Direction from Daniel Moka of Craft Better Software

My mom was driving my little brother and me to the state fair. We were running late. Then we saw a sign that said, “State Fair next Right”

John, my younger brother was sitting in the front seat. He said, “Pat, take the next right.”

She responded, “I know a shortcut.” Then she turned the car to the left.

Thirty minutes later we were still lost. No state fair in sight.

As developers, we need to stop and ask for direction too. We might be heading the wrong way. Someone else can provide some perspective.

I have reached out to a few thought leaders in the development space. Daniel Moka from Craft Better Software shared some guidance with us.

Baby Steps

In the film What about Bob? Dr. Leo Marvin shares with the main character Bob his advice to use Baby Steps. Perhaps we developers aren’t as neurotic as Bob Wiley, but it can be quite helpful.

Daniel has similar advice for us as we code.

Taking baby steps and verifying each step. I always work in small, then I verify each step. By doing so I can prevent expensive mistakes

These small experiments can yield us confidence and results. It gives us feedback that we are on the right track. Or do we need to course correct?

Boy Scout Rule

In high school, my group of friends would camp out on the weekends. We would leave a mess. Until Mike came with us. Mike was an Eagle Scout. He made sure we followed the advice of the founder Robert Stephenson Smyth Baden-Powell, “Try and leave this world a little better than you found it.”

For developers, Daniel says it this way:

Following the boy scout rule: always leaving the code a better place behind. It also related to practicing continuous refactoring

In my years of coding, I have seen some gnarly code. Look for ways to clean things up. Delete some dead code that is unused or commented out.

Why are we doing this?

In 2009 Simon Sinek published a book that reminded leaders to share the why. In Start with Why he reminds us to think about why we are doing this.

Developers need to understand this too. Daniel echoes Sinek’s advice for coding too.

Always asking the why: Every action we do should have clear reasonings, potentially considering the trade-offs

It is important to consider the trade-offs. Too often we overlook the options. For instance, the other day I was discussing the priority of work with the Product Owner.

Review your code

If you are like me you get pulled in many directions. Meetings of different sorts. Coding when you can. This can create mistakes and defects.

Daniel suggests reviewing our code at every possible opportunity. Here are some of his suggestions:

• Before Git commit
• Before creating a Pull Request
• In the refactoring phase of TDD (Test Driven Development)
• During pair and mob programming session

Find those moments to look with new eyes on your code. As a writer, I know there is creative time and critical time. Editing takes a particular frame of mind. Similar to coding, take a break and come back to it.

Attention to Detail

Lastly, Daniel advises us to pay attention to detail.

High Attention to detail: It is the hallmark of software craftsmanship, I believe. I try to care about every small detail of the app, also if it is just a variable name, I name it with care. Things can add up easily.

Essentially, we need to take pride in our work. Do it well. Look for any small improvements to make.

Daniel Moka shared some great directions to improve our software development. Take small steps. Leave the codebase better than you found it. Understand the why. Review your code. Finally, pay attention to the details.

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