January 4, 2008

...Learn TDD with Codemanship

Are The Barriers To Excellence Really Where We Think They are?

One of the reasons why some people in life seem to get more of what they want than others might be explained by the fact that these "lucky" people have a less limited perception of where the barriers are.

Let's imagine that you're walking along in the local park one sunny day, and you spy a lovely cream donut (mmmmmm, donuts...) on a plate in the middle of the grass. The grass is very well kept, and there are no people walking on it. They all stick to the path. But you don't see any signs telling people to "Keep Off The Grass".

Some people would naturally assume that walking on the grass is forbidden, and therefore they will be unable to reach the donut (doh!)

Other people might just walk right over, pick the donut up and stuff it in their big, fat faces. And maybe the park police rush out and taser them to within an inch of their life. But probably not.

Which is maybe why some people tend to get more than their fair share of donuts.

And it might also explain why some development teams get to do things their way more often than others. For example, one of the most common questions that comes up after I do a talk on Test-driven Development is "but what if your manager won't let you do it?"

This morning I sat with an excellent project manager who told me how keen she was for developers to grab the bull by the horns, take responsibility, make decisions, and generally assert themselves as software development professionals.

Later today I sat in another meeting with one of those developers who told me how he wished they could play a more active role in high-level architectural decisions, but seemed to think that it wouldn't be allowed.
Posted 12 years, 10 months ago on January 4, 2008