You can find the code used in this video at the Clear Measure github

In this episode, Jeffrey shares how to lower developer onboarding costs

Custom software is inherently expensive but there are plenty of easy things that your team can do to reduce those costs. I'm going to talk about one of them that aids tremendously when it comes to adding or replacing a developer on your software team. That is the one click build.

Anyone overseeing a software team cares about quality, efficiency and productivity. These are important because they translate directly to labor costs. Software teams are already expensive. What really hurts is when the team has suboptimal processes that balloon already high costs. When a new developer joins a team, many spend days or weeks onboarding until he can start working on the code and contributing code changes. It doesn't have to be this way. You should expect a new developer to be able to contribute code changes on the first day.

Let's go through a scenario. A new developer is ramping up on the team and he is eager to start making contributions. He wants to get the code up and running on his computer quickly. So, what's the first thing we do? We clone the repository from source control and then try to run the application. Invariably this fails. Why? Well, first off, there's plenty of dependencies that the local developers workstation doesn't have.  Namely, the SQL Server database and then probably several other dependencies that must be installed or must be set up in a certain way. The experienced members of the team have these steps memorized in their heads but of course, this is super secret tribal knowledge to the newcomer. Maybe there is a documented list of things that are necessary for proper developer workstation setup. If the list is kept properly then the new developer can follow the steps and get the application working. What invariably happens every time is that a more tenured member of your software team takes time out and helps the new developer get the software running on his workstation. You're always going to have the overhead of explaining to the new developer what the application is and how it's put together and the thought process behind it, but the time that is wasted is just the mechanics of getting the application running on a new workstation. This cost also exists when an existing team member is setting up a new computer. When setting up a new computer for the first time, the same setup has to happen.

It's all unnecessary. What you should expect from your team is that the new computer or new team member experience is quick and automatic. The process should be two steps. First, clone the source code. Second, run a single command and then the application works. The one click build, as it is called, is a very simple script that checks for the needed dependencies on the local computer and installs them. If it's a dependency that does not have an unattended install, then it can prompt the developer with a clear error message with what software needs to be installed. But in today's day and age, most developer dependencies can be installed automatically. The most basic of these is the SQL Server database that all net applications connect to. Even small microservices are responsible for their piece of data and require some type of data store to be set up. 

To conclude, expect new software team members to contribute code changes immediately. Equipping them with the right onboarding process is your key to this reality. And a one-click build is a tool no software team should be without.

Thanks to Clear Measure for sponsoring this sample and episode of Programming with Palermo.

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