RE: What happened to coding standard as a practice?

Sometimes I find a communications document / poster helpful.

I have worked with communities to create a "development manifesto" that
contains a combination of how they code as well as the supporting
motivators / values. Contents include coding styles, use of tools and
code libraries, unit testing, exception handling, and more (whatever
they need to discuss). 

The team reviews / updates the manifesto during a time boxed discussion
period selected by the community (and monitored by the coach). The only
strong rule for the manifesto is Darwinist - if a section is not being
used, and the team does not support it, out it goes.

I guess it could be called a coding standard document, but I moved away
from the term due the amount of associated baggage. When coaching
coaches, the development manifesto is a nice tool to leave behind.

-----Original Message-----
From: Jeff Nielsen 
[mailto:jeff.nielsen-FlpYSvOe4acxC8njFv0dvw@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx] 
Sent: Monday, December 20, 2004 4:42 PM
To: xpbookdiscussiongroup-hHKSG33TihhbjbujkaE4pw@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Subject: [xpe2e] What happened to coding standard as a practice?


I'm sitting here writing a little piece about the benefits of having a
team 
coding standard.  I was quoting something I heard Kent say at a
conference 
about how "Standardizing on the smallest scale enables flexibility at
the 
larger scale."

Then I got to wondering why "Coding standard" is no longer a practice in

XP2E.  I assume it falls under the umbrella of "Shared Code".  But
perhaps 
there is/was a general sentiment in the community that having a team
coding 
standard no longer rises to the level of an important practice.

I have found implementing a coding standard to be a very useful first
step 
in getting a team to start working as a team.  While sometimes painful, 
having a coding standards discussion encourages people to examine
whether 
they're willing to change their individual behavior for the good of the 
team.  Almost no one that I coached has questioned the value of having a

team standard in conjunction with collective code ownership.

So I guess I'm asking for others' experience and thoughts.

Jeff Nielsen
Chief Scientist
Digital Focus (www.digitalfocus.com) 




 
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