Journeymen Are Focused on Delivering Applications

Always putting at least two people on an application may be a change for managers and customers, but one of the goals of software craftsmanship is application delivery. With three applications to be developed and three developers, all three developers can work together to deliver one application quickly and then move on to the next task. Giving an application to each developer is crazy. Sure, it looks like more is happening, and managers can tell a customer “We are working on your application,” but it takes longer to deliver a working application.

Journeymen have an incentive to work in teams because that structure allows them to complete applications faster. Quick delivery is useful because it adds another application to the developer's portfolio. Shipping is important because it is when developers learn what it takes to develop great applications—users provide lots of feedback once an application is live. Maintaining and enhancing live applications give journeymen the best environment for improving their craft, as they are expected to respond to business requests in hours or days. With a short feedback cycle, it is very easy to learn what works and what does not work.