Code Craft Saturdays and Sundays

To see the list of scheduled events, both upcoming and past events, scroll down. That is where you can register for the date of your choice.

What do we do?

These days we run the events mostly like a Code Retreat that uses Mob/Ensemble programming rather than pair programing. Occasionally we'll do something crazy like have a PLIBMTTBHGATY party where engaging your curiosity about a language you've been hearing about but not tried (yet) is what everyone is there for. If you have any questions about Mob/Ensemble Programming, please, read the page linked above to Wikipedia, and the two links within it, that do a good job of explaining what Mob Programming is, and what it isn't.

What's the day like?

We begin by using the Zoom "rename" feature to add where we are in the world, for example "Bob Allen (Detroit, MI, US)", and then to introduce ourselves to each other. The whole day is designed around relaxing, fun, getting to know one another's interests and skills, and to share what know and are curious about. Coding should be fun and the most fun is had when we work together toward a common goal.

Because people have lives, kids, pets, obligations, people will show up at different times, have to leave early or just for a while, and this is totally OK and normal. If you have kids or pets, by all means bring them on camera and introduce them so that they feel included too.

Who are "we"?

Speaking for myself, I make my living helping people who make code (and test it) regardless of their "title", in ways to better work together to eliminate the gaps in knowledge, in time, and in shared values. The end result is almost always that they have more fun and get more satisfaction from it.

The community that is Code Craft Saturdays and and Sundays is defined mostly by who shows up, and who keeps coming back for more. We do this during these twice a month events, and on Eventbrite (see the link on any event registration page).

How did this start?

Early on: When I first realized in 2012 what amazing learning was made possible when using the CodeRetreat workshop format I asked … "Why isn't anyone doing these workshops all of the time?" Then I looked in the mirror. The result was the first Code Craft Saturday in Ann Arbor, at Pillar Tecnology on Jones Drive (previously a brewery. Pillar even had a beer tap at that time). These were done as a true Code Retreat, everyone did pair programming with a different pair every hour, and we gathered in a circle to report "What rocked!", "What Sucked!", and "What would I like to do differently next time?" Then everyone chose their next pair partner, and we'd do it again, typically 5-6 pairings in a day. Learning was over the top.

Add Detroit: The above pattern continued unabated and even weathered a move to Pillar Tecnology's new downtown HQ at 301 East Liberty, on the top floor. What a view that was. But folks in Detroit had been asking for quite awhile asking "Hey, how about us?" So in December 2019 we had two Global Day of CodeRetreat events: one in Ann Arbor, the other in Detroit at Slalom Consulting at 660 Woodward Ave. We continued that twice monthly pattern by starting the Code Craft Saturday and Sunday events. Then the pandemic made in-person events not a thing for the foreseeable future.

All online (and since March 2020 we are international!): Slowly at first, then more and more, we got people registering from all over the US, Europe, the UK, and occasionally from India. It's now a regular occurrence to have people actively coding together, a third of them it's not their primary language (spoken or programming, or both) and everyone is being nice and having fun.

We got pretty good at figuring out how Zoom can work (NOTE: This changes in 2023) for gatherings both small and large (breakout rooms). So today, whenever we have more that 5-6 people for a while, we'll split into multiple rooms, with the ability to move freely between each room (vote with your feet), and very likely be doing different katas, or different languages, or different testing frameworks, or all of the above, even refactoring some terrible nasty code designed for just that purpose.

The change being implemented is a move from Zoom to Gather Town. See the events starting in 2023 for details.

Code Craft Saturdays and Sundays happens every month, on the 2nd Saturday and 2nd Sunday. They will remain ENTIRELY REMOTE for the foreseeable future. The format we use is known as Mob/Ensemble programming. That means we work all together, on the same problem, as a single group, until we are satisfied with what we have. During that time, we rotate who is coding (the typist/driver), generally at the direction of a navigator, while the remaining members are staying engaged because they'll be next up. The rotation of roles changes roughly every 5-10 minutes or less and there are additional roles to help it work smoothly, like researcher, sponsor, and others.

The common thing that goes on in these sessions is learning, skills growth-or-reinforcement, and getting and sharing ideas with other people that have different backgrounds, different experience levels, different interests and/or ways of thinking. All the while, one of the fundamental rules of this form of working together is treating each other with kindness, consideration, and respect at all times.

Other Crazy Things: Global Liquid Mob, the experiment. Started May of 2021 and ran for 4 months. I pulled together Open Source Projects, volunteer "teams" from literally all around the world to participate. See the defintion of the format and it's objective here. Suffice to say, the format worked, and is ready for the next stage of development: being used commercially as just another way to work collaboratively and from all around the planet, but with the same goal, on the same code base. Contact me if you think your company might like to try it out, and, you have people around the globe.