We're a group of Software Crafters.
Term Crafter refers to Software Craftsman, but we felt Crafter being more inclusive as a term.
Crafter
Crafter is deeply caring about her skills with desire to become better. It's a mindset of constantly adding value in projects and embracing pragmatism in daily work. Crafters take professionalism as granted and aim at end results of which they can be proud of.
Think any other profession like dentist, plumber or tailor. What would you expect from a true professional? We aim for the same in our context.
Company
We're a software consultant company with Crafter ideology at its heart.
As companies are the sum of their people, we are all passionate about our work and want to learn more and share our knowledge. We are fellow minded people looking to grow together and flourish.
Crafter ideology and how we apply it differentiates us from our competitors. It's about technical excellence, bringing value to customers, having a community of professionals and productive partnerships.
Roots
As mentioned earlier, we build on top of Software Craftsmanship and many things around it like Extreme Programming and The Pragmatic Programmer by David Thomas & Andrew Hunt.
Some of the great people who have driven the Crafter movement have also made a great impression on us include Sandro Mancuso, Kent Beck, Robert C. Martin (aka Uncle Bob) and many more.
Psychological safety
Psychological safety is important here at Bytecraft. It is also important when we work with the customer and the team. The reason why it is important is that it has benefits for individuals and for the whole team and company.
Psychological safety is an environment in which you feel welcome, you can learn, you get to act independently, and you can challenge the status quo without fear of consequences. Finally, there is a sense of trust and a strong feeling of belonging in the group.
Honesty is a precondition for trust. Trust is bedrock for psychological safety.
Ethics
We, as software development professionals, have a tremendous power to influence the world around us.
The solutions we come up with will keep people safe & alive, business & society running and form the very foundation of modern infrastructure.
Let that sink for a moment.
Ethics is a critical part of our work. Solutions we provide must make the world a better and safer place to be. Business wants you to ignore some failing tests on a power transmission controller, is that ethical thing to do? Deploying a healthcare patient system into production with a low probability safety critical defect, is it the right thing to do?
It is all about being professional. Keeping technical debt at minimum; insisting on solutions, methodologies and practices that drive productivity; giving your best; being honest; and refusing to do unethical things.
But what's it really like being a Crafter at Bytecraft?
We're a flat organization without hierarchies. Almost all of us have a developer background or are otherwise fluent in technical topics.
As mentioned earlier, we're a consultant company and therefore most of the time is spent with the end customer and project team.
There is a virtual coffee break every day, where we can say hello to our peers. And, of course, there is a lively Slack where we hang and share our thoughts, questions, memes, etc.
On Fridays, most of us gather in our office (in person or remotely) at noon or soon after. Our book club typically meets after lunch. In the afternoon, we have some technical presentations & discussions ("perjantai pöhinät" in Finnish) and have a news round where each person can share their feelings and thoughts about the past week.
3-4 times a year we have bigger gatherings where we have reserved the whole Friday for some fun activities, food and drinks. Overall, our culture and the atmosphere is relaxed.
Whenever someone is having a hard time in a project there is always support available, be it team practices, difficult personality, technical issues or any other matter. There is always a safetynet backing each other up.
Summary
Being a Crafter at Bytecraft means embracing of Crafter movement and joining into a group of professionals who have a passion to better themselves.
In order to flourish as an individuals, team and company, we emphasize Psychological safety. It's that fuzzy and warm feeling, yet gently pushing us forward.
Ethics is also an important element since the effect we have on the world is surprisingly big. We try to make the world a safer and better place.
Since we're a consulting company, we spend most of the time with customers. However, Friday afternoons are full of lively talk and activities. That said, our Slack channels are full of activity during the week.
We support each other whenever there is need for shoulder or just a technical matter to solve.
This concludes our blog series. Hope you enjoyed it!
Earlier installments:
