Leon Gersing - Keep Software Weird
Channel: Codegram
Date: 06/10/2014

This is a talk from Barcelona Ruby Conference 2014 (http://www.baruco.org/).

How much code coverage does it take it ship a minimal viable product? How many Scrum Certifications does it take to make your team agile? How many languages learned make a journeyman a master? In software, there is an expressed desire to be taken seriously as craftspeople. To this end, we've introduced process, metrics and quantifiable boundaries as goal posts to hold up to those who may not understand what is involved in shipping quality software. As this practice becomes normal, developers are faced with an ever-expanding landscape of techniques, practices and pressure from thought leaders to take extra course work or certifications to validate the assertion that you are, in fact, a software developer. While some may see this as a necessary evolution of our field, I see it as an albatross around the neck of the creative developer looking to explore the depths of what is possible. While the safety of a well worn path may provide solace to the uninitiated, I find dogmatic implementation oppressive and exclusionary to those interested in exploring alternative approaches to solving problems with technology. Join me in an exploration of what I believe makes us unique as a subculture in this business world; examples of how we came to be by challenging the established idioms of the past in order to move forward into something exciting and new. To be our best we must be willing to dive into the unknown, to loose the binds of convention and explore the vast expanse of the unfamiliar. We must dare to be wrong, to be new, to be foolish, to be amazing and keep software weird.