Thanks for your reply Alistair, I agree that the DeMarco experiment is not enough draw any conclusions from.
It would be nice if there was data on the effect of pressure in software development, but are there other related works? Team collaboration under pressure? Effect of pressure on morale? Support for a link between morale and productivity? Also, is there data on the effect of taking frequent breaks, perhaps to support the notion that pressure inhibits creative problem solving? And is there support for your (excellent) metaphor that software development is a cooperative game of communication and invention? -- Ben Hogan http://geekbeers.blogspot.com bwhogan AT gmail.com On Sun, 28 Nov 2004 23:37:57 EST, [EMAIL PROTECTED] <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > From: Ben Hogan <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> > Subject: To go fast you should slow down > > Does anyone have any references or other support for the suggestion > that on a software development team if your goal it to deliver to > market as quickly as possible, the best thing you can do is take your > time, and avoid time pressure within the team? > > ---> > uh, Ben, I'd be awfully suspicious of such an article, because there are too > many variables. > One is what the time frame is (e.g. 2 months or 2 years). > The DeMarco experiment is a nice counterexample, but you can't extrapolate > from a result of one; too many things we don't know (e.g., maybe these were > the > best programmers, the most insightful ones, maybe they sat in one room, > etc.). > > There is argument for "don't burn them out", but I don't know of any > argument for any particular thresholds. ... which means it gets really hard to > announce when the start of burn-out occurs, and that going slower from there > might > mean faster over a 1 year period. > > sorry > > ============================================== > Alistair Cockburn To Post a message, send it to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] To Unsubscribe, send a blank message to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] ad-free courtesy of objectmentor.com Yahoo! Groups Links <*> To visit your group on the web, go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/extremeprogramming/ <*> To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] <*> Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to: http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
