Have you ever thought about something you learned a while ago, and wished you still remembered it? Imagine you could store everything you’ve learned in a jar and just unscrew the lid whenever you need that information again.
This is the story of how we packed everything we learned in 15 years, 1,600,000 worked hours, 10,000,000 lines of code, and over 1150 published projects in a metaphorical jar and made it accessible across our company and beyond.
A reference point for the new and the forgetful
At first, there existed just a simple PDF document. It contained useful information related to time tracking, internal communication, correspondence with clients, dress code guidelines (with some very vivid examples), vacation policy etc.
As the years passed and we got bigger, our processes evolved. We needed a systematic way to make sure all colleagues were up-to-speed with the latest discoveries and best practices, and that new colleagues could catch up quickly.
Every trick in the book
All those bits of knowledge eventually took the form of 13 digital handbooks, each covering some specific area of our organization.
Our general handbook helps optimize the processes and describes in detail our internal procedures, structure, and rules. It holds the gist of how Infinum lives and breathes.
It’s also the first thing our new colleagues are introduced to. After all, what good are policies and procedures if no one knows about them and follows them?
There’s also a pop quiz, the kind miss Granger would nail
In addition, we have 8 technical handbooks that help standardize the coding process within the company for each team and technology. They contain best practices, guidelines, workflows, coding standards, and all that magic because it’s easier to take over the existing project and carry on in the same unified style.
Finally, there are 4 more handbooks that guide new designers, project managers, testers, and team leads through their responsibilities.
Can you peek inside?
To pay tribute to the open-sourcery world, we’ve made some of our handbooks public. It’s our way to return the knowledge we got from it and continue the sharing-caring cycle.
A list of handbooks to explore freely
Android Handbook is based on 12 years of experience in Android development or should we say 80,000+ hours of coding, 3M+ lines of code, 55+ launched apps and 25+ developers.
iOS Handbook is the perfect starting point for juniors to get familiar with iOS development in Swift and for seniors to revisit some fundamental topics. With 250+ apps under our belt in more than 212,658 hours, our 40+ developers must be doing something right.
Frontend Handbook offers coding standards and practices drawn out of more than 295,000 hours of coding that will help deliver quality projects and code in this dynamic and exciting development ecosystem.
Rails Handbook expands on the cornerstones that Rails is built upon, and deals with tools, processes and patterns that allow us to build and maintain large Rails apps while keeping the code readable and extensible.
WordPress Handbook is a comprehensive guide to Infinum’s WordPress team internal processes. It provides info on the project lifecycle, the programming and security practices we use, as well as our coding guidelines.
QA Handbook is a goldmine of quality advice on how to ease out the bugs, inconsistencies, ugliness and general sloppiness which is part and parcel of software development. It’s based on 6 years of experience in destroying applications.
Design Handbook, the latest addition to our library, helps designers connect all the dots on the design process in software development. Also, there’s a fun glossary of corporative terms every designer should know.
Who does the writing?
Our handbooks are written by whoever wants to contribute and share knowledge – and the writing never stops. With each new discovery or learning experience, we update our handbooks accordingly, so make sure to check back regularly for new tips and tricks.
Get reading
This year changed the way many of us live and work. Although we always had an option to work remotely, it went from being a perk to becoming a standard.
With everybody scattered around cities and countries, and pulling a colleague by the sleeve to get an answer being physically impossible, handbooks are an indispensable resource everyone can turn to for up-to-date transparent information.
Off to the library you go now!