Re:Engineering management lessons (2014)
by BeetleB on Saturday May 20, 2017 @07:37PM
(#14384957)
>I would argue that if you spend 5% writing and 95% reading you won't be maintaining that skill.
The amount a developer (not manager) should code varies from domain to domain. In my work, 5% may be on the low side. But I'd argue in most domains, if you're spending more than 20-30% of your time coding, you're overdoing it and creating too much technical debt.
I'm not a manager, but if I were, I'd promote the folks who find (good) reasons not to code than to code. Some problems need software to solve a problem. But writing software should be a last resort.
Of course, if you're writing throwaway code on a code base that won't last more than a year or two, code away. Technical debt is not a big concern.
The amount a developer (not manager) should code varies from domain to domain. In my work, 5% may be on the low side. But I'd argue in most domains, if you're spending more than 20-30% of your time coding, you're overdoing it and creating too much technical debt.
I'm not a manager, but if I were, I'd promote the folks who find (good) reasons not to code than to code. Some problems need software to solve a problem. But writing software should be a last resort.
Of course, if you're writing throwaway code on a code base that won't last more than a year or two, code away. Technical debt is not a big concern.