ScanAgile 2009 - Open Space Sessions - How to Practice

Scandinavian Agile Conference 2009
Open Space Session: How to Practice
Host: Mikko Suonio

Perspectives

• target: what to learn
• repetition: can and should the same exercise be repeatedly practiced
• form: are the steps to be performed to solve the problem predefined or is it free problem-solving
• frequency: how often practiced
• location: where to practice: at home, at work, at club meeting/school, anywhere
• participants: how many participants is needed: single, pair or group activity

What to learn

• typing / editing / keyboard short-cuts
• IDE / tools
• changing the code / refactoring / evolution
• writing good unit tests
• test-driven development
• language constructs previously not exposed to
• new programming language / framework / library / API
• problem-solving skills
• communication and collaboration skills

Code kata

• a programming problem with a predefined sequence of steps to be performed to create a solution
• some katas describe only the problem, not the solution
• can be practiced repeatedly
• can be practiced alone
• can be practiced frequently
• at least short katas can be practiced anytime
• can be practiced anywhere
• in theory, katas could be used to capture important practices, patterns, designs etc of our field, especially the evolution of code
• Robert C. Martin: Prime Factors Kata
• Dave Thomas: Code kata
• Steve Smith: Practice, Code Exercises, and Code Katas

Coding dojo

• possible setup
  • one pair (the practitioners) and audience
  • practitioners site in front of a computer, projected to the audience
  • practitioners will write a program solving a problem at hand
  • audience can observe and comment the work
• learn from the pair and from the audience
• learn to pair-program
• usually not practiced more than once a week
• it is rare (although not impossible) to use the same problem repeatedly
• cannot be done alone
• who would organize a dojo next to me
• some companies organize dojo internally
• What Is Coding Dojo in Coding Dojo Wiki
• Public dojos in Finland in the past
• Emmanuel Gaillot: Tips to set up your own coding dojo (thanks for the link, Artem)

Your own project

• create software to provide a solution / implement an idea of your own
• continuity: work on the project for one night only, or have a long-lasting project
• can be private or released to public
• can be used to learn to understand end-users, deployment, releasing, support, maintenance etc when made public
• needs time, motivation and a good idea
• can rarely be done at work
• can be done together with others (pair-programming, co-located or distributed teams)
• no repetition

Further reading

• Steve Yegge: Practicing Programming
  • I find the comparison to the practice musicians do fascinating.
• Jeff Atwood: The Ultimate Code Kata
  • A response to Steve Yegge's post with further elaboration and two new katas. In the end, working code is the thing that matters.