Get off the tightrope

Do you feel stressed when you’re trying to hold a big problem in your head? Do you get frustrated when someone interrupts you and you have to start all over again? Those emotions are inevitable if you’re in the common habit of treating each programming task as a long, precarious, all-or-nothing tightrope walk. But it doesn’t have to be that way! In this talk I’ll explain why the tightrope walk is so harmful and show you some practical techniques for avoiding it.

Given at RubyConf 2017 (http://rubyconf.org/). A video and transcript is available at https://tomstu.art/get-off-the-tightrope.

Transcript

1. https://codon.com/get-off-the-tightrope
   GET OFF
   THE TIGHTROPE
   

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2. A very common
   problem.
   

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3. CTO,
   FutureLearn
   

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4. It
   affects
   everyone.
   

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5. BAD NEWS:
   it’s serious.
   GOOD NEWS:
   it’s fixable.
   

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6. THE PROBLEM
   THE SYMPTOMS
   THE CAUSES
   SOME REMEDIES
   WHY IS THIS IMPORTANT?
   

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7. THE
   PROBLEM
   

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8. Trying to do
   a big thing
   all at once.
   

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9. A large task,
   all in your head.
   

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10. One long, precarious,
    all-or-nothing
    tightrope
    walk.
    

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11. THE
    SYMPTOMS
    

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12. It’s stressful
    and hard to
    get right.
    

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13. You disappear
    down rabbit holes.
    

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14. You get too invested
    in your early mistakes.
    

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15. You learn to hate
    interruptions & distractions.
    

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16. (Tech culture
    reinforces this view.)
    

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17. http://heeris.id.au/2013/this-is-why-you-shouldnt-interrupt-a-programmer/
    

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18. https://twitter.com/phil_wade/status/896010517617180672
    

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20. It takes a long time
    to pick up your thread again.
    

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21. irritability about questions and meetings
    worrying you’ll forget what to do next
    typing “git status” and seeing twenty files
    modified
    a big long branch with lots of commits
    saying “WIP”, “fix stuff”, “changed my
    mind”, “redo this later”
    

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22. THE
    CAUSES
    

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23. Eager to
    make progress.
    

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24. Unsure
    how big
    it’s going to be.
    

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25. Unsure
    how far
    you have to go.
    

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26. Belief that
    programmers are special.
    

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27. This is flattering,
    but misguided.
    

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28. Opportunities for
    empathy &
    collaboration.
    

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29. SOME
    REMEDIES
    

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30. Planning
    ahead.
    

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31. Story mapping
    

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32. CUSTOMER BUYS PRODUCT
    View
    product
    page
    Add product
    to basket
    Enter
    payment
    details
    View
    basket
    page
    Confirm
    order
    Ship
    product
    Enter
    shipping
    details
    Cancel
    order
    

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33. CUSTOMER BUYS PRODUCT
    Remove
    product
    from basket
    Update old
    payment
    details
    Save product
    for later
    Request
    refund
    Browse
    related
    products
    Search all
    products
    Update
    product
    quantity
    in basket
    Add product
    to wishlist
    

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34. CUSTOMER BUYS PRODUCT
    time
    

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35. CUSTOMER BUYS PRODUCT
    time
    ? ??
    ?
    

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36. CUSTOMER BUYS PRODUCT
    Charge
    credit card
    Refund
    credit card
    Send refund
    confirmation
    email
    Send order
    confirmation
    email
    Filter
    search
    results
    Enter
    voucher
    code
    Sort
    search
    results
    Apply
    3-for-2
    offer
    

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37. CUSTOMER BUYS PRODUCT
    

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38. CUSTOMER BUYS PRODUCT
    

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39. CUSTOMER BUYS PRODUCT
    

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40. Story mapping
    breaks down your big problem
    into small, achievable subproblems.
    

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41. History
    hygiene.
    

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42. Make small, focused commits.
    

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43. Write commit messages
    that explain your thinking.
    

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44. Keep your branch
    in good shape.
    

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45. Don’t diverge
    too far from master.
    

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46. origin/master
    my-branch
    

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47. origin/master
    my-branch
    

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48. my-branch
    origin/master
    

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49. Cherry-pick
    preparatory work
    onto master.
    

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50. origin/master
    my-branch
    

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51. origin/master
    my-branch
    

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52. my-branch
    origin/master
    

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53. Use interactive rebase,
    early and often.
    

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54. Introduce Foo
    Clarify text in UI
    Rename Foo to Bar
    Improve performance
    

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55. Introduce Foo
    Clarify text in UI
    Rename Foo to Bar
    Improve performance
    

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56. Introduce Foo
    Clarify text in UI
    Rename Foo to Bar
    Improve performance
    

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57. Introduce Foo
    Clarify text in UI
    Improve performance
    Rename Foo to Bar
    Introduce Bar
    

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58. Practice switching away.
    

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59. Test-
    driven
    development.
    

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60. Learn to switch between
    the mental modes of
    red-green-refactor.
    

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61. Remember that
    red-green-refactor
    is a powerful mind hack.
    

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62. Work outside-in
    with acceptance tests.
    

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63. Write tests
    that really do check
    what you care about.
    

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64. Notes and
    conversations.
    

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65. Take notes
    and write down questions
    as you find them.
    

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66. Practice explaining
    your train of thought.
    

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67. Talk to other people about
    what you’re doing
    and why.
    

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68. Planning ahead.
    History hygiene.
    Test-driven development.
    Notes & conversations.
    

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69. Make your
    own solutions.
    

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70. Notice the risk,
    then break it down.
    

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71. Some resources.
    http://jpattonassociates.com/user-story-mapping/
    User Story Mapping
    https://about.futurelearn.com/blog/telling-stories-with-your-git-history
    Telling stories with your Git history
    http://www.growing-object-oriented-software.com/
    Growing Object-Oriented Software Guided by Tests
    https://pragprog.com/book/rspec3/effective-testing-with-rspec-3
    Effective Testing with RSpec 3
    

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72. Ashley Ellis Pierce,
    Git Driven Refactoring
    

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73. Valerie Woolard Srinivasan,
    How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love Unit
    Testing
    Noel Rappin,
    High Cost Tests and High Value Tests
    

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74. WHY
    IS THIS
    IMPORTANT?
    

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75. Great developers are
    great at this.
    

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76. Great developers
    are persistent,
    have strategies,
    and apply them
    methodically.
    

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77. This gets easier
    with practice.
    

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78. https://codon.com/get-off-the-tightrope
    THANKS.
    @tomstuart
    

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