As an agile developer, I think it's fair to say that there is a bit of pressure to deliver software on a regular basis. In order to do that effectively, I need to be able to produce readable code that my team members can understand, and vice versa.

Every org I've been a part of has its own quirks about what it will allow for coding standards. The worst is when there are no standards, or they aren't "enforced." Lots of shops have these cowboy coders that love to do things their own way. It doesn't matter to them that the whole team is going to have to read, understand, and potentially update the code they are writing. The concept of "collective code ownership" is lost on these folks.

What can we do to reign in these cowboys? I proposed a coding standards guideline. It specifies in some detail how code should be written and formatted. It specifies the style, structure, and conventions. I recommended that code follow these guidelines specifically, unless there was a "really good reason" why not. "Really good" reasons did NOT include the phrase "I just didn't like it" or "I have just always done it this way." Being set in ones ways is one thing but being a professional and being part of a team is another.

Does anyone have a practical solution to this issue? If so, I'd love to hear about it... please feel free to post a comment.