Better ideas will win over bad ideas with respect to the *environment*.

#ForestAndDesert

TDD is a threat in The Desert. Programmers are asked to take responsibility for reliability. They know they will slow down in the short run & be blamed for it. They know they will not be given time, tools, or training. It's just more work & more potential negative consequences. #ForestAndDesert

We at @fimio.bsky.social are spending the next few weeks rebuilding our product development culture from a desert to a forest.

Luckily we are small enough that we can do that.

Thank you @kentbeck.com and @bethcodes.bsky.social
#ForestAndDesert

I'm finding #ForestAndDesert so helpful for connecting with differently-minded folks. "Oh, you have thousands of open defects. That makes perfect sense in The Desert." Thousands of open defects isn't good or bad, it's an adaptive response to a set of incentives.

Code ownership makes good sense in the Desert. There’s no other way to prevent externalities, people breaking other peoples’ stuff. In the Forest, a team would rather take a hit than make sloppy changes to unfamiliar code. But also other teams are glad to help. #ForestAndDesert

I’m not. Too many dependencies to manage across divergent incentives. #ForestAndDesert

Q: What tool do you use for code ownership?

A: A culture of responsibility. 🤪 Seriously, what bad thing is happening now that you want to institute ownership to curb? #ForestAndDesert

We talk about #ForestAndDesert & some folks imagine that The Forest is all rainbows & unicorns. It's not. There are tight deadlines--you want to get to the clearing for the full moon dance. Miss it & you miss it. There is loss & pain in The Forest, but there is also a path forward together.

The Forest reminds us that we’re all rowing the same boat. The desert pretends that we each have our own boat and we can’t see each other. #ForestAndDesert.

Compliments are the most disruptive interactions in The Desert. The other person blinks & for a second they see trees & hear waterfalls. Then they blink again & it's back to endless sand. #ForestAndDesert

"$200K or $300K" as if those are big numbers. Compared to what? Part of #ForestAndDesert is appreciating how insanely profitable programming is even when done at 10% or 5% or 1% of its potential. Are professional athlete salaries big or small?

Everybody wants to go fast so badly that they end up going slow badly. Many more, much smaller steps. #MMMSS #ForestAndDesert

The original #ForestAndDesert talk is now available on YouTube!

@kentbeck.bsky.social and I compared our experiences and found a common technique: developers gathering with other developers. Together, we can figure out how to improve whatever is making our work hard.

youtu.be/nt6m8qtRbz0

Attracted To The Desert (Or The Forest) Attractors

So nice not to have to play "link in the comments" games. tidyfirst.substack.com/p/attracted-...
#ForestAndDesert

One response to #ForestAndDesert has been “I don’t find your distinction helpful because my place is not as bad as the desert you describe”. There’s a big difference depending on where you want to go, even if the current situation looks similar. Cc @bethcodes.bsky.social

From the desert, the forest looks like a fantasy—no bugs? plans half full? shared purpose? time to redesign? time to learn skills?

The forest’s no fantasy but it is a different reality, carefully planted & nurtured. #ForestAndDesert

In the desert, no plan, no matter how stuffed to bursting, is ever enough. In the forest, plans are never more than half full. Why would you want to be unprepared for change? #ForestAndDesert

In the desert, if your project status is green then programmers will be removed to “help” red projects. Be carefully yellow. This is one way the desert perpetuates itself #ForestAndDesert