Coding Confessions | Normalising failure in research software.



    
    
        
            
            
                CodingConfessions
            
            
            

            
            	
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                                    Normalising failure.

                                    Normalising failure in research software creates an inclusive space for sharing experiences, and generates opportunity to learn.

                                    
                                

                            

                        

                    


                

            

        


        
        
            
                

                    
                    

                        
                        
                            
                                What is Coding Confessions?

                                Simply put:

                                
                                    
"Where somebody admits to mistakes or bad practice in code they've developed."

                                
                                What's the problem?

                                Everybody who develops software has at some point written some software badly, quickly, cut corners or simply made a mistake that made it function incorrectly. Due to imposter syndrome many people feel like this makes them less worthy developers.

                                Often the root cause is time pressure to make something that "just works" (or at least appeared to). These little short cuts often end up becoming core pieces of software upon which research conclusions and publications are based. People don't like to admit to making mistakes, cutting corners or not following best practice, sometimes hiding these problems away. 

     
                                Why do this?

                                We want to:

                                	Change the culture of research so that mistakes can be disclosed without fear.
	Document mistakes and allow the entire community to benefit from the lessons learned. These will be published on our blog.


                                
                                How to submit a confession

                                
                                Please only submit a confession about something you did yourself, don't submit confessions about the work of others.

                                Send us one paragraph about each of the following:

                                	The background to the problem, what were you trying to do?
	The mistake you made.
	What steps can be taken to avoid this mistake in the future.


                                You can do this publicly (with atribution) or privately (anonymously). We will then publish them on our blog.

                                See this example blog post. 

                                See the submit a confession page for more information.

                                
                                
                            

                        


                    
                    
                    
                                        
                        
                            

                                
                                
                                    	
                                            
                                                
                                                Submit a confession to us

                                            
                                        
	
                                            
                                                
                                                How to run a Confessions Workshop at your own event

                                            
                                        
	
                                            
                                                
                                                Read confessions in our blog.

                                            
                                        


                                


                            

                        

                    

                

            

        

            
                        
                            
                                Confessions

                                Below are the latest confessions from our blog.

                            

                        
                        
                        
                          
                            
                              
                                
                                  
                                    
                                      
                                    

                                    
                                      
                                        
                                          Confession 1

                                        
                                      

                                      
                                        Dave
                                        1 April 2021
                                      

                                    

                                  
                          
                                
                                  
                                    
                                      
                                    

                                    
                                      
                                        
                                          The typo that nearly broke my first paper

                                        
                                      

                                      
                                        Eirini
                                        9 February 2021
                                      

                                    

                                  
                          
                                
                                  
                                    
                                      
                                    

                                    
                                      
                                        
                                          Confession 2

                                        
                                      

                                      
                                        Dave
                                        9 February 2021
                                      

                                    

                                  
                          
                                  
                              

                            
                          

                          
                        

                      



    
    
        
            
                
                    
                        
                            
                                
                                    Coding Confessions.                                 
                                
                            

                            Normalising failure in
 research software.

                            	
                                    
                                
	
                                    
                                
	
                                    
                                
	
                                    
                                


                        

                    

                

                                            
                    Software Sustainability Institute

                    This project and website was created as part of the Hack Day in the Collaborations Workshop 2021. The Software Sustainability Institute cultivates better, more sustainable, research software to enable world-class research. They help people build better software, and we work with researchers, developers, funders and infrastructure providers to identify key issues and best practice in scientific software.
                    

                

            

        

    
    
    
        
            
                
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