Coding In Public

Coding In Public
Alan Stevens
or If You’re Gonna’ Suck, Do It With Gusto!

Who is Alan Stevens?
Microsoft Most Valuable Professional
ASP Insider
Occasional Blogger http://netcave.org
An Enthusiast NOT an expert!

June 26th – 27th 2009
Knoxville, TN
Regional Speakers / Open Spaces
.NET, Java, Ruby, Erlang, more
Call for speakers – March 31
3 & 6 hour sessions on Friday
1 hour sessions on Saturday
http://CodeStock.org
http://twitter.com/CodeStock

DevLink
August 13-15, 2009 Nashville, TN
www.devlink.net

I am a failed educator.

“I never stopped trying to become qualified for the job.”
Darwin Smith,
CEO of Kimberly Clark

Dreyfus Stages of Skill Acquisition
Novice
Advanced Beginner
Competent
Proficient
Expert

Novice
Rigid adherence to taught rules or plans
Little situational perception
No discretionary judgment

Advanced Beginner
Guidelines for action based on attributes or aspects
Situational perception is still limited
All attributes and aspects are treated separately and given equal importance

Competent
Sees action at least partially in terms of longer-term goals
Conscious, deliberate planning
Standardized and routinized procedures
Plan guides performance as situation evolves

Proficient
Sees situation holistically rather than in terms of aspects
Sees what is most important in a situation
Perceives deviations from the normal pattern
Uses maxims, whose meanings vary according to the situation, for guidance
Situational factors guide performance as situation evolves

Expert
No longer relies on rules, guidelines, or maxims
Intuitive grasp of situations based on deep tacit understanding
Intuitive recognition of appropriate decision or action
Analytic approaches used only in novel situations or when problems occur

Where We Stand
Expert
Proficient
Competent
Advanced Beginner
Novice
Source: Hackos & Stevens, 1997 via the Pragmatic Programmers

"The vast majority of all users remain advanced beginners, performing the tasks they need and learning new tasks as the need arises, but never acquiring a more broad-based, conceptual understanding of the task environment"
Hackos & Stevens, 1997, p. 36

You can write COBOL in any language.

Everybody works, but not everybody improves.
WHY?

The Mastery Curve

The Dabbler

The Obsessive

The “Hacker”

After moving up a level, things always get worse.

Zones of Comfort

Comfort Zone
People stay here
Minds often closed to learning
Very little change

Learning Zone
Lots of Uncertainty
Feels uncomfortable
and challenging
Lots of learning opportunities

Panic Zone
People close up
They freeze
They don’t learn
Very little focus on change and improvement – it’s all about survival

The Fast Horse?

What is expertise?
Performance consistently superior to peers
Produces concrete results
Can be replicated

Recipe For Greatness
Intensive practice
Devoted teachers
Enthusiastic support

Deliberate Practice is Designed

Deliberate practice focuses on tasks beyond your current level of competence and comfort.

It is only by working at what you can’t do that you become an expert

Observe results and make adjustments

Assess mistakes and figure out how to correct them

Be honest about areas for improvement

Practice without attention to reflection and form will not yield the same results.

Deliberate practice is not “fun”, but it is rewarding.

Flow requires challenge or boredom results.

“If you practice with your fingers, no amount is enough. If you practice with your head, two hours is plenty.”
Violin Professor Leopold Auer

10,000 hours to mastery
4-6-10
4 hours/day
6 days/week
For 10 years!

How can we encourage greatness(or at least improvement)?
Be supportive of efforts to improve
Allow one another to suck (with gusto!)
Be a mentor
Catalog simulations and case studies

Provide a supportive environment

Be willing to be a mentor

Be willing to receive constructive, unsentimental feedback

Remember the Kobayashi Maru

Simulations and Case Studies
Code Kata
Code Dojo
Bitslingers
“Code Sparring”

Greatness is not a function of circumstances. Greatness, as it turns out, is largely a matter of conscious choice.
Jim Collins in Good to Great

Papers & Articles
Expertise and Skilled Performance
The Making of an Expert
What It Takes to be Great

In order to become an expert, you must become eccentric.

Those who know do not speak;Those who speak do not know.
Tao Te Ching, Chapter 56

Thanks For Listening!
Email/IM: alanstevens@gmail.com
Blog: http://netcave.org
Twitter: @alanstevens

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Coding In Public

by Alan Stevens on Mar 30, 2009

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