The Humble Programmer - ASLAM KHAN | Craft Conference 2021

This talk was recorded at Craft Conference 2021. Aslam Khan from Foldleft spoke about effectiveness and software delivery. It is relatively easy to express the range of technical capabilities that is good enough to build software reasonably well. Sure, it can generate much debate, but technical ability is the minor part, overall, of being an effective developer. I believe that software solutions can only ever be as good as the people who build them. Reflecting on the last 30 years or so of my career, I have observed that humble programmers are a lot more effective. It doesn't matter if they are working alone, in a small team or with many teams; humility plays a significant part in increasing their effectiveness. In this discussion, I walk through stories gathered from my work and life and what I have learned from others in a humble programmer's journey. In doing so, I extracted a few principles that have served myself and others well and codified a few practices. These complement what we already know but perhaps forgotten or overlooked. Humility affects the lines of code we write, the design decisions we make, and the very nature of a team and engineering organisation. I find that humble programmers create spaces where others are comfortable expressing their creativity and contribution. The consequence is better performance, a better way of working, and increased fulfilment, leading to higher effectiveness. The global software community is still a long distance from being fundamentally equal, inclusive and diverse. We understand the necessity and beneficial side effects of such a society. Humble programmers have a large part to play in shaping that future. The event was organized by Crafthub. You can watch the rest of the conference talks on our channel. If you are interested in more speakers, tickets and details of the conference, check out our website: https://craft-conf.com/ If you are interested in more events from our company: https://crafthub.events/