The Joel Test
The neat thing about the Joel Test is that it’s easy to get a quick “yes” or “no” to each question. You don’t have to figure out lines-of-code or anything else just give 1 point for each “yes”
Score
- 12 is perfect
- 11 is tolerable
- 10 or lower, you’ve got serious problems.
The truth is that most software organizations are running with score of 2 or 3, and they need serious help, because companies like Microsoft run at 12 full-time.
Questions
- Do you use source control?
- Programmers have no way to know what other people did. mistakes can’t be rolled back easily, without a source control.
- Can you make a build in one step?
- The process should take one step to ship a build from the latest source snapshot.
- Do you make daily builds?
- When using source control, make sure to run build before and after to make sure you code didn’t break the build.
- Do you have a bug database?
- Keep track of bugs not in your brain but in GitHub.
- **Do you fix bugs before writing new code?
- Fix bugs before writing new code.
- Do you have an up-to-date schedule?
- Have some deadlines for when the code will be done.
- Do you have a spec?
- Write RFC or Design docs
- Do programmers have quiet working conditions?
- Getting in the flow mood is important and a quiet working space is way to get into the flow.
- Do you use the best tools money can buy?
- Use tools, Devices, Environments Products to code better and faster, even if it costs money.
- Do you have testers?
- Using modern type-safe practices, and doing small tests after code minimizes the need for doing complete test.
- Do new candidates write code during their interview?
- Testing programmers before hiring is important.
- Do you do hallway usability testing?
- Test the user experience of your app with five or six people is enough to give you an idea about the biggest usability problems in your code.