1.
!
The 5 people in your
Organization that grow
Legacy Code
Roberto Cortez
JavaOne 2014
#CON4255

2.
Roberto Cortez
Freelancer, Speaker, RebelLabs Author, Blogger, Passionate Developer
twitter:
@radcortez
!
mail:
radcortez@yahoo.com
!
blog:
http://www.radcortez.com

3.
This presentation is NOT about
•Testing
•Tools
• Refactoring
• Or any other thing that you heard before (hopefully)!

4.
It’s about
• Knowing yourself
• Knowing others
• Dealing with each other differences

5.
“In historical terms, a legacy is something
that is handed down from one period of
time to another period of time.”
(from Wikipedia)
What is Legacy?

6.
Movie Time!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PF7EpEnglgk

7.
What is Legacy Code?
• Is it old code?
• Is it code no one wants to use?
• Or is just badly written code?

8.
public static String getDayOfWeek(String data) {
switch (getDOWNum(data)) {
case 1: return "Monday";
case 2: return "Tuesday";
case 3: return "Wednesday";
case 4: return "Thursday";
case 5: return "Friday";
case 6: return "Saturday";
case 7: return "Sunday";
}
return ("???");
}

9.
public static int getTokenCounter(String[] tokens) {
int j = 0;
if (tokens.length >= 5) {
j = 5;
}
else if (tokens.length == 4) {
j = 4;
}
else if (tokens.length == 3) {
j = 3;
}
else if (tokens.length == 2) {
j = 2;
}
else if (tokens.length == 1) {
j = 1;
}
return j;
}

10.
Legacy Code is
•Unknown
•Scary
•Ignored

11.
Legacy Code is everywhere
• Huge investments in software are to solve
business problems, not code problems
•Technology evolves way faster than software
•New frameworks are released every year

12.
How many frameworks?

13.
Identify the Source!
• Code is written by developers
•Tools can help, but they are not enough
• Developers are the main contributors!

14.
The Overly Energetic Engineer
!
The Technology Enthusiast
!
The Firefighter
!
The Smartass
!
The Intern

15.
The Overly
Energetic
Engineer

16.
The Overly Energetic Engineer
•Perfectionist
• High standard for Quality
• Ask a lot of questions
•Focus on key details
•Very critical
• Study a lot

17.
The
Technology
Enthusiast

18.
The Technology Enthusiast
•Very enthusiast about their work
• Friendly and open
• Speak a lot
• Optimist
•Wish to be recognised by their skills

19.
The
Firefighter

20.
The Firefighter
• Enjoy helping others
• Like to work in teams
•Patient
• Calm people in stressful situations
• Investigate facts

21.
The
Smartass

22.
The Smartass
•Focus on instant results
• Demands from others
•Impatient
• Like to accept challenges
•Impose their rules
• Lead other people

23.
The Intern

24.
The Intern
• Developers starting their own career
• It’s a temporary stage
• They need to learn

25.
Golden Rule?
“Treat others the way
you want to be treated!”
WRONG!

26.
Golden Rule!
•Everyone is different!
•Everyone have different needs!
• Psychology is tied with everything we do
•Learn how to handle each profile

27.
Everyone is
Different!

28.
The Overly Energetic Engineer
• Delegate them important tasks
• Give them opportunities to show their skills
• Provide freedom to explore
• Assign investigation work

29.
The Technology Enthusiast
• Don’t let them rearchitect
• Clarify how things should be done
• Research facts for the problems
•Need to be included in decision making

30.
The Firefighter
•You shouldn’t pressure them
• They need to feel confidence
• Provide them with accurate information
• They may need a step-by-step plan to proceed

31.
The Smartass
•Have all relevant information with you
• Provide them with end solutions
• Present alternatives
• Give them facts and direct answers

32.
You have
the tools!

33.
Remarks
•People are not exclusive to one profile
• They can adopt any behaviour or even a
combination
•Usually, one profile more predominant

34.
Proof?
!
Empirical
Data!

35.
Inspiration
•Heavily inspired in DISC
•Behaviour assessment tool
• Dominance, Influence, Steadiness,
Conscientiousness

36.
Wait! The Intern?
• Invest
• Promote peer code reviews
• Quick presentations about technology
•Teach them!

37.
Last Words!

38.
Golden Rule?
You can drive people’s behaviour by
learning how to accommodate each
person unique characteristics!

39.
Questions?

40.
Thank you for Attending!
twitter:
@radcortez
!
mail:
radcortez@yahoo.com
!
blog:
http://www.radcortez.com