The Jonathan Test

12 Steps to Better Software Delivery

Back in 2000, Joel Spolsky, (co-founder of StackOverflow) wrote the _Joel Test: 12 Steps to Better Code, which he describes as:

My own, highly irresponsible, sloppy test to rate the quality of a software team.

Times have changed. Technology has advanced. Some of his list has stood the test of time. Other parts not so much. So here I provide my own “highly irresponsible, sloppy test to rate the quality of a software team”, hereby dubbed The Jonathan Test:

1. Do contributors merge their changes into mainline multiple times per day?
2. Is all code tested thoroughly before merging to mainline?
3. Is your project built and deployed automatically after every merge to mainline?
4. Is all code reviewed by another developer before merge?
5. Do you fix bugs before writing new code?
6. Do you have a prioritized backlog of features and bugs?
7. Do you have a reasonably complete automated test suite?
8. Does everyone have quiet working conditions?
9. Do you use the best tools money can buy?
10. Do you do hallway usability testing?
11. Do developers control their work from start to finish, without a “hand-off” to operations, QA, or some other team?
12. Can your developers work productively from an airplane?