What is a Refactor Rat?

Squir·rel (ˈskwər(ə)l) n.
an agile tree-dwelling rodent with a bushy tail,
roughly translated as “tree-rat” in some languages.

Re·fac·tor (rēˈfaktər) v.
restructure (the source code of an application or piece of software)
so as to improve operation without altering functionality.

The analogy is obviously tortured, but my roommate hates squirrels. They eat his cacti. He’s tried everything and can’t stop them. I’m convinced they’re doing it for the lulz now. In fact, after years of waking to their morning barking, Yes, barking, I have come to admire the spirit of these tree rats.

They are agile, like a good software developer needs to be, responding to change over following a plan. They also are resourceful, clever problem solvers. I’m also not convinced they “forget” where they bury their food. It may be that what they are doing is planting their favorite nuts so that future squirrels will have more good stuff to eat, much like a good software engineer leaves the code cleaner than they found it allowing for later efforts to go faster.

This blog is to help other software engineers, and myself, to think about agile development practices, inprove the effectiveness of team meetings (maybe even like and find useful participation in team meetings), Its to help improve the effectiveness, professionalism, and creative joy we should feel working together to build software that improves the world we live in, like a squirrel “forgetting” the nuts it buried.