The developers I want to work with

The amazing Shinkansen train at Shin-Osaka station in June 2015.

I want to work with developers who care about what they make. Developers make software, and software is a tool. A tool needs to be sharp, not break, easy to use, and bring a smile to the face of the user. A new feature is not finished before the user gives a thumbs-up.

The user perspective is equally valid within the system itself. Developers write code to be read by fellow developers; they are the users of that code. Usability for the fellow coder is just as important as usability for the end-user. And that fellow coder is probably yourself in the future when you return to make changes.

I want to work with developers that solve a problem for good, not with people who solve it once for themselves and then forget about the solution. Make the problem go away for ever, or if that is not possible share the way to solve it the next time. Developers must continuously improve the process of development and their own tools. And with tool I am also referring to their brains. Be curious, be interested, and keep learning more.

Making a product

To return to the topic of the end product and the end users, I want to maximize the value that my software brings into the world. If it is used by more people it is more useful than having just a few users. This thinking naturally takes me into product development. I want to work with developers that share that drive, and understand that even the slightest improvement becomes a huge deal just because many people experience that improvement.

In the world of product development the difference becomes muddled between new features and enhancements to user friendliness. Is it a new feature to be able to transfer many files at a time, or is it just a friendlier user interface? Really, it doesn’t matter, because it improves usability.

I want to work in a team where we create joy and business benefits for ourselves, our community, and our customers.

Sprend has an office in Pula

If you have an idea and a vision, how long will take you to make it possible? The catch is that you can never know it. The starting point is sometimes hard, but mostly exciting and challenging, keeping you to aim higher.

That’s what we tried. After just a month of searching, Sprend has a new office in Pula, Croatia. The homeland of the best and the worst car in history, Yugo 45. Not to be the worst, but expecting the best, we applied for the office in the Istrian Development Agency. Its primary role lies in the stimulation of the development of small and medium-sized entrepreneurship in the region of Istria.

We’re so happy to become a part of the Entrepreneurial Incubator “Challenge” Pula. Established in 2005. there are ten office rooms and more than 40 start-up entrepreneurs have been incubated with steady growth rates. Sprend is one of ten now.

Do you know what else is Yugo 45? Most adored car in the history of this region. Still, after so many years, seeing it on the streets of Pula will not leave anyone indifferent. That’s our next goal.

Easy as one-two-three

This is a step-by-step instruction on how to make software:

10 Select one thing to do

20 Build it together

30 Confirm that users are happy

40 Go to 10

This method also, incidentally, summarizes Agile development.

I’ve been developing software for 25 years. The craft is hard enough as it is. You don’t want to make it harder with difficult processes.

Select one thing and build it together. Why only one? Because, in a team, you don’t want to let anyone skip testing. There can be no cherry-picking of fun tasks and letting someone else do the boring stuff. We also don’t want to have unfinished work pile up.

Build the feature together, learn from each other, help each other. You will share the fun and the boring tasks.

Release it and watch users use the new feature. Learn. Adjust.

What about time estimations? Let the person interested in time also create the estimations. Let the rest of us focus on what really matters: happy users and happy team members.