I love hearing people say "TDD is bad because it forces you to write every single test before you write any production code at all!"

I always had you down as a Global Excellent Scientist, Jason.

I don't believe I've heard Empath Live. Must add it to the list. I definitely concur that Devin is a fantastic live act. Devin is one of the best singers ever, and simultaneously a fantastic guitarist (with a different style anyone else in the world) and can execute both so effortlessly live.

Keep an eye on our website to find out about next year’s event and sign up early to beat the rush: socratesuk.org

#SoCraTesUK #SoCraTes #SoftwareCraft, #DeliberatePractice

…I’ve joined the SoCraTes UK organising committee (@Organisers SoCraTes UK )! Watch this space for lots more, but the main news is that I’m planning to organise another training day for next year’s event, at least as good as last year’s training day: socratesuk.org/training_day...

One person standing and a dozen people sitting in a circle. The posters in the background explain the open space principles.

The Marketplace wall, populated with post-it notes detailing the sessions that the participants have proposed.

Thank you to everyone who made SoCraTes UK a great success a couple of weeks ago.

An open space conference only happens thanks to the participants, and the ideas that they bring to the conference:

There were 57 sessions over the two days. We'll highlight some of the sessions in the coming weeks!

For me it was about a year after doing your TDD course that I was finally doing TDD by default at work and actually feeling like I _got_ it. And I occasionally still find code that I wrote at that time and realise that I still had a lot to learn even then.

Good article on AI assisted coding best practices

blog.nilenso.com/blog/2025/05...

Oh I 100% agree that good engineering practices are essential, I'm just worried that shiny AI tools will make people lose sight of them even more.

There's definitely a gap in the market for an AI tool that can do XP with you, though.

I love XP. But what is it that makes you think that gen AI is finally causing it to get its day?

Nothing beats getting your devs to see the whites of your customers' eyes.

Recognise there are real people at the other end of what you're building.

Don’t complain devs aren’t commercially minded or outcome focused when they’re three layers away and communicated to through decks or Jira tickets.

#SoCraTesUK 2025 is happening in a little over a week, on 29th May - 1st June, once again at Milton Hill House Hotel near Oxford.

The hotel currently has a few more free rooms than expected, so if you want to come to the conference then you can still register: socratesuk.org

#SoCraTesUK

I'm very much looking forward to #SoCraTesUK in three weeks!

SoCraTes UK - Tickets Join us for another year of SoCraTes UK happening on May 29th - June 1st! The event is hosted at Milton Hill House, UK which is surrounded by 22 acres of landscaped grounds and forest, delivering…

There's still a few places available for SoCraTes UK, in 3 weeks!

Join a group of curious and passionate software practitioners. It's the ideal place if, for example, you'd like to practice a talk, get to the bottom of a gnarly bug, or connect with other people in tech.

socratesuk.org/tickets.html

I'm not very familiar with C#. What is it about constructors in C# that I should be aware of?

Photo by Esko Luontola: Closeup of a whiteboard filled with post-it notes, each of which describes a conference session proposed by a member of the conference.

SoCraTes UK is happening from 29th May to 1st June 2025. It's an unconference, which means the agenda is created by us, the attendees, each morning!

It's a great format to combine ideas and refine discussions or workshops from one day to the next.

Join us! Registration is open: socratesuk.org

Trees, grass and blue sky and clouds, bathed in a soft light coming from the right. It is the park of the venue where the conference takes place. Photo by Alexander Alemayhu

Hello, we have a new profile here.

We are an #unconference that takes place in the summer in the south of England.
It is a gathering of open-minded software makers (developers, testers, analysts, and others!) who want to improve their craft and the software industry as a whole.

socratesuk.org