The Guest : A Guide To Code Hospitality

You were living alone in the town of Ruby-on-Rails until you decided to open up your spare room to guests. Now your first visitor has booked in. Her arrival is imminent.

How do you prepare? How can you make sure she has a great visit?

Let’s explore the art of code hospitality — working on codebases in a way that respects your teammates and provides for their needs. By working hospitably, we can facilitate team productivity and help new members quickly feel at home.

A talk at RailsConf 2016.

Transcript

1. THE GUEST Nadia Odunayo A GUIDE TO CODE HOSPITALITY @nodunayo
2. STORY ONE
3. I think I want to move to London.
4. Cool!
5. Will you help me please?
6. Sure!
13. STORY TWO
14. “It’s like Rails is my city and I’ve lived here all of my life.”
15. I think I want to move to Ruby-on-Rails.
16. Code Hospitality
17. Problem solving
18. Problem solving & Communication
19. Collaboration
20. Collaboration & Learning
21. CODE HOSPITALITY THE GUIDE
22. WHO IS THIS GUIDE FOR?
23. You’ve recently started a new job.
24. You have a new team member.
25. You’ve recently rotated onto a new team.
26. You’ve recently typed ‘rails new’.
27. You’re on a project using an unfamiliar language.
28. You’ve got people looking to you for direction.
29. You regularly collaborate with other people.
30. You want your team to be productive.
31. You want your team to be happy.
32. You’re in the right place.
33. INTRODUCTION
34. When was the last time you had a guest?
35. What did you do to make their stay pleasant?
36. When was the last time you were a guest?
37. Did you enjoy it?
38. Hospitality
39. Vulnerable
40. Vulnerable & Uncertain
41. SETTING THE TONE
42. Guest / Host
43. Guest / Host
44. Guest / Host Junior / Senior
45. first meeting orientation Preparation
49. def name_one end
50. def name_one end def name_two end
51. def name_one end def name_two end def AliasThree end
52. def name_one end def name_two end def AliasThree end ?
53. class SweetDispenser end
54. class SweetDispenser end # I give you sweets
55. class SweetDispenser end # I give you sweets # I also display your # bank balance
56. def MakeAnAwesomeSandwich end get_bread && fillings && spread || no_spread && put_it_all_together || or_not
57. def MakeAnAwesomeSandwich bread = prepare_bread(no_of_slices) fill_bread(bread, favorite_filling) end
58. def MakeAnAwesomeSandwich bread = prepare_bread(no_of_slices) fill_bread(bread, favourite_filling) end
59. Keep your codebase in a state ready to receive unexpected guests.
62. We attempted that refactor, but…
63. I couldn’t be bothered.
64. Know the reasons why your codebase isn’t up to the standard you want it to be.
65. What type of guest?
67. Open Source Guests
72. A README that keeps you running.
73. first meeting orientation preparation
78. Want to do a lunch & learn?
79. You can ask me anything.
80. Is there anything you’d like to see that I haven’t shown you yet?
81. I’m putting my headphones on but…
82. …I’m interruptible.
83. Demonstrate that you want your new teammates to feel at home as soon as possible.
84. orientation preparation first meeting
91. Narrative
92. Tell new teammates the story of your codebase.
93. DELIVERING VALUE
97. How do you see the domain?
98. As a user, I want to get inside the Tower of London
103. H
104. H T
105. H T T
109. Assume that you and your teammate are both lost.
110. Scribble down diagrams and work together to find one another.
111. I don’t remember how.
113. H
114. H R
115. H R P
116. Here are some ways that we’ve approached it in the past.
117. Here is how another person may approach it.
118. Let’s explore the pros and cons.
119. Which way shall we go?
120. Move the conversation from implementation detail to broader concepts.
121. GIVING & RECEIVING FEEDBACK
122. Feedback is hard
123. You spoke about feelings a lot.
124. Seems strange for a work environment.
125. Seems strange for a work environment.
127. Feelings
128. Feelings Needs
129. Feelings Needs Requests
130. Judgement
131. Judgement
132. No Judgement Safe Zone
133. You hogged the keyboard!
134. You hogged the keyboard!
135. I need to get better at writing tests.
136. Yeah, it was great!
137. Yeah, it was great!
138. I need to know I’m being heard.
140. What should we
141. What should we keep doing?
142. What should we change?
143. When giving and receiving feedback, focus on expressing your feelings and needs.
144. CONCLUSION
145. Code Hospitality enables us to empathise.
146. It is only when we treat our colleagues as guests that we thrive.
147. FAQS
148. Where can I buy a copy of the Code Hospitality guide?
149. http://speakerdeck.com/nodunayo
150. Where can I find out more about communicating with my colleagues effectively?
151. Nonviolent Communication Marshall B. Rosenberg by
152. What is a way that I can run a 1:1 retrospective?
153. https://blog.pivotal.io/labs/labs/feedback-in-conversation
154. Where can I join the Code Hospitality discussion?
155. #codehospitality
156. Who helped you in the development of this talk?
157. Theo Cushion Barrett Clark Andy Croll Adam Cuppy Pete Holiday Tammer Saleh Justin Searls Amar Shah JB Steadman
158. How can we make it safe to be vulnerable?
159. HOW WAS YOUR STAY?
160. THANK YOU! HOW WAS YOUR STAY? Nadia Odunayo ignition.works @nodunayo