25 Years Later: A New "Joel Test" for Modern Engineering Teams

2000

Joel Spolsky, a legendary software engineer, writer, and co-founder of Stack Overflow, originally published his famous 12-question test in 2000: The Joel Test: 12 Steps to Better Code. The Joel Test is a quick and informal way to measure the quality of a software development team by answering 12 simple questions and it should take no more than 3 minutes to do so.

Everything Joel writes is gold, and his insights continue to shape the software industry.

The Joel Test

image.png

Here’s the full list of Joel’s original 12 questions:

  1. Do you use source control?
  2. Can you make a build in one step?
  3. Do you make daily builds?
  4. Do you have a bug database?
  5. Do you fix bugs before writing new code?
  6. Do you have an up-to-date schedule?
  7. Do you have a spec?
  8. Do programmers have quiet working conditions?
  9. Do you use the best tools money can buy?
  10. Do you have testers?
  11. Do new candidates write code during their interview?
  12. Do you do hallway usability testing?