What makes a Framework Rock?

I've been building an application to enable distributed teams to work in an agile way, and surprise surprise, I've been using Ruby On Rails. And this morning, I started thinking, why has RoR been so popular? Why have I, over the last2 1/2 years, been building all my webapps using Rails? Habit? Because it's trendy?

It's because the RoR framework enables the novice developer to pick it up and use it. Straight out of the box. The feedback loop is very short, and the rules of engagement are clearly defined - both ideal traits for novice adoption. And as the knowledge of the adoptee grows, as does the framework, opening doors (and at the same time encouraging good practice) for further learning, which in itself promotes learning.

So, to answer the question, what makes a framework rock? The framework must not only do what its intended to do, but must encourage the adoptee to want to become an expert in it, so that, with the adoptee, the framework can grow. That's how we raise the bar.

The good from the great.

One of the main things I've learned from my attendance at QCon is this.

Its not just about being bright, and having ideas. Its about being bright, having ideas and sharing them. So I've decided to write a little more about my experiences around running agile teams, and projects.

I spend a lot of time reading and formulating ideas about this subject, and as my knowledge has increased over the last few years, I have been able to become less able to justify in words why my advice is good advice. It makes me (and my team) feel good, and it enables us to deliver.

So I'm going to start keeping my musings on a more regular basis, so that when someone does ask me to write down my train of thought on my ideas, I can just point them to this blog!!

QCon - Day 1 - Diana Larsen - Agile Team Building

Diana is a thought leader in the Agile World, and the author of Agile Retrospectives, a key book for guiding a project manager, team leader through the retrospective process.

The tutorial was attended my many people in the same situation as me, project managers/technical architect/team leaders/developers. Diana has an incredible aura about her, and the discussions she incited between us reminded me of that great buzz when working together as a team, and that people are absolutely key to developing good software.

The session focused on Facilitative Management (as opposed to controlling management), leadership as a role (rather than a job) and the activities of a good facilitative leader, being aware of where a team is in its "Orming" cycle, appreciating the bookends of a project (kick off meetings, retrospectives). Big parts of the session involved us sharing our experiences of where meetings/team working/team building really worked, and more importantly why they worked.

All in all an inspiration start to what is chocking up to be an inspirational conference.