ALTERNATE UNIVERSE DEV

Greater Than Code

136: Addressing Technical Friction

The Twitter thread:

Sam Livingston-Gray - F̶l̶u̶e̶n̶t̶ Refactoring Talk: Sam talks about refactoring a gnarly Rails controller method. This is a lightly edited version of a talk Sam gave in 2013.

Resources:

github.com/geeksam/fluent-refactoring

Introduction to the Technical Debt Concept

Status Quo Bias

The Well Traveled Road Effect

21:47 - Refactoring Resistance: Who are you trying to convince?

  • Product Owner (Goal Donor)
  • Funder (Gold Owner)
  • Crusty Teammate
  • Newbie Teammate

github.com/danmayer/coverband

28:57 - The Risks of Refactoring

Rice’s Theorem

Idealized Design:

  • Technically Viable
  • Organizationally Viable
  • A System Capable of Improvement Over Time

3 Different Kinds of Technical Debt:

  • Intentional Debt
  • Evolutionary Debt
  • Bit Rot

Churn Tool

35:08 - Documentation and Decision Records

36:59 - Code Value Judgement

42:00 - Convincing Coworkers Re: Refactoring a Codebase

Adaptive Capacity

Reflections:

Coraline: Adaptive Capacity.

Rein: Viability.

Sam: It’s about dealing with people and effectively working with and for them.

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