This week I attended the curiously titled ‘itake unconference’ in Bucharest. It covered a broad selection of topics, but all fell under the loose umbrella of the ‘Software Craftsmanship’ movement. The movement itself is another broad topic, something in the realms of the ‘Agile manifesto,’ more of a summary of ideals and ideas, than a prescribed set of practical steps to take. These include:

• Creating well-crafted software, not software that is purely functional. What this means is a big subject, but the point is to aim for it and care about it.
• Proactively making changes for improvement and not just responding to requests.
• Building a community of professionals who help improve each other’s own knowledge and practices.
• Not only collaborating with customers but create productive partnerships with them.

In terms of the conference, this meant a lot of talks on testing, documentation (my own area of passion), best practices, education and self-improvement, data analysis, and security. The program included longer sessions to allow for in-depth explorations of topics and regular breaks for that most important of tracks, the hallway track.

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