Common wisdom, and self help books, says that anyone who completes 10,000 hours (10 years) in their chosen discipline will excel. This is part of the rationale for Code Kata and Coding Dojos from the Software Craftsmanship movement. But the 10 years equals expert formula isn’t true.
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Tag Archives: software craftsmanship
Software Craftsmanship should be Professionalism and a Dedication to Improvement
This is the last post in my series on software craftsmanship. I thought I’d end the series with a brief summary and recommending a (new or just different) definition for software craftsmanship.
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Is Software Craftsmanship a Type of Martial Arts?
Code Kata, Coding Dojos, and White Belt Programmers. What is it all about?
In part seven of my series on software craftsmanship I have a look at how software craftsmanship is sometimes wrapped in the language of martial arts.
I confess from the outset that the use of martial arts language really put my off software craftsmanship. But behind the kung-fu I found fairly uncontroversial practices.
I’ll have a quick look at the three software craftsmanship practices I found with a strong martial arts flavour: Code Kata, Coding Dojos, and White Belt Programmers. Then go into a more general discussion of what it is about.
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Software Craftsmanship is an Apprentice’s Journey to Guild Master
In part six of my series on software craftsmanship I have a look at how software craftsmanship is sometimes portrayed as an apprentice’s journey up a guild heirarchy to the elevated rank of “master”.
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Software Craftsmanship is a community of practice with overlapping values
In part five of my series on software craftsmanship I look at the definition of software craftsmanship presented in the book by Hoover and Oshineye (2009). Their definition is wrapped around the concepts of community and values. Nice embracing terms but what does that mean for software craftsmen?
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Software Craftsmanship is skilled software development in small scale production
In this, the fourth post in my series on software craftsmanship, I interpret Wikipedia: Craft in the context of software development. I’m doing this because Ade Oshineye: Software Craftsmanship – More than just a manifesto
recommended the wikipedia definition of craft although Ade generally avoids dictionary style definitions for software craftsmanship (Hoover and Oshineye, 2009).
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Software Craftsmanship is not writing crap
In the third post in my series on software craftsmanship I’m having at look at Bob Martin’s call to arms to software craftsmen to not write crap.
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Software Craftsmanship is not Software Engineering
In part two of my series on software craftsmanship I take a look at how Peter McBreen, in his book entitled Software Craftsmanship (McBreen, 2001), sets up software craftsmanship in opposition to software engineering. Actually he does say that "Software craftsmanship is not the opposite of software engineering or computer science. Rather, craftsmanship is a different tradition that happily coexists" (p. xvi). But the rest of the book undermines any claimed coexistence.
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Is Software Craftsmanship some code-obsessed mishmash of martial arts and carpentry?
Software Craftsmanship is some code-obsessed mishmash of martial arts and carpentry or plumbing
Ade Oshineye: Software Craftsmanship – More than just a manifesto
"Software Craftsmanship" is one of the big catch phrases in the software development community at the moment. There is an Manifesto for Software Craftsmanship, a few books (Hoover & Oshineye, 2009; Hunt & Thomas, 1999; Martin, 2008; McBreen, 2001), conferences and seminars, and lots of blog posts.
But what does software craftsmanship actually mean?
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