Why Rules are Cool – The Secret to Smarter Teams
It’s no secret within SSW that I’m proud of my biggest open-source project, the “SSW Rules.” I think there’s several pillars that have allowed SSW to build enterprise solutions for 25+ years, including luck, and one of those pillars is the SSW Rules. 🗝️
Back in the early days of SSW, I needed a way to ensure best practices were shared amongst the software engineers. I also wanted our clients to receive the same experience no matter who they were speaking to. The main goal was to cross-pollinate with each other’s knowledge, making each other smarter. Inspired by The E-Myth, I started creating a set of best practices. These are now called the SSW Rules.
Following the Rules allows for a lot less rework, and it’s easy to follow best practices, therefore we can consistently give our clients great software at a reasonable price. I’m proud that the team constantly look for better ways to build software and then document it. This helps persist our learnings from one client to the next. There are changes every day, every change gets two sets of eyes, and you can see there are over 9,500 pull requests completed.
The biggest benefit for devs is that they have a tried and tested approach to follow if they haven’t worked on a particular tech before, allowing them to spin up quickly and then build on others’ experience. SugarLearning, our custom-built onboarding system, walks people through all the important internal standards when they start and often points to external ssw.com.au/rules. The Rules have grown to include Scrum, project management, communication, emails, meetings, etc…
The best bit, is that people from outside of SSW can contribute by just creating a PR on GitHub for us to review.
Best practices for everyone = best practices for us too!
SSW Rules Forever ❤️
I love talking with ex-SSW people about their new companies and hearing which Rules they still use and which ones they think we could update based on their new experience.
Most SSW’ers tell me they even use the Rules in everyday life, including emails to their friends. Last week Penny told me she had to get serious with her home loan company and used all of the email Rules when corresponding with them to make sure conversations were confirmed and questions didn’t get missed!
I invited a bunch of ex-SSWer’s into the office to discuss what Rules they still use. Check out the video below to see a lighthearted look at the SSW Rules, why they love them, and how they give us a competitive edge.
My top 5 Rules 👑
#1 – Rules to Better Email – while not about development, these rules allow us to quickly read, process, and action emails.
#2 – Rules to Better .NET 8 Migrations – this one really helps devs prepare for and perform .NET 8 Migrations, this will be updated to .NET 9.
#3 – Rules to Better DevOps – show you the practical aspects of implementing DevOps in your organization.
#4 – Rules to Successful Projects – these are the general rules that every software company needs.
#5 – Rules to better AI use – these rules got every one of our employees using AI in many parts of their job.
I’d love to hear if you have any ‘Rules’ in your company and if any of the SSW Rules have helped you! Let me know in the comments. ⬇️