How do Robot programmers boot up?

Ever wondered how Robot programmers start the day, or boot up in the mornings? Well Rob “Xemu” Fermier the Lead Programmer for Robot’s next IP details the morning start in depth. As the morning begins and charged over night Robot’s make their way to the pods for work they first gather round and exchange communication in the form of Morning Syncing. This is a 15 minute process where programmers talk to each other about what they did yesterday and what they are going to do today. Keeping in sync so that everyone knows whats happening. It sounds like a great idea as it enables programmers with particular talent areas to focus in on what they are good at and ensuring no overlapping of jobs. As this syncing happens every single morning its important to have some ground rules. Lead Programmer Rob Fermier details these below:

Short:  Each person has to be short and to the point, and the whole thing usually takes 10 to 15 minutes.  It’s never allowed to go over 15 minutes, period.  Discussions that crop up as a result of the morning sync are usually resolved in ad hoc meetings immediately afterwards.

Easy: We sync right in the same pod where we are working, so there’s very little organization required.  Everyone has a good sense of what they are doing and never has to “prepare” anything.  One advantage of a daily meeting is that it can be pretty casual and folks fall into a routine with it easily.

Reliable: The sync always starts on time, regardless of who is there.  People can plan on it and it doesn’t drag on by starting late or hanging around.

Open: Anyone is welcome to listen in on the sync meetings.  But they don’t talk, since the meeting is focused on the people doing the work.  By having them out in a common space, it promotes the idea that we want to share information to anyone who wants it.

Programmers engaged in the morning sync

Read more in the full blog:  Robot Coders.