The Software Craftsman by Sandro Mancuso got me deeply. I can’t stop thinking about the Heroes, Goodwill and Professionalism chapter.

The chapter starts with defining poorly managed and cruel working conditions of 1990’s. The development team only collaborates with managers, who tries to manage by micromanagement and pushes the team to commit more than reasonable amounts of work. The development team only collaborates with the single-minded manager in that case and manager usually manages team by encouraging them to commit more, by creating pressure on them by trusting them. After manager successfully manages, the team commits to do more, commits to do over time, commits to work even on weekends.

I stopped reading and started thinking instead. I have been there! It wasn’t 1990’s, but I have been there. I wasn’t in the Sao Paulo, but we faced with almost same problems with the author. Knowing issues that I have been through earlier, also was an issue for someone from the other side of the world, both relieved and terrified me. I always complained about how things are, as the writer do, but I expected more from the writer and he gave me the confrontation I wanted.

Yes, we have been managed by our managers, by confrontation, by trust or whatever was it. Yes, there was unreal deadlines. Yes, there was endless requests and bugs.

But we have never said yes because of micromanagement or confrontation. We said yes because we had our reasons:

• Some of us wanted to be rock stars of the company
• Some of us wanted to push the boundaries
• Some of us just wanted to learn more.

We had our reasons to behave unprofessionally, but this hurts all parties involved in the process, mostly the company. Eventually we burned out, the quality decreased and we have lost the ability to implement the thing right. Our sacrifice became a disaster for both us and for the company.

Every crafter, must stand and create the necessary conditions to create value. Every crafter obliged to share the risk with the company. Every crafter should act professionally.