Re:Developers Are the Problem, Not Monoliths
by hinkley on Monday February 11, 2019 @03:27PM
(#19137958)
"My methodology works as long as I'm the one who does all of the fiddly bits." (PS: it's all fiddly bits)
My only real beef with Fred Brooks is that he put the idea in people's heads that one or two people on the project are all important and everyone else is replaceable window dressing. A surgical team is a terrible structure for software development. It's much more like a team sport, where everyone should be constantly growing and reviewing past outcomes for new wisdom. It's not a perfect analogy/model because I also believe in the power of conceptual integrity, so there's a bit of a paradox in my line of thinking.
People should be able to add things to my code without me constantly meddling or taking over. Maybe I can clean it up to make it faster/safer, but my goal should be to be able to get things off my plate. If I'm indispensable, it should be in my ability to take on new areas of concern, not by monopolizing old ones and keeping my coworkers from getting promoted by making them look stupid.
My only real beef with Fred Brooks is that he put the idea in people's heads that one or two people on the project are all important and everyone else is replaceable window dressing. A surgical team is a terrible structure for software development. It's much more like a team sport, where everyone should be constantly growing and reviewing past outcomes for new wisdom. It's not a perfect analogy/model because I also believe in the power of conceptual integrity, so there's a bit of a paradox in my line of thinking.
People should be able to add things to my code without me constantly meddling or taking over. Maybe I can clean it up to make it faster/safer, but my goal should be to be able to get things off my plate. If I'm indispensable, it should be in my ability to take on new areas of concern, not by monopolizing old ones and keeping my coworkers from getting promoted by making them look stupid.