Tuesday the 10th I spoke at the monthly PHP Amersfoort meetup about Procurios. My talk was titled "Observatio", referencing the ancient Roman adagium observatio, imitatio, emulatio. To observe, to imitate and to improve upon. The talk was divided into three major sections: Doing the right thing, doing things right and doing things better. For each section we looked at something Procurios has learned to do better.
Doing the right thing
Requirements engineering is difficult to get right. It's easy to be lead astray and work on features that may not be the most valuable right now. Our job as professionals is to help our customers understand their problems and opportunities, rather than their wishes, and help them to prioritize. Doing the right thing is essential for creating longterm sustainable value.
Doing things right
Software engineering is a welcoming field for imitatio. There are a lot of good software practices that can readily be picked up, such as SOLID or TDD. Learning new ideas and technologies as an organization takes time, patience and humility, for all involved.
Doing things better
Since the day I worked at Procurios, learning sharing knowledge has been a major priority. We employ lightning talks and retrospectives to actively learn and share. But through pair programming and code reviews we have created a culture where cross pollination is just as valuable a means of transferring skills and ideas. As long as we are open to criticism and learning we allow ourselves to do things just a little bit better every time.