From: "Robin Houston" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
> http://www.arsdigita.com/asj/managing-software-engineers/
I particularly liked:
"Your business success will depend on the extent to which programmers
essentially live at your office. For this to be a common choice, your office
had better be nicer than the average programmer's home. There are two ways to
achieve this result. One is to hire programmers who live in extremely shabby
apartments. The other is to create a nice office. "
This is so extraordinarily obvious (about aesthetic rather than the living
bit -- that's extreme) and hadn't yet occurred to me -- I look back at the
places I worked that sucked and they all were shabby & unkempt or tidy but
amazingly dull. Hmm. PS I *really* recommend going to a plant shop and
putting even just a few plants around the home & office. Maybe just me, but
it makes the environment so much more pleasant.
The whole "Turning good programmers into good managers" section was good with
its decoupling scheduling responsibility and review responsibility. Neat
idea.
> Even if that article is slightly tongue-in-cheek, it disturbs me :-)
Really? Why? Scary -- it mostly seemed pretty sensible to me! Eek.
The bit I disagreed with was more hours always equal more productivity. There
is definitely an upper limit I have. I can certainly sprint (and am best
probably at bursts) but above a certain point (200hr over a month or so) my
code quality and concentration declines. I'm sure this is broadly true of
everyone for different upper limits. Discover what works best and do that,
while trying to also continuously progress.
Having a life is important - I honestly think the brain works better if it
has to deal with something completely different for a while. Search for user
comments on the neurological effects of overstimulation.
Paul
