WeAreDevelopers Logo WeAreDevelopers
Sign in
For You LIVE
World Congress 2022 • Jun 15, 2022

Keep your code refactorable

Gerrit Stapper

Fragile code isn't just a technical annoyance; it's a silent financial threat. Learn how TDD, expressive naming, and rich commit histories keep your systems safely refactorable.

Pause
Mute Enter Fullscreen
#1 about 3 min

Defining refactoring and the need for a safe environment

To extend applications without breaking features, improving existing software structure without altering observable behavior establishes a safe development environment.

#2 about 4 min

Vicious cycles caused by time pressure and tight deadlines

Cutting corners on testing and documentation due to tight deadlines creates an ignorant environment where fear prevents developers from making code adjustments.

#3 about 2 min

Building developer confidence to sustain stable software iteration

Treating developers as structural stakeholders who require situational confidence ensures predictable application behavior and mitigates the risk of failing releases.

#4 about 6 min

Producing readable code to speed up technical understanding

Creating speakable syntax and separating business concerns simplifies complex architectures so teams can efficiently navigate and collaborate on shared codebases.

#5 about 4 min

Sharing implicit business knowledge via tests and commits

Creating explicit technical documentation via unit tests and detailed commit histories helps incoming developers grasp legacy logic and correct edge cases.

#6 about 7 min

Safely adjusting code through small isolated test steps

Leveraging test-driven development to establish desired interface layers and committing frequent version control checkpoints reduces the risk of breaking existing features.

#7 about 3 min

Balancing urgent feature deadlines with ongoing refactoring needs

Navigating management pressure requires establishing a functional testing baseline and clearly communicating the systemic risks of continued technical debt.

Matching moments

1:52 min

Balancing technical debt and clean code practices

Stefan Lingler Stefan Lingler +1 · Coffee With Developers

4:11 min

Applying targeted practices to reduce waste and technical debt

Tobias Modig · LIVE

48 sec

Managing the core conflict over software refactoring

Justyna Walkowska · World Congress 2023

6:44 min

Balancing technical debt reduction with feature delivery

Jens Happe Jens Happe · LIVE

7:06 min

Building and maintaining sustainable software architectures

Carola Lilienthal Carola Lilienthal · World Congress 2022

1:29 min

Introduction to keeping test code clean

Gil Zilberfeld · LIVE

More from World Congress 2022

What the heck do "declarative" and "reactive" actually mean? thumbnail
30:40
about 4 years ago

What the heck do "declarative" and "reactive" actually mean?

André Kovac

The Design and Evolution of C++ thumbnail
1:01:15
over 4 years ago

The Design and Evolution of C++

Bjarne Stroustrup

But, you're not Facebook thumbnail
31:12
over 4 years ago

But, you're not Facebook

Kristijan Ristovski

Communicate efficiently with Software Architecture Diagrams thumbnail
28:11
over 4 years ago

Communicate efficiently with Software Architecture Diagrams

Simon Lasselsberger

Get Ready for Jakarta EE 10! thumbnail
42:53
over 4 years ago

Get Ready for Jakarta EE 10!

Ivar Grimstad

Kubernetes and Microservices with Multi-Model Databases thumbnail
29:30
over 4 years ago

Kubernetes and Microservices with Multi-Model Databases

Wei Hu

Upcoming sessions on this topic

Open session

World Congress 2026 North America

September 25, 2026 · 14:50–15:20

Tech Leaders Stage

Keeping Code Quality at AI Speed

Daksh Gupta, Arthur Hicken, Jack Danger

Daksh Gupta
Arthur Hicken
Jack Danger
Open session

World Congress 2026 North America

September 24, 2026 · 16:10–16:40

Stage 2

The Death of the Code Review

Laurie Voss

Head of Developer Relations

Laurie Voss
Open session

World Congress 2026 North America

September 24, 2026 · 16:10–16:40

Outdoor Stage

When Humans Stop Writing Code: Rethinking Languages, Compilers, and Responsibility

Simon Auer

Organizer of flutter vienna meetup and CEO of marqably

Simon Auer
Open session

World Congress 2026 North America

September 24, 2026 · 15:30–16:00

Stage 3

The New Bottleneck in Software Development

Aditya Jayaprakash

Co-Founder & CEO at Blacksmith

Aditya Jayaprakash
Open session

World Congress 2026 North America

September 25, 2026 · 09:00–09:30

Stage 4

Don’t kill my Vibes - Simple Steps to Stay Secure when Vibe Coding

Isaac Evans

Founder & CEO of Semgrep

Isaac Evans
Open session

World Congress 2026 North America

September 24, 2026 · 16:50–17:20

Stage 3

Merging at Scale: From Broken Builds to Green Mainline

Manjari Akella, Preetam Dwivedi

Manjari Akella
Preetam Dwivedi

Related videos

Practical tips for keeping your C# code base clean thumbnail
22:48
World Congress 2026 Europe • 2 months ago

Practical tips for keeping your C# code base clean

Dennis Doomen

I will have to refactor ! And now ? Refactoring Techniques in Java thumbnail
41:17
LIVE • about 3 years ago

I will have to refactor ! And now ? Refactoring Techniques in Java

Kamila Santos

How to TDD in legacy code thumbnail
45:43
JS Congress • almost 5 years ago

How to TDD in legacy code

Gil Zilberfeld

The Clean as You Code Imperative thumbnail
30:40
World Congress 2023 • about 3 years ago

The Clean as You Code Imperative

Olivier Gaudin

Product Managers' Eternal Battle with Refactoring thumbnail
9:46
World Congress 2023 • almost 3 years ago

Product Managers' Eternal Battle with Refactoring

Justyna Walkowska

Code Style in Practice: Balancing Preferences and Consistency thumbnail
10:28
World Congress 2026 Europe • 2 months ago

Code Style in Practice: Balancing Preferences and Consistency

Angelika Shvets

Related articles

From learning to earning

Jobs that call for the skills explored in this talk.