Metaphors are everywhere: Ideas to Improve Software Development

Let’s embark on a journey together - a journey in which we’ll weave together the realms of basketball, fiction writing, game development and trading card games to explore how these seemingly unrelated domains surprisingly intersect with the world of software development, offering fresh perspectives and insights.

Discover how concepts, strategies, and principles from these diverse domains can enhance your software development skills and creativity. Let’s celebrate the power of interdisciplinary thinking, revealing how diverse interests can invigorate your approach to software development.

Transcript

1. Today...
2. How did we get here?
3. Stress
4. No Sports
5. There is no Escape
6. Improper Carrying
7. Move it, Tobi!
9. No Games
10. No Games No Programming
11. No Games No Programming 😭
13. @spec run(map, keyword) :: any def run(jobs, config \\ []) when is_list(config) do config |> Benchee.init() |> Benchee.system() |> add_benchmarking_jobs(jobs) |> Benchee.collect() |> Benchee.statistics() |> Benchee.load() |> Benchee.relative_statistics() |> Formatter.output() |> Benchee.profile() end defp add_benchmarking_jobs(suite, jobs) do Enum.reduce(jobs, suite, fn {key, function}, suite_acc -> Benchee.benchmark(suite_acc, key, function) end) end
14. METAPHORS ARE EVERYWHERE Ideas to Improve Software Development Tobi(as) Pfeiffer @PragTob Senior Staff Engineer @ Remote
17. Learn
18. Learn Helped in the past
20. Inspired by architecture!
21. Learn Helped in the past Open Questions
22. Different Angle
23. BASKETBALL
24. THE NEW TEAM MATE
25. THE NEW TEAM MATE Came down from first squad
26. THE NEW TEAM MATE Came down from first squad ~1.95m
27. THE NEW TEAM MATE Came down from first squad Arms like my legs! ~1.95m
28. THE NEW TEAM MATE Came down from first squad Can dunk! Arms like my legs! ~1.95m
29. THE NEW TEAM MATE Came down from first squad Can shoot the 3! Can dunk! Arms like my legs! ~1.95m
30. THE NEW TEAM MATE Came down from first squad Can shoot the 3! Can dunk! Arms like my legs! ~1.95m Clearly our best player
31. THE NEW TEAM MATE Came down from first squad Can shoot the 3! Can dunk! Arms like my legs! ~1.95m Clearly our best player Are we a better team?
32. CHEMISTRY
33. CHEMISTRY Focus
34. CHEMISTRY Focus Goodbye
35. BASKETBALL DEV ↔ DEV
36. Winning vs Losing BASKETBALL DEV ↔ DEV
37. Winning vs Losing Statistics BASKETBALL DEV ↔ DEV
38. Winning vs Losing Statistics One Ball BASKETBALL DEV ↔ DEV
39. HUSTLE PLAYER
40. Defense HUSTLE PLAYER
41. Defense All the small plays HUSTLE PLAYER
42. Defense All the small plays Set up others HUSTLE PLAYER
43. Glue guy!
45. TEAM FIT
46. BASKETBALL
47. BASKETBALL Team Composition
48. BASKETBALL Team Composition Player Types
49. BASKETBALL Team Composition Player Types Being Glue
50. FICTION WRITING
51. Meet Brandon Sanderson!
52. “Duh, it’s writing Tobi”
53. “Duh, it’s writing Tobi” Single Author
54. “Duh, it’s writing Tobi” Single Author Entertainment
55. There are patterns!
56. There are patterns! Tropes
57. SPOILERS
58. The Outsider TROPES
59. The Outsider The mentor and why they… disappear TROPES
60. There are patterns! Tropes Know why + when to use
61. WORLD BUILDING
62. Logical Consistency WORLD BUILDING
63. Logical Consistency Bugs! WORLD BUILDING
64. WORLD BUILDING
65. Editors WORLD BUILDING
66. Revisions! Editors WORLD BUILDING
67. Revisions! Writing Groups! Editors WORLD BUILDING
68. Revisions! Writing Groups! Spikes! Editors WORLD BUILDING
69. LIMITATIONS > POWER
70. HANDING OVER
71. We do this… all the time? HANDING OVER
72. FICTION WRITING
73. FICTION WRITING (Ab-)use of Patterns
74. FICTION WRITING (Ab-)use of Patterns Limitations
75. FICTION WRITING (Ab-)use of Patterns Limitations Consistency
76. FICTION WRITING (Ab-)use of Patterns Limitations Consistency Vision
77. GAME DEVELOPMENT
78. VISION
79. COLLABORATION
80. Inspiring each other COLLABORATION
81. Inspiring each other Everybody Playtests COLLABORATION
82. Every game as a reaction to the last game
83. Bastion - 2011 Transistor - 2014 Pyre -2017 Hades- 2018-2020 Every game as a reaction to the last game
84. GAME DEVELOPMENT
85. GAME DEVELOPMENT Reaction to Last Job
86. GAME DEVELOPMENT Reaction to Last Job Vision & Collaboration
87. CARD GAMES
88. Deck: Tech Stack / Company
89. Deck: Tech Stack / Company Hand/Mana: Resources Available
90. Deck: Tech Stack / Company Hand/Mana: Resources Available Board: Resources Deployed/Problems
91. DECK BUILDING
92. DECK BUILDING Win Condition?
93. DECK BUILDING Win Condition? Matchups?
94. DECK BUILDING Win Condition? Matchups? Weaknesses vs. Win More?
95. DECK BUILDING Win Condition? Matchups? Weaknesses vs. Win More? Synergies?
96. LET’S PLAY
97. LET’S PLAY Tempo vs. value
98. THE META
99. THE META What is currently played?
100. THE META What is currently played? Balance Patches & new Releases
101. THE META What is currently played? Anti-Meta Balance Patches & new Releases
102. THE META What is currently played? Anti-Meta Balance Patches & new Releases
103. THE META What is currently played? Anti-Meta Balance Patches & new Releases
104. THE META What is currently played? Anti-Meta != best decks Balance Patches & new Releases
105. WHY CARD GAMES?
106. Changes often WHY CARD GAMES?
107. Changes often Testing takes days, not years WHY CARD GAMES?
108. CARD GAMES
109. CARD GAMES Deck Building
110. CARD GAMES Deck Building Meta
112. THE META
113. THE META Basketball Play Style
114. THE META Basketball Play Style Writing Style
115. THE META Basketball Play Style Writing Style Game Design Writing Style
116. THE META Basketball Play Style Writing Style Game Design Writing Style Decks Played
117. FIT
118. FIT Player Fit
119. FIT Player Fit Characters, Setting & Plot
120. FIT Player Fit Characters, Setting & Plot Game Play, Narrative, Visuals & Sound
121. FIT Player Fit Characters, Setting & Plot Game Play, Narrative, Visuals & Sound Deck Building
122. IT’S ALL CONNECTED
123. METAPHORS ARE EVERYWHERE Ideas to Improve Software Development Tobi(as) Pfeiffer @PragTob Senior Staff Engineer @ Remote
124. @PragTob THANKS FOR LISTENING
126. Image Credit • Erik Drost, CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons • globalite, CC BY-SA 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons • Keith Allison, CC BY-SA 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons