Tldr: Don't accept
obstructive behaviour as the norm, get to the root of it because there is
probably an important reason.
Developers are often
seen as being obstructive, it's pretty much part of our stereotype. But
reviewing times I know I've been obstructive, or observed a colleague being
obstructive it probably points to something we shouldn't be ignoring.
There will always be
developers who are obstructive by nature. There are people like this in every
profession so lets skip them as the exception rather than the rule.
What makes the rest
of us obstructive? I think it comes from a reluctance to do the job we are
asked to do. Why are we reluctant?
- We aren't sure of the
requirements
- We aren't convinced by the
value of the requirements
- The requirements mean we need
to bend our application in a way that it wasn't designed to
- It's new technology to us
- We aren't confident enough in
our own skills
- We simply hate working with
the codebase because: it's damn
ugly, it's flaky, there are no tests, we don't understand it well enough.
There are many
others, the point is, the cause should be discussed. There is nothing in the
list above that couldn't be resolved by more/better communication, or time, or
an adjusted approach.
Developers are the
closest in the team to the actual workings of the application we should shout
up if something is a risk or potential risk. But equally we need an environment
where we feel safe to do so.