Facilitator guide for "Software design principles: tensions & synergies dojo"

Support slide deck

See design_principles_presentation_deck.odp in this repository

Preparation

Remind people to setup their environment with:

1. java-jdk >= 1.6
2. their favourite Java IDE or Editor (IntelliJ, Eclipse, ...)
3. optionally gradle

Try to limit the partecipation to 20 people / 10 pairs: over this limit is difficult to manage

Instead of using the spreadsheet, try to prepare the matrix of principles with some cards/stickies and put it on the wall.

Enough Post-it and Sharpies

Agenda

1. Divide into pairs
2. Start setup development environment
3. Explain the tensions & synergies
4. Choose a design principle or rule you want to follow and learn about
5. Explain the Game of life
6. Implement a new user story (30min)
7. Showcase changes

• How did it affect other principles?
• Repeat

8. Collect tensions and synergies with post-its

• https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1jiqS5soI0PCo8Rm4M6LFJ20L3I6yJeyuOjLAK23RDWY/edit?usp=sharing

9. Conclusions
10. Feedback

Facilitation tips:

• Find co-facilitator expecially if the group is big
• Add ground rules in the beginning if you need to manage big groups
• To create pairs ask people to divide in "who has a laptop", "who knows java well" and try to mix them. You can ask people to stand up and create a queue based on their level of knowledge.
• Invite someone else to explain the Game Of Life. "Who knows the game of life?"
• If after 4-5 minutes people are stuck invite to do the smallest change to implement the story than refactoring. Avoid "Analysis paralysis"
• If people are shy to come on stage to share their code ask the last presenter to randomly pick up next pair
• ...

Ideas to try or changes to be made:

• Add other languages
• Try different starting point to see if it affects the outcomes
• Break coding session in shorter timeboxed parts
• Try variations of the zombie story
  • Random input
  • Click on the interface to change state
  • Implement a 3-d world (refactor the neighbours() back to the world)
• Leave and additional challenge at the end when people leave (eg. another possible story)
• Showcase some pre-prepared examples about how to apply some principles
• ...

After

Ask people if they want to push their code to write in the README.md:

• which principle they tried
• their learnings

Share the speadsheet with the results: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1jiqS5soI0PCo8Rm4M6LFJ20L3I6yJeyuOjLAK23RDWY/edit?usp=sharing

If they want to repeat the dojo or do with other thay can refer to this guide

The example codebase:

• Java - https://github.com/iliasbartolini/design_principles_dojo
• C# - https://github.com/lucaminudel/tensions_and_synergies_between_design_principles