Software Artisans

In a recent Agile-Usability post, Jared Spool wrote:

Something the usability/user experience community isn't addressing is how much this is a craft, where individual prowess trumps collective wisdom and process. We keep wanting to pretend what we do is an engineering discipline, but unfortunately, it's a craft where the skill of the craftsperson dictates success. This is the big elephant in the room that no-one is talking about.

Jared is talking about usability people, in particular, but I think his comments could (and should) be extended to cover all software development people. It has bothered me for many years, this idea of software developers being "engineers". It strikes me as absurdly pompous and ostentatious, and paints an almost comical picture of peacocking self-importance.

I'm guessing that back in the days when this computer thing got started, the people involved thought that what they were doing was so vitally important to the world (and arguably, it is) that they needed to be recognized as equals to bridge builders, architects, transportation designers, and assorted machine builders. "We are engineers" they proudly proclaimed, and smiled in smug, self-satisfaction.

As a result, the entire computer industry attempted to follow what they believed to be Good Engineering Practices, which led, of course, to the world of waterfall development as we know it. So my conclusion here is that the pomposity of a bunch of people who failed to recognize that they were artisans, not engineers, has caused all the problems in the world of software development that we, as Agilists, are now trying to fix. Pure conjecture on my part, of course, but perhaps not too far from reality.

Crafts, by their nature, are emergent and adaptive. Engineering practices far less so. Craftsmen continuously inspect and adapt, refine, collaborate, talk to customers, share and pass on skills and knowledge. Such qualities are inherent in the term "craft". Engineers need a more formal approach; they need process. Bridges don't really emerge - and those that do will probably, very quickly submerge...

I hope that in 20 years time, software craftsmen and craftswomen the world over will look back, and laugh, at us, and at our desperate need to define processes, and invent metrics, and then (finally) to impose "Agile" practices on a craft that, really, at its heart, was agile all along. It was just that the vast majority of the people working in the industry didn't know that. It stared them in the face, but all those big, fat egos got in the way, and blocked their vision.

Perhaps the really important thing about the Agile movement, is that it will allow us to discover our essential humility. And to feel comfortable with that. I hope so.