1. The Art of Collaborative
Software Development
Brian O’Neill
Lead Architect, Health Market Science
@boneill42, bone@alumni.brown.edu

2. The Problem
• Individual Contribution = e
• Impact on others = o
max (eme + o(e1) … o(en))
As n increases, o quickly becomes
more important than e.

3. Attitudes and Emotions

4. Know Thyself
Unconscious Incompetence
Conscious Incompetence
Conscious Competence
Unconscious Competence
by dimension
http://www.upgradereality.com/stages-of-mastery/

5. Strive for Simplicity
“Simplicity is the Ultimate Sophistication…when you
first attack a problem it seems really simple because you
don’t understand it. Then when you start to really
understand it, you come up with these very complicated
solutions because it’s really hairy. Most people stop
there. But a few people keep burning the midnight oil
and finally understand the underlying principles of the
problem and come up with an elegantly simple solution
for it. But very few people go the distance to get there”
- Steve Jobs

6. Emotional IQ
Passion without emotion.

7. Momentum w/ Peers
Sometimes your contribution to an
idea comes at the expense of
another’s passion, which results in a
less successful idea.
i.e. Sometimes its better to keep your
mouth shut.

8. Openness
You want people to be able to come to
you with ideas, even if they contradict
your own.
You should be able to express your ideas
to others, even if they contradict theirs.
If they/you cannot, its your fault. =)

9. Value / Tolerance Momentum w/ Projects
Time
Requisite value to maintain momentum / velocity.
And tolerance for lesser quality commits.

10. Perspectives
Beauty is in the eye of the beholder
Clojure
Break statements
Try to appreciate other art styles.

11. Concrete Impact

12. Pull Requests over Emails
If you see it, own it.
If you own it, solve it.
If you’ve solved it, share it.

13. Continuous Integration
Make it your home page.
Then goto previous slide.
(or revert =)

14. Default to Broadcast
CC everyone
Allow them to filter
No closed doors/conversations

15. Capture Debt and work it off.
Catalog your tolerance of sub-par
commits.
And plan to address it.