Developer Education And Learning: Mike Hall Interviews Patrick Welsh | SCNA 2012
Patrick Welsh, an Agile coach and tester, shares his experiences as a 'network weaver' and discusses the benefits of weaving connections between different technical communities. He shares his insights on the craftsmanship movement in software and how it fosters innovation and collaboration. Don't miss this opportunity to learn from a true expert in the field! #Agile #SoftwareCraftsmanship #TechnicalCommunities #CrossPollination #Innovation
The Interviewer
Mike Hall
Interviewer, UGtastic
The Guest
Patrick Welsh
developer education and learning
The Conversation
Mike Hall
Interviewer, UGtastic
▶ Speaking
Hi, it's Mike again with UGtastic. I'm here at SCNA. I'm sitting down with Patrick Welsh. Patrick is an Agile coach and tester. I kind of said like a holistic Agilist. But yesterday we had a kind of interesting conversation and he brought up the topic of a network weaver. Well, first, thanks for sitting down with me, but what is a network weaver? What does that word mean?
Patrick Welsh
developer education and learning
▶ Speaking
So, the term, as introduced to me, means something that people kind of either are or not, you know. So, natural programmers are people who can't prevent themselves from programming or they'll start to go a little stir-crazy. And I am a natural network weaver and I'll describe the algorithm, which is actually kind of simple. It's a simple algorithm that network weavers can't prevent themselves from following. It goes like this. They join communities and they join... They join communities relatively easy, easily. They find it easy to meet people and to become part of communities in some way. And they're comfortable joining lots of communities and they keep track of what different people in different communities love and are good at and work hard on. And they tend to remember when there are opportunities for people in different communities to connect and they make those connections. And so, what ends up happening is that they cause...
Mike Hall
Interviewer, UGtastic
▶ Speaking
Okay.
Patrick Welsh
developer education and learning
▶ Speaking
A cross-pollination to occur.
Mike Hall
Interviewer, UGtastic
▶ Speaking
Right.
Patrick Welsh
developer education and learning
▶ Speaking
So, both communities that have members cross back and forth end up being helped by that fresh blood and fresh ideas.
Mike Hall
Interviewer, UGtastic
▶ Speaking
Yeah.
Patrick Welsh
developer education and learning
▶ Speaking
So, you don't have the island effect and then you have... Yes. And everybody looks a little bit too much alike and the forehead's a little too far out. But by bringing in the new genetic material, the new ideas... Exactly so, yeah. They distribute and then everybody can be healthy and have a good immune system.
Mike Hall
Interviewer, UGtastic
▶ Speaking
Right. Yeah.
Patrick Welsh
developer education and learning
▶ Speaking
So, that relates to, you know, technical user communities in a way to me that if we share ideas and go to different user groups and reach out for, like, hey, I'm a Rubyist but I want to do a JavaScript group. Or I wanted to even go even further out and go to a . NET meeting, something I'm not even doing. Those are classic examples, by the way. And I have helped weave connections between communities in each of those areas that were mostly insular.
Mike Hall
Interviewer, UGtastic
▶ Speaking
Right.
Patrick Welsh
developer education and learning
▶ Speaking
And, you know, it turns out that a lot of Rubyists don't know that there's this beautiful, dynamically typed, functional programming language hiding deep within the dysfunction of JavaScript.
Mike Hall
Interviewer, UGtastic
▶ Speaking
Right.
Patrick Welsh
developer education and learning
▶ Speaking
And if you frame it just correctly to them and hook them up with the right person, then it becomes easier and more fun for them to learn JavaScript. And JavaScript programmers can learn that there's this Ruby community in which there is much less of the danger and noise, much better signal-to-noise ratio.
Mike Hall
Interviewer, UGtastic
▶ Speaking
Right.
Patrick Welsh
developer education and learning
▶ Speaking
language both people in both those different communities end up being grateful for the comparison and for the connection and for learning those different things at least that's how that's how it works well when people are sufficiently passionate right and also it kind of makes me wonder about with the kind of movement to see more suffer craftsmanship oriented groups we're here at SCNA which is getting more and more popular every year and and receive more suffer craftsmanship themed user groups where they're not tied to a specific platform specific language just so we have this kind of similar ideals we'd like to be more like this way but we have different ways of approaching that problem you know so they're more open to having that I think network weaving where you have the PHP guy come in and you see guy and the guy who does Java I should say then probably the Ruby gal just to be yeah oh absolutely yeah but but you know you have a mixture of different ideas and genders and racial backgrounds coming together and instead of thinking about well how can I identify with people that have this one specific trait they share with me how can I mix with a lot of different people and and and get new ideas and fresh ideas and maybe new perspective I mean is that kind of like a natural organic way that this concept of the network weaving is becoming more of a concept in technical communities or no I would say it's always been there and it's it's a kind of minority prejudice if you will I cannot prevent myself from joining different communities I'm addicted to joining communities learning about communities learning how people learn their definitions of success and failure what they're courageous about the things that they consider important and you know when you mention a craftsmanship movement that's in software right now I see all these threads that cut across communities that have to do with things like accountability and professionalism and mentoring and fresh blood and those things are easy for me to talk easy for me to talk about with some authority and experience the more communities I have participated in but I can't if for me it's it's kind of an obsession it's an addiction I know a lot of people who really want to concentrate deeply in a single place in a relatively narrow community where there's usually plenty to learn and know right and they want to stay there and they want to learn deeply and I tend to move more broadly and I you know sometimes sit for a while and mull and concentrate but I mostly move more broadly and I you know sometimes sit for a while and mull and concentrate but I mostly move more broadly and I you know sometimes sit for a while and mull and concentrate but I mostly move around because that seems to be the way I add the most value it's just the natural mode for me I struggle with that that basic thing I was a . NET developer in a previous life I like to say but I was looking at going into Ruby and basically leaving behind it was kind of an all-or-nothing move it was move over to Ruby and just totally focus on becoming a FOSS platform developer or stick with .
Critical Insights
durable
"Network weavers naturally join and connect with various communities to share and learn new ideas."
durable
"Weaving connections between different technical communities can lead to cross-pollination of ideas and fresh perspectives."
durable
"The craftsmanship movement in software is characterized by values such as accountability, professionalism, and mentoring."