Rampant CodeCraft

Cowboys – Not team players, they are either very well versed in the current framework or not versed in the framework at all. If on a team they implement solutions without consideration for the other team mates. If solo, they develop with little consideration to future maintenance developers or change. They are great in meetings, they shoot from the hip, are often wrong, generally instill immediate confidence, but when they ride off into the sunset they leave everyone feeling hollow. They often generate more problems than they resolve, but the problems they create generally aren’t directly relatable and are blamed on the existing code base, or other peoples work.

Firefighters – Are called in when a project spins into a runaway or fires rage out of control in Production. They are highly skilled, very driven and goal oriented. They are there to fix a problem and do so in short order. They don't answer to you they answer to the stakeholder or your boss's boss's boss, and therefore they often care little about the resulting code. Much like a real firefighter will destroy your house with the fire hose to put out the fire in the kitchen. But hey, it’s not on fire anymore, right.

Pitbulls – Can range from non-technical to very technical. The determining criterion is their incessant need to be an ass. They almost never admit when they are wrong, especially in the face of overwhelming evidence. They are agitators used to force a stakeholder’s desires on the project. They are passive aggressive and Roosters. If a pitbull is the product owner the project will fail. The only way to handle a pit is to not step in the ring, but rather deal directly with the stakeholder holding the leash. They are unhappy about something or feel powerless, that is why they aquired a pitbull. Resolve that problem and the pitbull problem will resolve itself.

Architects – Talk a lot. No really A LOT. The rule is if you can get an architect to stop talking, then they aren’t really an architect. Be wary of the ones with charisma and technical skill. They are very dangerous. Where architects tread, ivory grows: this is their job. Regardless of any other consideration get to know your architect. You can learn a lot from just sitting and listening, just don't make them 100% of your information base. It is when an Architect stops practicing the craft of code writing that they become dangerous.