Before I speak of Pieter Hintjens, I want to talk about Legacy and what it really means.

Legacy

When I watched Chad Fowler’s GOTO Amsterdam 2014 Keynote it got me thinking about what our aims should be in life.

He mentions Joel Spolsky’s post from 2001: Good Software Takes Ten Years. Get Used To It, and says software typically only lasts five years so rarely gets to be very good.

He asks, what does it take create legacy software with a positive meaning, that is software so good that you are fondly remembered for it for many years to come.

How many very famous developers, or ex-developers are there in the world. You may disagree, but I would argue that Bill Gates is the only living person with worldwide fame partly associated with writing code.

Only big company CEOs have any chance of becoming a household name. Even Sir Tim Berners Lee has only about half as many Twitter followers as Grumpy Cat.

In the talk, Chad asks this interesting question:

What are the oldest surviving software systems you regularly use? GNU Linux comes to mind. What else?

What software still in use today continues to have a massive impact around the world? Some examples that come to my mind include iOS, Android, the Facebook social network, Google Search and Google Maps.

All of these pieces of software have involved huge teams. When the iPhone project first began, there were 1,000 employees working on it. There are an estimated 1,800 developers working on it now.

If you are going to work on something big, it’s absolutely essential that you collaborate.

Pieter Hintjens

Pieter was a man who knew all of this. His deep passion for optimal collaboration lead to the creation of C4: The Collective Code Construction Contract. Not only was he very talented technically, he also understood people and how to foster a strong community.

He gave keynotes for many different conferences over the course of many years. His last published talk is on Building Open Source Communities.

He begins with the point that most code we write gets thrown away, and it’s because we don’t know what we’re doing. New means unknown so by definition we have no clue when we are starting out.

Most developers have dabbled with open source but virtually no-one finds it easy and successful.

The solution is to build a community by putting people before code. Code is useful, but it’s secondary to the people who make it.

That’s the first rule. The next is to make progress before you get consensus and Pieter speaks about giving your contributors an emotional kick by making them feel that their contributions are valued.

He notes that the best developers tend to be those with good character and the ability to work well with others. These are the people who you want helping you with your project.

Rule 3 is problems before solutions. As engineers, we often like to design solutions. But we’ve seen time and again in our industry that big up front designs do not. Design is assumption. Pieter says its like navigating with no compass: the further you go, the more wrong you are. We should view every change as a solution to a problem and ask “what is the problem that it solves?”

Rule 4 is contracts before internals. We have contracts between people. Implementation details are not as important as the way the software functions. If the end user experience is good, users don’t care about the internals. Pieter talks about licenses for removing barriers, and giving everyone equal rights.

I also highly recommend listening to his interview on Overcast.fm, and I have never recommended a podcast that goes on more than an hour before. There are so many strong points and so many insights given throughout the show that it feels wrong to try to summarize them here.

Pieter not only lived the way he wanted, he died the way he wanted as well.

I'm choosing euthanasia etd 1pm. I have no last words. — Pieter Hintjens (@hintjens) October 4, 2016

Although he lived a short life, he used it to accomplish far more than most of us. So we can draw a lot of inspiration from the way he chose to live and use his ideas to live better ourselves.

And that, is a legacy.

This story from @hintjens is heartbreaking 😦 https://t.co/jQoNe2uFyP. He taught us a lesson… — David Guyon (@DavidGuyon) October 4, 2016

@old_stachi I heard about @hintjens from ∅MQ; but I read this post many times not realizing it was also written by him. Thank you ! — Jean-Pol Landrain (@jplandrain) October 4, 2016

@hintjens Thanks for leaving a ton of reading material behind, I'll keep on studying on it. All the best to you and your family. — Stefano Baghino (@stefanobaghino) October 4, 2016

@hintjens Thanks for all the inspiration and sharing your wisdom, old and new. You didn't have to do any of it, but it's been priceless. — Garrett Bluma (@gbluma) October 4, 2016

With a heavy heart, I say goodbye to you @hintjens if you can write about afterlife, please do so 🙂 I'm sure that will be even more amazing — Manoj Waikar (@mmwaikar) October 4, 2016

I only discovered your writing in the past couple of weeks. So clear and thought-provoking, thank you for all your contributions. @hintjens — divergio (@divergio) October 4, 2016

@hintjens we never met, but your work has affected me on a deeper level than I would ever admit. Thank you. — stan klimoff (@graven) October 4, 2016

@hintjens you've impacted so many lives in so many positive ways. I hope you take some pride in that. — Richard Minerich (@rickasaurus) October 4, 2016

@hintjens I've been amazed at ZeroMQ since I found it, but not as amazed as I am by your courage and example – thank you — BillBarnhill (@BillBarnhill) October 4, 2016

@hintjens Thank you for all you've done. — Amós Batista (@amosbatista) October 4, 2016

THIS is the most amazing gesture I've EVER witnessed on Twitter.

So long and thanks for all the wisdom, @hintjens. It's been a privilege! https://t.co/aR6u3JxcKx — Mayank (@mayanknkc) October 4, 2016

Goodbye @hintjens, you've been an inspiration for us all. We can't thank you enough for all you've done. 🌟 — Franck Verrot (@franckverrot) October 4, 2016

Goodbye @hintjens – thanks for sharing your ideas, writings, code and teachings. You will be sorely missed. #phwake — Josh Long (龙之春, जोश) (@starbuxman) October 2, 2016

never cared more about somebody I do not know personally, empathy and good thoughts, @hintjens is a lot more than a #twitter handle — Ruslan Rusu (@ruslanrusu) October 3, 2016

goodbye @hintjens, I learned more from you than you know. — said (@iflowfor8hours) October 3, 2016

I learned all about messaging by reading this amazing guide https://t.co/Xk2qfIYgFl by @hintjens. Take a day and give it a read. — Brock Whitten (@sintaxi) October 3, 2016

Some sadness typing `import zmq` while this is happening… @hintjens' ideas will continue to blaze on processors that are yet to be invented. https://t.co/oPlGPmRtYe — Harshad Sharma (@hiway) October 3, 2016

@hintjens – farewell. May we meet again in the snow 🙂 — Sam Aaron (@samaaron) October 3, 2016

@hintjens Thanks for all your writings, they've been inspirational. Enjoy this read I found (sorry if you've seen): https://t.co/gDXZzPvfDI — Dustin Miller (@spdustin) October 3, 2016

Few years ago: very inspiring session and nice discussion! Thanks @hintjens! https://t.co/z2QG3wkBUN — Gaetan Zoritchak (@gz_k) October 3, 2016

@hintjens you will be missed, but your work, thoughts and family will carry your memory on. — Tomas Ekeli (@tomasekeli) October 3, 2016

@hintjens " Since the beginning, life has relied upon the transmission of

messages." – thank you, for all the messages sent and received. — taotetek (@taotetek) October 3, 2016

@hintjens Hi Pieter, your Xitami was vg: small, human(e), fast + functional – just what software should be. Lovely work, fondly remembered. — John Faithfull (@FaithfullJohn) October 3, 2016

@hintjens finding your blogs a year ago was like finding gold. wise, honest and from the heart. your words will continue and may you RIP — M. Eric DeFazio (@edefazio) October 3, 2016

Social Architecture 101 – Pieter Hintjens https://t.co/9DUFGkPY3K @hintjens thank you! — Nonsense Worlds (@nonsensews) October 3, 2016

@hintjens As a writer, your ideas will survive you. Thank you for bringing them to life and sharing them with the world. — Scott Arciszewski (@CiPHPerCoder) October 3, 2016

I wish I’d known @hintjens sooner, and had been able to meet him AFK. But I’m grateful to Twitter for introducing me to him now. #FuckCancer — Aaron Muszalski 🎃 (@sfslim) October 3, 2016

@hintjens wish I'd had the pleasure to have met you. 0MQ and your writing is inspiring. I hope you're proud of your tremendous legacy! — Ed Blackburn (@ejblackburn) October 3, 2016

As I read @hintjens’ words, I see a kindred spirit, luminous, expansive, and defined by curiosity and generosity. 🙏 https://t.co/tqLAOAC6cv — Aaron Muszalski 🎃 (@sfslim) October 3, 2016

@adymitruk @hintjens @shanselman we are all spreading his words and his great generosity & wisdom in what he's sharing/teaching us now — Julie Lerman (@julielerman) October 3, 2016

Tell them I was a writer.

A maker of software.

A humanist. A father.

And many things.

But above all, a writer.

Thank you. 🙂 — Pieter Hintjens (@hintjens) October 1, 2016