Manifesto

What I would like to see in a company of my dream.

Git

• 1 commit per change, do squash
  • you can easily work with changes
• there might be few (alredy squashed) commits in a pull request
  • don't make huge changes they will bury truth
• touch few things at once
  • it's kinda obvious
• rebase instead of merge
  • no merge commits, cleaner git history
• pull request must have at least 1-2 approvals
  • changes must be visible to the team members
• master is read-only
  • it's a rule. Always. No exceptions.
• delete branches after a merge
  • better navigation and git performance
• release tags
  • tracking releases/deployments are simpler
• git submodules for components
  • better architecture consistency
  • UPD: highly debatable point
• no global history changes
  • prevents git history misuse
• commit message format
  • clear, well explanatory, structured

CI

• auto-revert on failure
  • roll back changes, no broken code in the master
• run at any commit
  • the obvious ability for CI
• CI plan in git
  • know all plan changes and have consistency
• warn about formatting verification
  • no developer disruption in the future
• warn about coverage illness
  • coverage is quite important thing
• track test failures and flakiness
  • statistics, hints, conclusions
• store build logs for 3+ months
  • having analytics and working links to them
• docs are generated from the code
  • end-user changes must be explicit
• locally reproducible builds
  • re-run part of a job on my local machine
• use Makefile, Bash
  • simple, easy, well known

Code health

• document your code
  • giving a small context for API will save a lot of time
• use linters and code analysis all the time
  • the best handling for the best code
• touch legacy, often
  • it becomes non-legacy faster
• remove deprecated stuff
  • having a bloated dead code is a mistake
• also remove old code
  • it adds even less reasons to the new code
• use TODO, BUG, XXX in code
  • jumping to the issue tracker can be minimised
• no experiments in the master
  • use your 20% time as a playground, please
• allow to change log-level on the fly
  • this will simplify production's debug routine
• limit your log file, 'cause it might grow unlimited
  • this might cause troubles to your app, be careful
• store your config in /etc/myapp and logs in /var/log/myapp
  • this will make everything more structured and well defined
• all modules must have the same structure
  • similar environment everywhere is a good idea
• if you can’t show a bottleneck, don’t start to optimise it
  • it might be interesting and challenging, but useless
• no big binary files inside a repo
  • slowdowns without a reason

Database

• think about your data
  • don't use SQL/NoSQL without a reason
• keep models normalized
  • less storage, better performance
• but don't normalized without a reason
  • everything is a trade off
• use timestamp to store a date/time
  • this will save you from formatting hell
• log slow queries
  • see what is happening in database and who is too greedy
• don't put business logic into db or at least make it loosely coupled
  • this will give you an easy migration to another db

Dependencies

• bump libs on a permanent basis
  • the new version is expected to be better
• have a local cache-server with deps
  • adds stability to the infrastructure
• pin your dependencies to a specific version
  • accidental commit to dependency's master will break nothing
• prefer mature technology, rather then hyped one
  • mature will die slower, then hyped
• fork instead of hack
  • it might be better to fix a lib instead of wrapping for desired behaviour

Tests

• use one test framework
  • a similar environment is better
• show results, not just stack traces
  • some failures are obvious with visible result
• isolated tests
  • use beforeTest and afterTest aggressively
• TDD
  • it really works
• measure a code coverage
  • quick and easy way to eliminate bugs
• test your backups
  • they might be broken
• do not hard code ports in tests
  • unless you're interested in random flaky tests

Team

• pairing, 50% and more
  • you're doing better, you're not bored
• high-level stand-ups, time bounded
  • less info about irrelevant stuff
• 2-3 week sprints
  • have an achievable sprint goal
  • UPD: deppends on team/project, might be unuseful
• per sprint roles
  • it's quite comfortable time bounds
• only urgent topics are face-to-face
  • fewer distractions for unimportant things
• friendly atmosphere
  • no insulting jokes, no trolling, respectful environment
• 'coding rockstar'
  • it is a demotivation, not an inspiration
• if you're on the vacations - specify date range
  • it'll be easier to find someone else or postpone the question
• FAQ for newcomers
  • 30-day plan with all stuff that they should accomplish
• all features must be protected by feature flag
  • in case of accident it will(might) be enough to turn it off

Meetings

• I can skip if I'm out of scope
  • do not waste team and own time
• if you're organising a meeting - prepare an agenda
  • to have a way how to drive a meeting
• action points after the meeting
  • who does what and when
• avoid bus factor as much as possible
  • moving/cancelling unimportant meeting because of 1 person is a bad sign

Communications

• use the best apps
  • fast, flexible, pleasurable
• outcomes of important discussions should be on a wiki
  • better visibility for outcomes
• only important notifications
  • @all should be rare for irrelevant updates
• easy access to any team room
  • that's obvious, hey
• do not delete personal chats with inactive users
  • some chats contains interesting ideas
• closed ticket must contain a link to the changes
  • every change must be easy accessible and visible for others

Permissions

• Git, CI, SSH read-access to everything
  • reading server logs cannot cause troubles
• SSO to anything
  • better organisation of credentials
• each office should have global admin
  • different timezones are a bottleneck
• ability to start/stop a job on CI
  • waiting for an approval to make this action is a horrible bottleneck

Space

• engineers apart from non-engineers
  • fire & ice
• quiet open-space
  • someone might be sensitive to a noise...
• quiet zones
  • ...really sensitive
• the kitchen isn't for chill-out
  • the play room is a thing
• nothing smelly near working area
  • even coffee/cinnamon/mowed grass might irritate

Network

• VPN access from home
  • work from home is a cool thing
• Wifi must work all the time
  • obvious
• LAN must be even more stable
  • uber-obvious

Life

• how often should my salary be reviewed?
  • worth asking
• work from home is a must have
  • family, health, even weather might be a reason
• educational budget to anything related to dev stuff
  • I would like to learn new technologies, why not?
• allow committing to the open-source
  • company_karma++
• skipping team events must be acceptable
  • well...obvious
• 20% time is a vacation like time
  • creating anything that might help someone is awesome
• brown bags sessions must be rewarded
  • sharing knowledge is the best way to inspire
• monthly geek swag <3
  • t-shirts, hoodies and all other stuff
• health food in the kitchen
  • candies are cool, but I would like to live longer