This post originated from an RSS feed registered with Ruby Buzz by Jared Richardson. Original Post: Are You a Software Pooper Scooper? Feed Title: 6th Sense Analytics Feed URL: http://www.6thsenseanalytics.com/?feed=rss Feed Description: The 6th Sense Analytics corporate blog Latest Ruby Buzz Posts Latest Ruby Buzz Posts by Jared Richardson Latest Posts From 6th Sense Analytics

During a discussion of software practices that Build Teams, Not Products in Boston an audience member said he didn't want to do things like Peer Code Reviews that were designed to teach other team members. He preferred to simply clean up their code after the junior members checked it in.

We were discussing peer code reviews, meaningful variable names, and the infamous Mister Hashy variable name (Mr Hashy was a hash table). The guy in the audience had someone just like that on his team, and he had made a concious decision to not interface with the person, but just clean up behind them.

While we were talking about it, I had an "Ah ha!" moment... I asked him if he realized he'd made a concious decision to be a career pooper scooper. By choosing to clean up behind a team member instead of trying to teach them, you've made a concious decision to follow them around and clean up their mess. They are dependant on you and you limit yourself to a clean up role.

I do things like test automation and peer code reviews so we all have more time for the fun stuff, like design and solving tough problems, not so I can clean up someone else's code.

Take the time to teach the junior team members that work with you. Tools like peer code reviews and daily meetings help them learn good habits. And then there's less cleanup for everyone.

Enjoy!