Kent Beck
He/Him
Biography
Kent Beck hates writing biographies.
Guitarist, singer, storyteller, walker, poker player, programmer, artist. Original signer of the Agile Manifesto, author of the Extreme Programming book series, rediscoverer of Test-Driven Development, and inspiring keynote speaker.
Helps geeks feel safe in the world.
NewCrafts Paris 2023
Tidy First? A Daily Practice of Empirical Software Design
Keynote
The economic rationale for software design is increased revenue & decreased cost. The relationship rationale for software design is to encourage trust through a steady delivery of value. The humane rationale for software design is to care for & encourage the growth of the geeks working on the software &, by extension, care for & encourage the growth of those affected by geeky decisions.
A short list of principles & observations serves to explain why satisfying all these rationales is difficult--coupling & cohesion, time value versus optionality, power laws. The same list suggests a way forward for software designers in a complicated, conflicted, uncertain, & deeply human world--large changes in small, safe steps.
We'll start with a 10x/day situation--you need to change some messy code. Do you tidy first? (Spoiler: likely yes, only as much as you need for now.)
