Facilitating a mini Code Retreat

Nov 3, 2022

This is a virtual event. We need to make sure that participants have access to a laptop and that they have a working web camera.

We need to put participants into a learning mindset, were our work constraints are left behind and we focus on the practice of writing software.

The agenda is structured for a session that lasts for 4 hours, with a lunch break of 30 minutes. An agenda for a day structured for 8 hours will have a longer lunch break and longer session.

Agenda

• Welcome participants
• Group introduction
• Introduce the hosts of the event and write their name down
• Read out the important bits of our Code of Conduct
• Layout the schedule for the rest of the day
• Have everything written down into a shared space that anyone can access: Miro etc.

Introducing the workshop

• This is an autodidactic workshop, I am here just to provide guidance
• Establish learning goals
  • Practice TDD
  • Mentor other developers
  • Try new languages and paradigms
• Topic: Reduce the Cost of Change in our code
• Topic: Four Rules of Simple Design
  • Passes al tests
  • Expresses intent: clear, expressive, and consistent
  • No logic duplication
  • Minimal methods, classes, and modules (no superfluous abstractions)
• Topic: Coderetreat format
  • We shouldn’t try to finish the problem, and why that’s important
  • At the end of the session we will ask people to delete their code and standup. We cannot do this at work :-)
• Topic: Conway’s Game of Life
• Encourage participants to have the courage to experiment

Tooling and setup

• Using VSCode with Live Share extension for live pair programming
  • Alternatively, VSCode for web can be used
• Using Miro to share the agenda with our participants and to capture feedback from retrospectives
• Maven to build our project
• Java 17
• Starting project here
• Have a video feed always on where all participants can join
• Have pairs work in separate huddles via Slack and the facilitator can jump in and out from the pairing session

Test-Driven Development

• Activity: ask participants to scale their experience with TDD by picking a number between 0 and 5, where 0 is no experience and 5 is “I do it every day religiously”
  • This needs to be done in a safe environment, and should not be questioned

TDD rules

• Write production code only to pass a failing unit test
• Write no more of a unit test than sufficient to fail (compilation failures are failures)
• Write no more production code than necessary to pass the one failing unit test

The TDD Cycle

• Red: write a failing test
• Green: write code that makes the test pass (nothing more)
• Refactor: refactor your code while the test(s) are green
• Repeat

Pair-Programming

Rules

• Pay Attention and Be Engaged
• Program Out Loud
• Encourage Vulnerability and Discourage Judgement
• Thicken Your Skin a Little
• Be Humble and Willing to Try Things
• Remind Each Other About Standards and Agreements
• Be a Navigator, Not a Backseat Driver

Styles

• Driver and navigator
• Ping pong
• Strong-style pairing

Coderetreat session rules

• Do not put time pressure: a visible timer or inform participants of how long the session is

Schedule of the day

• 11:00 AM getting started
• 11:05 AM agenda and introductions
• 11:30 AM First session
• 12:00 PM First retrospective
• 12:10 PM Break (including lunch)
• 12:30 PM Second session
• 01:00 PM Second retrospective
• 01:10 PM Break
• 01:20 PM Third session
• 01:50 PM Third retrospective
• 02:00 PM Break
• 02:10 PM Fourth session
• 02:40 PM Fourth retrospective
• 02:50 PM Wrap-up
• 03:00 PM Goodbyes

Sessions

• First session: setup and problem introduction
  • People make sure that they have their environments ready
  • Participants make themselves familiar with the Game of Life
  • Make it clear that participants should delete their code after each session
• Second session: verbs instead of nouns
  • Appropriate data structures around the problem
  • Primitive obsession
  • Verbs instead of nouns: every class name and variable name needs to be a verb (CreatesCellGeneration, AppliesRuleNumberOne)
• Third session: heavy exploration of abstractions
  • Polymorphism vs boolean flags
  • Explore abstractions and stay away from primitives
• Fourth session: constraints
  • No if statements
  • No loops
  • Small methods (1 - 5 lines of code)
  • No language primitives
  • TDD as if you meant it
  • Max 2 minutes session

Retrospective

• Facilitators should facilitate the sessions not lecture the participants
• Ask questions, let participants discover things on their own
• Get everyone involved
• Who found it difficult to delete their code? Why it was difficult?

Closing circle

• Everyone should answer three simple questions:
  • What, if anything, did you learn today?
  • What, if anything, surprised you today?
  • What, if anything, will you do differently in the future?
• Ask about feedback about the session

Resources

• Facilitators
• Lessons learned

Tags: java ,  design pattern ,  clean code ,  tdd ,  code retreat