Davy Brion has a post up about a book, which is nice, but also posts about his opinions about “Software Craftsmanship.” Though I don’t imagine he would agree with my own take on it, I really like some of what he says:
“I’m not a fan of the Software Craftsmanship movement. Well, i do love the goals and the principles behind it but i kinda dislike the terminology they've chosen to try to spread those goals and principles. It has this elitist connotation to it which just rubs a lot of people the wrong way. Instead of trying to pull people in to the concept of continuous improvement, this whole "i'm an apprentice! i'm a journeyman! i'm a master!" thing just makes us look kinda stupid”
He has some more positive things to say:
“In fact, i wouldn't be surprised if this movement would've gotten more traction and less blog-o-drama if they'd simply called themselves the Continuous Improvement movement.”
Where I still disagree involves the fact that I think the term “Continuous Improvement” hides the fact that what people call ‘Continuous Improvement’ is really just “change from what we’ve done before.” It could be improvement, but it might not be. “Look at me, I’m doing TDD now” or “Look at me, I’ve abandoned .NET to do Ruby” are changes that various people talk about. Neither of which might actually be an improvement, just a change.
But, it’s a good read. Check it out.