It is relatively easy to express the range of technical capabilities that is good enough to build software reasonably well. Sure, it can generate much debate, but technical ability is the minor part, overall, of being an effective developer. I believe that software solutions can only ever be as good as the people who build them. Reflecting on the last 30 years or so of my career, I have observed that humble programmers are a lot more effective. It doesn't matter if they are working alone, in a small team or with many teams; humility plays a significant part in increasing their effectiveness. In this discussion, I walk through stories gathered from my work and life and what I have learned from others in a humble programmer's journey. In doing so, I extracted a few principles that have served myself and others well and codified a few practices. These complement what we already know but perhaps forgotten or overlooked. Humility affects the lines of code we write, the design decisions we make, and the very nature of a team and engineering organisation. I find that humble programmers create spaces where others are comfortable expressing their creativity and contribution. The consequence is better performance, a better way of working, and increased fulfilment, leading to higher effectiveness. The global software community is still a long distance from being fundamentally equal, inclusive and diverse. We understand the necessity and beneficial side effects of such a society. Humble programmers have a large part to play in shaping that future.

1. The Humble
Programmer
CraftConf 2021
Aslam Khan :: @aslamkhn

2. !
22 Nov 2000

3. CraftConf
now
1999
My company
22 Nov 2000
a few hours later
I’ve got responsibilities…
… clients, a team, projects !?

4. What do I
want?
What am I
doing?

5. CraftConf
now
When did this misalignment happen?
1992
My first job
1999
22 Nov 2000
University
1987
Somewhere in this time my focus shifted
from my vocation to my ambition

6. CraftConf
now
What alignment is needed and why?
This talk is a reflection of my observations in my quest to answer these difficult questions
CraftConf
now

7. What do I
want?
What am I
doing?
How do I
conduct
myself?

8. The answers affect each other
MY WAY OF
WORKING
WHAT I WANT
IN LIFE
MY DEFAULT
BEHAVIOUR
virtuous
or
vicious

9. Some value a purpose
that is bigger than themselves
Others pursue an ambition
for themselves alone
1st
WHAT YOU
WANT IN LIFE
observation

10. CraftConf
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Ambition is an endlessly receding horizon
22 Nov 2000
PURPOSE

11. CraftConf
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now
Problems are not anomalies in life
Hope is not a strategy
Work is not an option
A brain haemorrhage
PURPOSE

12. CraftConf
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now
Value the outcome, not the effort
Know your role in achieving that outcome
Focus on impact, on usefulness
(Happiness is the side effect of being useful)
The industrial psychologist
Don’t quit in the abyss unless it really is the abyss
PURPOSE

13. CraftConf
now
now
The builders
Find the big picture and know where the boundaries lie
Build platforms, not ladders
PURPOSE
Leverage your daily work to feed your purpose
Teach because you can’t do this alone

14. Find the big picture and know where the boundaries lie
Problems are not anomalies in life
Hope is not a strategy
Don’t quit in the abyss unless it really is the abyss
Build platforms, not ladders
Leverage your daily work to feed your purpose
Know your role in achieving that outcome
Focus `on impact, on usefulness
Happiness is the side effect of being useful
Value the outcome, not the effort
Teach because you can’t do this alone
Work is not an option
The first way of the humble
programmer
Ambition is an endlessly receding horizon
(it is of limited use in our youth and impediment the longer we live)
Having purpose Playing long
purpose
over
ambition

15. Some lead with integrity
that facilitates others to be better than what they thought possible
Others perpetuate inequity
that subjugates many for the benefit of a few
YOUR DEFAULT
BEHAVIOUR
2nd
observation

16. CraftConf
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Blacks for rent
INTEGRITY
Recognise your oppression and understand your oppressor
Have a sense of struggle, of history, of humor
Hold the line and know when to walk away
Be kind, be fair, care about doing good

17. CraftConf
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now
Keep your feet grounded, especially in the face of success
Surround yourself with critics
Achieving success
Use your privilege to open space for others
Giving is a test of our relationship with others
Gratitude is the attention we pay to a deep privilege
INTEGRITY

18. CraftConf
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now
Learn to take responsibility and hold yourself accountable
Don’t lie when you can’t speak the truth
People should leave your life better than when they entered
“This is not working out”
Find solace in your solitude
INTEGRITY

19. CraftConf
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now
Offer solidarity over charity
If you can’t live your principles, don’t get out of bed
Don’t keep pretenses
“The people shall govern”
Heartache is how we naturally mature through caring for things
we cannot control
Friendship is the privilege of being a witness to a life, and in
return the equal privilege of being seen by another
Friendship
INTEGRITY

20. Find solace in your own solitude
Offer solidarity over charity
People should leave your life better than when they
entered
If you can’t live your principles, don’t get out of bed
Hold the line and know when to walk away
Don’t keep pretenses
Learn to take responsibility and hold yourself accountable
Each day offers opportunity to lead
Keep your feet grounded, especially in the face of success
Use your privilege to open space for others
Recognise your oppression and understand your
oppressor
Have a sense of struggle, of history, of humor
Be kind, be fair, care about doing good
Surround yourself with critics
Don’t lie when you can’t speak the truth
Giving is a test of our relationship with others
Gratitude is the immense attention given a deep privilege
Heartache is how we naturally mature through caring for
things we cannot control
Friendship is the privilege of being a witness to a life, and
equally the privilege of being seen by another
The second way of the humble
programmer
over
inequity
Practicing integrity Leading humanely
integrity
over
inequity

21. Some make meaningful contributions
by leveraging their privilege
Others promote their fame
that negates the contribution of many
YOUR WAY OF
WORKING 3rd
observation

22. now
now
Turning a company around
Plan to be fast and act faster, decisively
Build new things carefully, at pace and with stability
Tear down broken things fast, very fast
Decisions involve making tradeoffs
Nothing is free
Look for the relationship and name it
CONTRIBUTION
Pick reasonable constraints and don’t try
shifting what is immovable

23. now
now
Turning a company around
CONTRIBUTION
The ability to hold conflicting ideas in
your head is exhausting
Most things don’t affect us as much as we fear
There is always some part in your control and more that is not
We need clarity of mind to solving a problem
Listen to your emotions and make decisions with logic

24. CraftConf
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The HIV/AIDS Pandemic
The user determines the value
The user creates the context
CONTRIBUTION

25. CraftConf
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Ignorance and confusion can be powerful instruments
Look from different vantage points; angles and distances
Housing a nation
CONTRIBUTION

26. now
The higher the abstraction, the freer it is of context
Power to the working class
CONTRIBUTION

27. now
“Can you build a portal?”
Don’t ponder answers to badly framed questions
CONTRIBUTION

28. Most things don’t affect us as much as we fear
There is always some part in your control and more that is not
Listen to your emotions and make decisions with logic
Pick reasonable constraints and don’t try shifting what is
immovable
Decisions involve making tradeoffs
The best option is often the hardest
Plan to be fast and act faster, decisively
Nothing is free
Ignorance and confusion can be powerful instruments
We need clarity of mind to solving a problem
Look for the relationships, not just the objects (name it!)
The ability to hold conflicting ideas in your head is exhausting
Don’t ponder answers to badly framed questions
Look from different vantage points; angles and distances
The third way of the humble
programmer
Seeking understanding Making decisions
Building (things of) value
The user determines the value
The user creates the context
The higher the abstraction, the freer it is of context
Build new things carefully, at pace and with stability
Tear down broken things fast, very fast
over
inequity
over
fame
contribution

29. CONTRIBUTION
seeking understanding
making decisions
building (things of) value
PURPOSE
having purpose
playing long
INTEGRITY
practicing integrity
leading humanely
Why?

30. I have a
!

31. !
a full stack developer…

32. CraftConf
now
The last (and only) time I was a full stack developer
Born
Shared file based databases
Single threaded, text user interfaces
Mixture of C and some 4GL
Procedural programming
early 1990’s
1969
The technology was easy enough to understand
The architecture fitted in my head
The code fitted in my head

33. I cannot fit the code in my head
I have to make many more design decisions
“
CraftConf
now

34. “
“The competent programmer is fully aware of the
strictly limited size of [his] skull;
therefore …

35. “
[he] approaches the programming task
in full humility,
and among other things [he]
avoids clever tricks like the plague”
— E.W. Dijkstra
The Humble Programmer
ACM Turing Lecture, 1972

36. https://www.slideshare.net/SusanneKaiser3/preparing-for-a-future-microservices-journey-using-ddd-wardley-maps
Is it even possible to be an
effective full stack developer?

37. There weren’t many
programmers
We have more
pizza than programmers!

38. We now build systems of systems
that are designed to change the
behaviour of many people
(sometimes entire societies)
What has changed?
We wrote programs that solved a
set of reasonable computational
problems for a relatively small
number of users

39. We cannot expect society to
tolerate our ineffectiveness and
nor should we tolerate it ourselves
We don’t have a choice but to be
more effective developers
We are expensive at best
and wasteful at worst

40. The way of the humble
programmer
CONTRIBUTION
seeking understanding
making decisions
building (things of) value
PURPOSE
having purpose
playing long
INTEGRITY
practicing integrity
leading humanely
effective

41. Seeking understanding
1. Ignorance and confusion can be powerful instruments
2. We need clarity of mind to solving a problem
3. Look for the relationship and name it
4. The ability to hold conflicting ideas in your head is exhausting
5. Don’t ponder answers to badly framed questions
6. Look from different vantage points; angles and distances
Making decisions
7. Most things don’t affect us as much as we fear
8. There is always some part in your control and more that is not
9. Listen to your emotions and make decisions with logic
10. Pick reasonable constraints and don’t try shifting what is immovable
11. Decisions involve making tradeoffs
12. The best option is often the hardest
13. Plan to be fast and act faster, decisively
14. Nothing is free
Building (things of) value
15. The user determines the value
16. The user creates the context
17. The higher the abstraction, the freer it is of context
18. Build new things carefully, at pace and with stability
19. Tear down broken things fast, very fast
The List
PURPOSE
INTEGRITY
CONTRIBUTION
Having purpose
39.Leverage your daily work to feed your purpose
40.Know your role in achieving that outcome
41. Focus on impact, on usefulness
42. Happiness is the side effect of being useful
43.Value the outcome, not the effort
44. Teach because you can’t do this alone
Playing long
45.Find the big picture and know where the boundaries lie
46.Problems are not anomalies
47. Hope is not a strategy
48.Work is not an option
49.Don’t quit in the abyss unless it is really the abyss
50.Build platforms, not ladders
51. Ambition is an endlessly receding horizon
Practicing integrity
20.Keeping your feet on the ground is difficult, especially in the face of
success
21. Use your privilege to open space for others
22. Recognise your oppression and understand your oppressor
23.Have a sense of struggle, of history, of humor
24. Be kind, be fair, care about doing good
25.Surround yourself with critics
26.Don’t lie when you can’t speak the truth
27. Giving is a test of our relationship to others
28.Gratitude is the immense attention we pay to a deep privilege
29.Heartbreak is how we naturally mature through caring for things we
cannot control
30.Friendship is the privilege of being a witness to a life, and equally the
privilege of being seen by another
Leading humanely
31. Find solace in your own solitude
32.Offer solidarity over charity
33.People should leave your life better than when they entered
34.If you can’t live your principles, don’t get out of bed
35.Hold the line and know when to walk away
36.Don’t keep pretenses
37. Learn to take responsibility and hold yourself accountable
38.Each day offers opportunity to lead

42. The older you become,
the more you have that you can look upon,
and the further ahead you can see

43. integrity
purpose contribution
Thank you for your attention
over
fame
over
ambition
over
inequity
The slide design is used under a Creative Commons Attribution license from www.slidescarnival.com
what I want how I behave what I do