[scarface74]

I’ve seen it before where “I don’t need a framework”. Then after the project grows, the “architect” ends up reinventing the same framework badly. I have no problem with opinionated frameworks especially with larger organizations. It also makes it easier to onboard developers. As a new dev on a team, I’d much rather come into a company that uses Serilog than used AcmeSpecialSnowflakeLogManager.

[austincheney]

I have seen that as well. Many people will complain that if you don't use a framework you will end up writing one anyways, which is completely false. For many people who have never worked without frameworks writing original code means inventing a new framework, because that framework-like organization is how they define programming to themselves. This behavior is safely described as naive, or a lack of exposure to differentiating methodologies. This reminds me of that quote: when you're a hammer everything looks like a nail.

https://www.dictionary.com/browse/naive

[scarface74]

So what is your definition of an agreed upon method that an organization uses to produce results....

[austincheney]

Depends on the goals and constraints of the organization.

[scarface74]

And what happens once you have 3 or 4 developers?

[austincheney]

I think what you are ultimately getting at is: How do you ensure they write code the same way?. That isn’t a real problem and so it isn’t something you need to address. This comes up because insecurity is a very real concern.

Instead provide a business (not code) template to define requirements for integration. This should define what is needed in their documentation, what they output/return, their inputs, automation test requirements, and so forth. That list delicately does not include code style or any more of vanity. Most of this can be automated but you need code reviews to hold people to account and to use as a training opportunity. Be honest and critical during the code reviews. If people find respectful honesty offensive talk to them about it outside the group and if they still can’t get with it transfer them out of your team.

[scarface74]

So you’re suggesting that one person decides that they like JQuery on the front end and one decides that they want to use plain Vanilla JS and one decides they like the look of Material UI, the other Bootstrap, and one happens to like sites that look like MySpace that’s ok?

And on the backend, if one developer liked log4net for logging, the other Serilog, and yet another developer likes to build his own logging framework that’s okay?

Let’s take this to a logical extreme, since one person is an old school VB developer and another likes F#, let’s just do that and throw in a little COBOL.Net for good measure....

And when a new dev comes in snsr takes forever to ramp up. No big deal. While we are at, let’s not follow the REST semantics either and no one needs those pesky frameworks like Express and ASP.Net. Let’s just go bare metal...

Or you could just have agreed upon standards....

If you’re going to have standards anyway, why not just use frameworks where you can open a req for the required framework that lets you get some developers who you can make sure already know the basics?

You’d be surprised at how many cheap developers you can get to throw together your yet another software as a service CRUD app using React.