What is Agile?

In the spring of 2001, Dave attended the Snowbird Conference, where the Agile Manifesto was released, and became one of 17 authors of the Agile Manifesto. Although Dave has no doubts about the value of agile, "agile" has become more and more contrary to the essence of agile as many people with different purposes have added an infinite amount of content to it. At this point, "Agile" was no longer "Agile," and Dave was reluctant to carry the label of "Agile" and started to pursue true agility.

With more than ten years of agile practice, Dave has improved the efficiency of his projects and realized how big the misunderstanding of agile is at present. It wasn't until 2014 that Dave shredded agile's gorgeous veneer given by many self-proclaimed agile experts at a conference: "Agile is dead, but the spirit of agility lives on. Agile experts sell you the methodology, not value."

Agile is Dead • Pragmatic Dave Thomas • GOTO 2015

Dave told us that he does not have CSM, CSP, or CSXX certifications, but he can still use agile well on his projects. Compared to many agile certifications and methodologies on the market, Dave is more focused on individual thinking about agile practices than on copying what agile experts say.

According to Dave, Agile is not a product. Agile was created because they had some experience of making mistakes initially, so they summed up four values, hoping to reduce the time for others to try. But now, many people only emphasize that agile can make software cheaper, faster to deliver, and higher quality. Still, they don't emphasize that agile requires strict discipline to govern the team, which needs to keep up with the times.

Dave has a constant belief in agile: design, coding, process simplicity, and continuous feedback. He also mentioned the 10,000-hour theory: To become an expert in a particular field, you need to spend 10,000 hours in practice so that the knowledge in this field has a deeply ingrained concept in your mind. The brain will do this automatically, and it is possible to become an expert in this field.

Similarly, the agile practice also needs to be practiced more and changed over time to become a habit and something we don't need to think about, and then it will bring value to us.

"I am a programmer."

Dave is a maverick in the agile community, and he has always had a clear understanding of agile. He introduced himself with "I am a programmer" at many events. When it comes to the programmer's identity, we have to start with Dave's high school days.

Dave Thomas speaking at the Pasadena Rails Studio

Dave Thomas was born in 1956, and his first exposure to programming was in high school. At that time, Dave signed up for a programming class in his spare time. The class was in the Basic language. He needed to type the code onto a paper tape and then transmit the data to a large machine through a modem, and the machine could run.

Although the process is a bit cumbersome, after a long time of exploration, Dave found that programming is very consistent with his brain logic. This highly creative and precise experience has made Dave fall in love with programming from then on.

In college, Dave studied computer science at Imperial College London, officially knocking on the door of the programming world.

Dave has a wealth of experience and divergent thinking through multiple programming projects. Dave met Andy Hunt, and the two of them often advised many programmers on projects such as testing software before deployment. These suggestions like this have not only been affirmed by many programmers but have also effectively improved the development process. To sort out these tips and tricks from agile practices, they quit their jobs at the time and spent about a year and a half writing a book. In 1999, the co-authored "The Pragmatic Programmers" was published and won the Jolt Productivity Award.

Don't Make Yourself a Label

At the 2012 Global Software Development Conference, Dave mentioned labeling theory. He believes that a label is a term that shows what you do and limits how you do it. Especially as a programmer, Dave doesn't want to put any labels in front of this profession. For example, he loves Ruby, but he doesn't want to say that he is a Ruby programmer. It can be said that he uses Ruby to solve problems.

Ruby object model and metaprogramming screencasts by Dave Thomas

In this way, Dave often turns a label into a solution, creating more possibilities for himself.

In 2003, Andy Hunt and Dave Thomas founded "The Pragmatic Bookshelf" with a simple goal: to improve the lives of professional software developers. They have also co-authored more than a dozen publications, including the Ruby Language.

Dave is a passionate promoter of the Ruby language, and has written books such as "Programming Ruby: The Pragmatic Programmers' Guide." Writing Ruby scripts every day is one of the great pleasures of his life. Although the Ruby community was small, Dave often attended Ruby conferences to make friends. In the Ruby open source community, Dave has submitted thousands of lines of code and documentation. He believes that doing so in the open-source community can help others and enhance his reputation and prestige in the community.

In 2009, Dave gave a keynote speech on "The Pragmatic Programmers · Ten Years" at the Agile China Conference. In the past ten years, the software industry has changed dramatically. As a book published ten years ago, the cases in "The Pragmatic Programmers" although look a bit old, its concepts still have a lot of practical significance. For example, principles such as "DRY (Don't Repeat Yourself)," "Code Kata," etc., are still very applicable today. At the conference, Dave reflected and revised the suggestions in the book, which also paved the way for the launch of the second edition of "The Pragmatic Programmers" in the next decade (2019).

Agile 2010 Keynote by Dave Thomas

People who change the world seem to have twice as much time as ordinary people. Dave has an abysmal memory, but he successfully creates everything in his life that can be solved by automation with Ruby. Dave also uses this living habit in his work.

As a publisher, Dave's team works very well. Many publishers release a new book and often need to start preparing a day or two in advance, while Dave uses an automated online setup that only takes 5 seconds. The high level of automation in the company gives teams more free time, they don't have a fixed office, and everyone works from home. Dave wakes up every day to check his email, walk his dog, learn about new technology, continue to explore... In a good mood, he starts his day at work. Although working more than 8 hours a day, Dave enjoys his work because his life and work are distributed in various periods.

Of course, in the process of each character's way, it is not full of flowers all the journey. Dave often shares with others: "I also have times when I'm having a hard time, but after each test, your skills will improve to the next level. All worthwhile things are difficult, but overcoming those challenges will not only make you stronger but also make you more engaged."

The person who can change the world is the one who changes himself first. Empower yourself with broad capabilities by combining different technologies to create value. Are you ready to change yourself?