Consulting is an exciting business that has allowed me to observe the inner dynamics of many different kinds of teams. The skills necesary to thrive in an organization the size of Amazon are not the same as working with three introverted Europeans. Humans being humans, there are a few constants I’ve noticed that have held true on each dev team I have worked with. One of these constants is the amount of dysfunction on a team is proportional to the size of their code style guide.

Why is this? A code style guide is a positive indicator that the team cares about the finer-points of software development. But behind every bureaucratic rule, there is a good story. The reason for many ridiculous rules and warning labels is because someone tried it out to see what would happen. A large style guide can signal a harsh difference in coding style and personal maturity within the team. It also can signal the lack of trust between developers.