Software Craftsmen Movement

When software development started, perhaps I guess about 50 years ago (probably more), I believe programming was the most important task in all software development life-cycle. Other tasks or phases probably didn't exist. They were embedded in what they called programming (right, the old ones?). After a few years, we started learning how to develop software better. This learning derived in methodologies that were created. In these methodologies, new phases such as analysis and designed appeared and in  many of them, those phases became more important than programming itself. This was weird because the actual task of building the software lost importance. In heavyweight waterfall methodologies, analysis and design took most of the work. Programming was just a translation work that could be performed (probably by anyone) when all the important work had already been done.


Changing the subject, I usually asked myself: How do we, programmers, know that we do our work correctly? Programming is one of those jobs where anyone, with google's help, can combine a few frameworks, throw a few lines of code and create a basic software system. But does that make you a good programmer? Another circumstance which perhaps is different than in other areas, is that our job market has been in need of professionals for many years, absorbing most or all the people in the field. So for many of use, getting a job as a programmer as been an easy thing. We just got off from University and they were waiting for us. But does that make us good programmers? I believe I can speak on behalf of lots of people when I say that we go from receiving very theoretical classes of Computer Science at University to try to resolve down to earth problems using a programming language. And this happens, a lot of times, without guidance (because supossedly we learned this at University?). Or isn't it true that lots of us have throw our first few thousands of lines of code to production without anyone checking them? I wonder: who teaches us how we should do our job as programmers, the day to day tasks. I'm not talking about learning a programming language. I'm talking about how to use it to resolve a problem, which is the best process to do it, what are the techniques.  This lack of guidance, of someone that verifies our first steps, of someone that shows us the way, makes it difficult for us to understand how we progress in our career. The leap from finishing University to becoming a good programmer is huge. And how do we fill it? How are we supposed to know what it takes to be a good programmer? Is there any curricula we could follow? Is there a career path somewhere? For sure, I wasn't aware of one.

I believe those are the 2 main reasons that fueled the creation of the software craftsmanship movement. Agile was in part a revolution against the essence of heavyweighted methodologies. A revolution that put the programming task as the most important task in all software development life-cycle again. The software craftsmanship movement took this revolution a step further. The actual task of coding the software is the most important task and it is not by any means a simple task. It is a task that requires understanding the business problem to solve, model it in the best possible way, program it using a programming language and by many programmers who all need to agree and implement the same model. To add more complexity,  many times the business scenarios change and software needs to change, to adapt to those changes. University doesn't prepare us for this job and companies need developers developing as soon as possible.

The Software Crafstmanship Manifesto states the following:

As aspiring Software Craftsmen we are raising the bar of professional software development by practicing it and helping others learn the craft. Through this work we have come to value:

• Not only working software, but also well-crafted software

• Not only responding to change, but also steadily adding value

• Not only individuals and interactions, but also a community of professionals

• Not only customer collaboration, but also productive partnerships

That is, in pursuit of the items on the left we have found the items on the right to be indispensable.

The first important thing to note in this manifesto is that it treats software programming as a craft. A craft is by the dictionary "an art, trade, or occupation requiring special skill, especially manual skill". A clear example of a craft is a carpenter. And how do you learn the carpenter's craft? First you start besides a carpenter as an apprentice and follow him, for a lot of time. Then you start doing small things on your own. And after a long time you master that craft and are able to perform it on your own. Look how different it looks from the path that many of us have followed. Also note that a craft is something that needs to be practiced. Software craftsmen practice their profession not only daily at work, but also through code katas and getting together to improve their craft in code retreats.

Look at the values now. Not just software, but well crafted software. Although some people may say that well crafted software is not the goal (producing value is), software craftsmen know that the best way of producing value is to produce good software,software that is robust, adaptable and can keep growing and producing value for a long period of time. I believe the third value indicates what should be the way to achieve this. A community of professionals. Through the software craftmanship community, I believe that now it's possible to follow a career path that takes you from apprentice to good developer. Professionals on this community are very open to teach what they know and help others become good professionals.

The software craftsmanship movement provided a new perspective to our profession of software programmers. It stressed the importance of programming and also of becoming a good programmer. And it also indicated the way to achieve this. A programmer should start as an apprentice who learns from someone that knows the craft. With practice, and more practice, this apprentice will learn the craft and become a good programmer.