Context

For a change, I told myself that going to spend a day at an open forum clearly focused on tech/craft wouldn't hurt me and would be a change of scenery. To set the context properly, this "UnConf" is organized by the Hack Your Job collective, and follows the Lyon Craft day. As a result, many people had met the day before and were sharing their impressions of that event. I didn't venture there for fear of really not fitting in, but after taking a look at the program afterwards, I tell myself I would still have had a good day.

Anyway, back to that day. First of all, it was hosted in a place I knew absolutely nothing about, the Augusterie. I'm eagerly awaiting a next edition in May/June, in the same place, to fully enjoy the outdoors and its swimming pool😁 🏊‍ . I also want to thank the organizers for this day and for welcoming me so late, when ticketing had been closed for several tens of hours.

Morning

Opening

I arrived a hair after the official start time and, surprisingly, I was almost the last. You could say punctuality was there! After a quick presentation of the event and of how the open forum works, everyone fills in their little post-its to fill the board marked on the wall. Even though in the first few minutes you could feel some hesitation among the participants, once the machine got going, the board filled up nicely.

1st slot

The first session that tempts me is a REX (feedback talk) from a former dev who retrained in selling vegan cheese. You could say this session had nothing to envy the "Alien" sessions at Mix-it. Only the tasting was missing for it to be perfect 😋. Unfortunately, his adventure only lasted 3 and a half years because he started just before COVID, which didn't help him face all his fixed costs. So on the day of the conf he was back behind the keyboard to make a living. You could feel the passion oozing through his story and it was heartbreaking that he had to give up his business.

2nd slot

The second session is again a REX, but this time about the growth in power and especially in organization of a "Scale-up", led by Charles Bouttaz. He tells us how they went from 7 to 77 people by doubling every year. Their tech recruitment is very " full-stack " oriented, with integration into the teams and a skills ramp-up evaluated between 3 and 6 months. The most senior devs naturally became "Lead" on fairly well-defined (business) scopes. Methodology-wise, it swings between Scrum and Kanban, at the teams' discretion. Communities ("Guilde" and "Cordée") are set up to counter the effect of Conway's law. The different teams are composed at minimum of devs, a PO and a QA. Optionally there is an Ops and a UX. I asked for clarification on the QA role, since as a good crafter, tests should be handled by devs… he answers that they are dedicated to high-level, exploratory tests and user support. This last point seems interesting to me for getting to know users' habits and practices as well as possible. Which, for testing, is an undeniable asset. Delivery-wise, they're at one version every 3 weeks. As for priority, they use "Cost of delay". Finally, one day per month is set aside to break down silos and have the company's different trades exchange with each other. On the occasion of this session, I meet Céline Louvet from Shine, who also shares her experience in this fintech.

3rd slot

This time, it's a pure discussion among participants around the topic of consolidating distributed teams, all led by Jean Detoeuf. Hard to summarize these exchanges, but the few ideas I caught on the fly are:

• 30/60/90: Set up a well-framed schedule for newcomers getting into the topic. Hold regular checkpoints (1 week / 3 months / 6 months) to make sure they are ramping up in skills and autonomy.
• Buddy / Mentor: Assigning a godfather/godmother to newcomers generally makes their integration easier. Often by mentally relieving them of the stress of knowing who and how to ask someone on the team.
• Cohort: Organize seminars with all newcomers, all trades combined, so they develop bonds across departments.
• Virtual coffee/room/snack: Set up video meeting points to share a friendly and above all non-professional moment between team members. This can go as far as having a permanent room where people connect whenever they like to have an openspace atmosphere.

Noon

The morning went by relatively quickly and with interesting discussions. On top of that, I realized that I actually knew quite a few faces, and this allowed me to see again some people I hadn't seen in a very long time. The meal format was interesting (take-away jars), because it left great freedom of movement, and therefore of discussion, in every corner of the venue.

Afternoon

4th slot

This is THE session that turned my brain upside down: "Non-idiomatic Python ("Python pas idiomatique")". Romain Cambonie presented to us (there were 2 of us) how he had fun using PyTorche to do GPU computing. He mainly explained to us all the constraints it involves and the brain knots he had to tie himself in to implement all of that satisfactorily. I couldn't say much more, because I clearly didn't have the level to understand half of a quarter of what he did 😵.

5th slot

Me too, I had filled in a post-it 😁. I settled near the kitchen to discuss my topic with different people. A constructive exchange that gave me some leads I need to dig into further to say more 🤫.

6th slot

For this session, a .Net defector explained his excursion into the Java world. Sylvain Couder ended up disappointing us somewhat by telling us that there wasn't that much difference and that the biggest chunk was changing code editors. Test-wise, he gives the edge to .Net, but for pattern matching, Java wins. In the end it was the participants in this discussion who filled it… between the trolls and the jabs flying in from all sides 😈.

End of the day

I absolutely don't regret coming to this day. I made great encounters, saw old acquaintances again, picked up knowledge. Everything I could have expected, actually. I think I'll do this kind of event more often, but also crafter confs, like what Gregory Alexandre did at Lyon Craft. The rest of the participants also seemed happy with their day, judging by the ROTI.

Agilists among the crafters?

A few days later, I see this post by Colin Damon and I tell myself that in the end, maybe the problem isn't being looked at from the right angle and that we need to change perspective. It's undeniable that agility takes its roots in tech — just look at the manifesto's signatories to be convinced. So why do we end up with this schism, with on one side the "Agilists" and on the other the "Crafters"? In my humble opinion, these are just specializations. As in any somewhat generic domain (medicine, aeronautics, …) there are different specialties that are complementary and not exclusive. Each of these specialties, constantly refining its art, requires particular knowledge and becomes a branch of the root domain. Yet it wouldn't occur to us to try to merge a branch back onto its trunk. So why insist on making devs come back to Agile confs? Almost by force. No, for me, it's natural and healthy that these 2 branches live their own lives. Their application domains being close, it remains desirable that they naturally enrich each other. For that, it's useful for interventions to happen crosswise. Both by proposing topics to the other branch… and by going to see what's happening there 😉. This is the point where we need to invest more, in my opinion. As a Scrum Master, Agile Coach, Product Owner/Manager, Engeneering Manager, UX/UI, QA, Crafters… one MUST take an interest in what's done in other domains. It allows having a more global vision of the whole domain and improving one's own practices. It therefore seems more relevant and less coercive to me to push agilists into craft confs and vice versa. "Individuals and their interactions": it's the first of the values of the Agile Manifesto; to fully comply with it, it's essential to have a good understanding of the issues of the different parties. And what better way than to immerse yourself in their universe. In summary, I'm in favor of more tech sessions in agile confs, but the reverse must also be true! However, a more accessible first step is simply to take part in events outside your comfort zone.