get up and go to work to…
19. People
20. “Any organization that designs a system (defined broadly) will produce a design whose structure is a copy of the organization's communication structure. Conway’s Law - Melvin E. Conway
21. Software is all about people, not computers
23. “No matter what the problem is, it’s always a people problem. Gerald M. Weinburg
24. quickscrum.com
25. Do not underestimate the importance of soft skills
26. Build the thing right vs Build the right thing
28. Four steps to building the right thing 1. Listen to your users 2. Listen to your users 3. Listen to your users 4. Listen to your users
29. Principle of Least Surprise
30. “ People are part of the system. The design should match the user's experience, expectations, and mental models. Principles of computer system design: an introduction
31. Principle of Least Surprise Minimise the learning curve Adopt approaches and conventions familiar to your users Be consistent When faced with a decision, go with whatever would surprise the user less Guard against the “curse of knowledge” Keep It Simple Stupid (KISS)
32. “Always code as if the person who ends up maintaining your code is a violent psychopath who knows where you live. John F. Woods
33. Write once, read many times Be consistent (use prettier/linter) Look out for “code smells” (e.g. large methods/files, excessive commenting, redundant code) Don’t hardcode “magic” strings/values – use env vars/config file Don’t use “clever” hacks e.g. fancy one-liners Don’t abbreviate identifiers Avoid duplication …
34. Principle of Least Surprise Minimise the learning curve Adopt approaches and conventions familiar to your developers Be consistent When faced with a decision, go with whatever would surprise the developer less Guard against the “curse of knowledge” Keep It Simple Stupid (KISS)
35. Pragmatism
36. “ Perfect is the enemy of the good. Voltaire
37. Photo by M.D.M. on Unsplash Technical debt
38. Don’t use “pragmatism” as an excuse!
39. Sweat the small stuff (but keep perspective)
40. Reflection
41. quickscrum.com
42. Sander.v.Ginkel
43. “The whole principle came from the idea that if you broke down everything you could think of that goes into riding a bike, and then improved it by 1%, you will get a significant increase when you put them all together Dave Brailsford
44. Sweat the small stuff
45. Leave your ego at the door!
46. Depth
48. Embrace asynchronicity
49. Busy != Productive
51. “It’s an idea that might seem extreme at first but will soon prove indispensable in your quest to take full advantage of the value of deep work: Schedule every minute of your day. Deep Work, Cal Newport
52. bradfrost.com/blog
53. Purpose People Pragmatism Reflection Depth
54. Questions? lukebennett.com @developerluke
55. Links https://www.ted.com/talks/dan_pink_on_motivation https://www.ted.com/talks/simon_sinek_how_great_leaders_inspire_action https://simonsinek.com/product/start-with-why/ https://www.nngroup.com/articles/ https://www.calnewport.com/books/deep-work/ https://bradfrost.com/blog/link/the-realities-of-deep-work-what-happened- when-designer-and-author-brad-frost-scheduled-every-minute-of-his-day/