About

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Who is Ralf Westphal?

Iā€™ve worked in the software industry since 1986 as the co-founder/CEO of two companies for a total of 12 years and since 1998 as a freelancer.

Getting to the bottom of fundamental questions of software development and working collaboratively is what drives me.

Itā€™s a search for truth. And itā€™s a fight against illusions, unquestioned beliefs, deep seated habits.

Maybe thatā€™s all an effect of having taken some red pill? I donā€™t know.

What I know, though, is thatĀ Iā€™m on a quest for whatever works better.Ā Finding new (or forgotten) ways to make software development easier, to lessen its pains, thatā€™s what Iā€™m focused on.

And quite often the starting point for all this is my own experience: I imagine, that whatā€™s burdening me must be burdening others, too. HenceĀ by making things better for myself, I think, I can improve things for others, too.

So, when I finally chose the path of a freelancer it seemed, that a fitting description for what Iā€™m doing is ā€œOne Man Think Tankā€œ: Every day Iā€™m making it my job to think hard about stuff otherā€™s donā€™t have much time to think about. And as Iā€™m thinking about it (and researching what others have done) and uncovering ways to make work (and life) easier, I can also help those who donā€™t find time for that while being busy running their businesses.

A more detailed description of my lifeā€™s journey you can find inĀ my resumĆ©.

Currently I'm living in Bansko/Bulgaria and doing all my business online. It's a cool as well as beautiful place to live.

Working online/remotely is in no means an obstacle, but a boon. It makes meetings of all sorts more flexible, more fine grained, and supports a more a sustainable way of being of service to my clients.

Where Iā€™m coming from

I started out as a software developer infatuated with technology. I loved to try out the latest frameworks and tools. And I applied technologies in the software I developed for my clients. And it all started in 1980 with a TRS 80.

But then somehow that changed. I began to write about technologies instead of building products with it myself.

Then I got interested in the structures into which technologies are embedded. Software architecture became a topic in my articles, talks, and consulting engagements.

And then, moving onto yet another level of software development, I started to think about how software structures could not just be made functional, but long ā€œlivingā€, i.e. be easy to evolve in the face of ever changing requirements. Reading ā€œClean Codeā€ by Robert C. Martin got me onto that track.

ButĀ Iā€™m an eclectic.Ā I donā€™t want to be glued to any one thinker or approach. I could not help but let my thinking about clean code development evolve. Although Iā€™m still all for getting code clean at the most detailed level, Iā€™m also concerned about the prerequisites for that: designing models of code and analysing requirements. And even beyond that I find it important to keep the overall software development process in the picture.

ā€œClean codeā€ or ā€œAgilityā€ or ā€œLeanā€ are just labels to me. Following their canonical descriptions to the last letter drains the life out of them. Cargo cult is always lurking around a corner; itā€™s easy to mistake these means for an end.

Iā€™m not peddling off-the-shelf trainings under these labels. Rather I believe in taking them as quarries to break useful advice from ā€“ and to add my own experience and views.

This ā€“ hopefully ā€“ results in my clients to do the same: to take nothing at face value, to constantly reflect and adapt, to make their own observations and experiments.

Ultimately my work revolves around being alive, being viable ā€“ and staying happily and relaxed in business.

Whatā€™s it all about?

  • Clean codeĀ development.
  • Writing software in a responsive,Ā non-wasteful,Ā relaxedĀ manner.
  • BeingĀ reliableĀ in what you do.
  • Making your software delivery moreĀ predictableĀ and less a of matter of gut feeling.

Thatā€™s what my job is about.

Or to summarize it in one word:Ā my concern isĀ sustainability.

Because every code base, every developer, even every team and every company are resources. And resources can be used in ways so they last long ā€“ or they can be misused, even abused and burn quickly.

How I contribute

My way of contribution to improving the sustainability of software development is byĀ teaching. Or more generally byĀ inspiringĀ andĀ provoking.

Because even if Iā€™m ultimately wrong in what Iā€™m suggesting, I will at least be ā€œrattling your cageā€. And that might get your thinking unstuck. And that will hopefully get you into action ā€“ which then will lead to some change and improvement.

As a freelancer Iā€™m by definition not part of my clientsā€™ businesses. My vantage point is not limited by a particular organizationā€™s culture, beliefs, traditions, habits, politics.Ā Thatā€™s helpful toĀ inject new ways of thinking and doing into organizations that feel stuck.

Ā 

This article was updated on 02.02.2021