The Art of Agile Development, 2nd Edition

Collective Code Ownership

AUDIENCE

Developers

We are all responsible for all our code.

Agile teams collectively own their work, as described in “COLLECTIVE OWNERSHIP”. But how does that apply to code?

Collective code ownership means the team shares responsibility for its code. Rather than assigning modules, classes, or stories to specific individuals, the team owns it all. It’s the right and responsibility to make improvements to any aspect of your team’s code at any time.

In fact, improved code quality is one of the hidden benefits of collective code ownership. Collective ownership allows—no, expects—everyone to fix the problems they find. If you encounter duplication, unclear names, poor automation, or even poorly designed code, it doesn’t matter who wrote it. It’s your code. Fix it!

Making Collective Ownership Work

Collective code ownership requires careful coordination around design and planning. If you’re using mob programming, that coordination comes for free. Otherwise, your task planning meeting is a good time to start the discussion. When you discuss how to break down tasks, talk about your design. Write tasks in terms of how your design will change: “Add endpoint to UserReportController.” “Update ContactRecord.” “Add columns to GdprConsent database table.”

When you’re ready for a new task, you can pick up any task from the planning board. In many cases, you’ll just take the next one off the list, but it’s okay to jump ahead a bit to choose a task that you’re interested ...