Values

Values seldom, if ever change. For most people, it takes a life-changing event and serious introspection to change values.

For a well-balanced life, the culture of your workplace needs to stand up to your values. This is your responsibility - not your employers.

Before I cared much about values, I adopted the Extreme Programming values as the foundation for the culture of a workplace:

  • Simplicity
  • Communication
  • Feedback
  • Respect
  • Courage

After life-changing events and serious introspection, I found these values to hold up in all parts of my life.

Principles

Principles are beliefs that stem from your values, and are formulated from your experiences.

I believe that:

  • There is only one truth.
  • Clarity is necessary before both agreement and disagreement.
  • Conversations must work from facts, and exercise both candor and empathy.
  • Simplicity leads to happiness.

Summed up, in the context of software development, I believe that:

  • Software Development is a means to a business end.
  • The Customer is always right.
  • A software solution will asymptotically reach completion.
  • Culture is what you do - not what you say.