Assessment is not just code reading

Developers spend some 50% of their time reading code. They do it because they try to understand the system to know what to do next. In other words, they try to assess.

I do not have an issue with developers spending half of the budget on assessment. My issue stems from them spending it reading.

This kind of statement tends to induce immediate reactions. During a recent talk, a participant asked: "Are you saying that we should not read code anymore?"

Of course, not! The important details are in the code, so eventually, you have to face them.

But, code reading should not be the only means of consuming code. It simply does not scale.

The relevant question is not whether or not it is important to read code. Instead, you should ask which code is important to read.

Everything else follows.