/kotlin-minimalism-workshop

An interactive session to uncover the smallest feature set required to get the most out of the language.

Kotlin Minimalism Workshop

An interactive session to uncover the smallest feature set required to get the most out of the language.

Target audience: people with at least some familiarity with the language.

By the end of the session, attendees should take away:

  • A list of Kotlin features their teams should invest in learning and adopting.
  • Insights about non-trivial features with specific trade-offs, which their teams should reflect upon.

Running the workshop

The invitation

In this session, we'll ask participants to evaluate a set of Kotlin features in terms of value vs simplicity.

What is the minimum set of features you'd pick to get the most out of the language?

Participation and group configuration

Participants are divided into small groups to discuss and produce a small list of Kotlin features.

Space and materials

  • Organise space so people can sit around in groups
  • Have multiple copies of Kotlin Features to hand out to each group
  • Pens for each group to highlight items from the list
  • A flip-chart to capture features the whole group has chosen, and share as session output.

Sequence and time allocation

  1. Quick introduction to the session and agenda (2 min)
  2. Check people's level of Kotlin expertise.
  3. Introduce the Kotlin features. Check everyone understands them. See if anyone wants to add anything. (3 min)
  4. Form groups and invite them to discuss the list of Kotlin features and pick the smallest set of features they'd accept in the language. (10+ min)
  5. Each group presents their list and any insights from their discussion (2 min per group)
  6. Attendees are invited to look at the final list and share if any ideas stand out (5 minutes)
  7. Return to groups and discuss the direction that the language is going in. Is is getting better or worse? Where should it head? (10+ min)
  8. Each group presents their list and any insights from their discussion (2 min per group)
  9. Bring it all to conclusion (5 minutes)