Stewards of the Codebase
"Software Engineers are stewards of the codebase . . .". Recently when I read these words, they resonated so deeply with me that they absolutely jumped off the page. I felt compelled to share my own thoughts on the topic.
Stewardship
First, let's break down this idea of stewardship. Merriam-Webster defines stewardship as "the careful and responsible management of something entrusted to one's care." Not 'something that one owns,' but 'something entrusted to one's care.'
I remember many years ago, my wife and I visited the home of her favorite middle school teacher (yes, they still keep in touch--he was and is very important to her and she is a much better steward of relationships than most, definitely much better than I). At the time this teacher and his partner lived in a Colonial-era home in Aberdeen, Maryland. The place was absolutely immaculate. It felt every bit a home--their home to be precise--but as they gave us the tour before dinner, it also felt as if we were walking through a piece out of History.
I remember how beautiful and pristine the gardens were, and how appropriate they seemed for the property. These two men put so much work into the care and maintenance of these gardens. They put great care and thought into every decision about what to plant and where, what to pull, what to trim and by how much, and most important: why. This same level of care, consideration, and work extended to every detail of the home, both inside and out.
I was struck by the humility with which they referred to themselves as "stewards" of the property. If this wasn't the first time I'd really considered the concept, it was at least the most significant, as to this day I cannot think of stewardship without being reminded of Mr Brown and Mr Dietz. Although they were in fact the owners of that property, with documents to prove it, they expressed no sense of ownership. Ownership is an Egoistic idea. With ownership, we serve ourselves, presuming the right to modify, personalize, even destroy in any way that serves our whim. But these men approached the property with a sense their stewardship, not ownership, feeling the responsibility to preserve, maintain, and care for it in exchange for the pleasure of enjoying it while they were there.
Stewardship suggests a thing is worth caring for. Not very long ago, one of my favorite breweries painstakingly deconstructed an old bar to move it from their original location to their new location. This is a century-old Pub-style bar that they had shipped in pieces from England ten years earlier and carefully installed in their original location. The work they've put into installing, preserving, moving, and caring for this old bar suggests they think it's worthy of good stewardship, and I couldn't agree more.
But stewardship isn't exclusively about very old things, because stewardship isn't about things at all. Stewardship is about people; it starts the moment a thing is created, and is the responsibility of every person who touches it from that moment forward.