At Code Collective we have a strong culture of value ownership. Developers work towards clear but high level objectives and have a lot of autonomy in how they reach that objective.
Typically this style of development — with a large dose of creative design — is supported by a relatively loose working framework which we call agile software development.
This approach works well for creative, complex, subjective tasks. People end up being tightly coupled with the unique complexity of the solution. People that are good at incorporating valuable insights into their design are hugely valuable and often tough to replace.
…
Software developers enjoy ‘invisible’ structure. Where they feel they are in charge of their own destiny. Can take ownership. But somehow magically all the other stuff that needs to happen, happens.
What is all this (not always so) invisible stuff? We’re talking about things like good facilitation, great process, tight interactions, devops, live system support, dealing with “what’s the next best thing to develop” prioritisation, UX thinking, UX delivery, graphic design, keeping the coffee stocked...
Part of the need for a good support structure for developers is they are most effective once they have established focus and flow. The inevitable…
If we were aware of the invisible stuff going on around us we’d be more more connected and more responsive to our ecosystem. I was about to tackle the implementation of another meaningful metric that would help us determine the effectiveness of our style of working when this thought popped into my mind. Perhaps the thought arrived because of pain points that had been expressed in our retrospectives and my one-on-ones. It often wasn’t so much a failure in how we’d agreed to work, but how it actually played out. I think I’ve observed something similar watching a game of…
I have often found the lack of commitment from reviewers of devices and software frustrating. Sometimes you just want someone to say this is one is clearly the best of the pack. I understand why this doesn’t happen. Real life is rarely that simple. Things shine in certain use cases while other things perform better in others. I think there is another evil but necessary force at play. Reviewers don’t want to alienate their readership. Brand loyalty in the tech space is an incredible thing to witness. Imagine a tech site — known for providing unbiased reviews — writes an…
I have spent the last 6 years or so learning how to enable a team. It’s been a slow journey and if I were kind to myself I’d say it was slow because my most natural inclination lies with the code rather than the relationships of those around me. In truth it is more a journey in being vulnerable and getting the ego out the way, which is taking time, but it’s making space for learnings that are quite life changing. …
In 2010 it would be a rare sight to see two programmers sitting together solving a problem at Tranzact. Only in times of distress would someone shuffle in next to another team member to work through something new or challenging. I wouldn’t say we were a collection of non communicators but like many computer programmers, we were naturally more connected with our screens and our inner worlds than we were with each other or our clients. Not because we didn’t want collaboration in the office or that we didn’t want to build a great product for our client. The idea…
This is a short story covering some aspects of Tranzact’s evolution as we’ve grown from a 1 developer company to a team of 9 over the last few years. If you’re mostly a developer and you’ve started a company or you have a team to manage perhaps you’ll be able to relate to some of this story. Tranzact was a small 2 person 1 project company in 2007. I had one focus and almost no communication points. I could work from wherever I liked. I have memories of me and my laptop going on various holidays and getaways. Together we…
