While the active of being assertive was not a topic of Uncle Bob’s presentation, it was demonstrated in his behavior and interaction with other professionals. Uncle Bob describes the meeting that resulted in the Agile Manifesto. There were nearly 20 signatories on the document. After spending a whole day working together, they were only able to come up with these four priorities.
- Individuals and interactions over processes and tools
- Working software over comprehensive documentation
- Customer collaboration over contract negotiation
- Responding to change over following a plan
These individuals have never been able to gather again. Neither have they been able to add any further directives to the Manifesto.
Before that meeting, and since, there have been many different paths defined to follow these principles. My point is that individuals, having different processes and experiences, can produce great value by working through their differences. In the case of the Agile Manifesto, there was not a lot of actual agreement. But it has proven to be an essential cornerstone on which great work has been built.
For example, Uncle Bob believes strongly in Test Driven Development. Jim Coplien, is a prominent software professional who prefers Contract Driven Development. I found this through watching a YouTube recording of their discussion on the context of TDD.
I found their discussion enlightening as a demonstration of Professionalism based on the principle of being assertive. In this discussion, neither individual gave up anything of their beliefs. They both demonstrated experience and study as supports to the positions they held. Because they didn’t spend time calling each other names, but worked towards clarifying their positions, the real aspects of their position become clear to themselves and those of us watching. Interestingly, the result was instructional to all of us regarding how one can hold an assertion, and benefit those with other positions, by not backing down on your thoughts.
What I saw in this interview was that neither person needed to back off from their position. In fact, what they found was that they were, to a large degree, saying what was very close to the same thing, with a different emphasis on how you got there. Uncle Bob does the contract in his head, or lets it evolve as tests are written. Jim defines more of the architecture first, and then implements it with tests.
Being assertive with respect makes us better than individuals without an opinion.
Cheers,
Ben