News for hackers. Stuff that matters.
Re:Non-technical mistakes made by programmers by edw519 on Wednesday July 08, 2009 @10:30AM (#693945)
Nice to see someone talk about all the "other stuff" once in a while.

"#1-Lack of discipline" and "#2-Big egos" are not non-technical skills. They are personality traits and apply to everyone.

"#3-Being a bad communicator" - absolutely! In business situations, sometimes it's half the battle.

"#4-Forgetting about the customer". If you're in business this should always be #1.

"#5-Not prioritizing the work properly", another bad habit that applies to almost everyone.

I think OP missed the #1 (closely related to the Customer) non-technical mistake made by programmers: systems analysis. Determining what to do before determining how to do it.

I've seen plenty of bad software, but I've seen just as many projects fail with good software written to do the wrong thing. When we learn to spend more time on the "what", the "how" invariably gets easier.

Re:Non-technical mistakes made by programmers by abyssknight on Wednesday July 08, 2009 @10:50AM (#693980)
Understanding a customer's needs is perhaps the greatest skill a developer can learn. I once met a colleague who refused to work on a project until they explained to him what it was for, why they needed it, and how they intended on using it. It took me a year or two to really understand how wise that was. Of course, we're assuming the customer knows what they want. (PT: They don't.)
Re:Non-technical mistakes made by programmers by DougWebb on Wednesday July 08, 2009 @11:02AM (#694000)
I find one of the biggest challenges, and best skills to develop, is getting the customer to describe the problem they're trying to solve rather than the solution they think they need. My job, as a Software Engineer, is to figure out the best solution for the customer's problem, not just to implement the solution the customer requested.
Re:Non-technical mistakes made by programmers by ken on Wednesday July 08, 2009 @12:15PM (#694124)
I find #1 and #2 curious, given that martial arts are all about training for the opposite of these, and:

"The popularity of martial arts in the hacker culture deserves special mention. Many observers have noted it, and the connection has grown noticeably stronger over time. In the 1970s, many hackers admired martial arts disciplines from a distance, sensing a compatible ideal in their exaltation of skill through rigorous self-discipline and concentration. As martial arts became increasingly mainstreamed in the U.S. and other western countries, hackers moved from admiring to doing in large numbers." (Jargon file, 2000)

Are 'hackers' a negligible minority of 'programmers'? Or have martial arts ceased to be the "hacker exercise of choice"? (Then again, most other hacker hobbies also seem to "involv[e] concentration, stamina, and micromotor skills".)

Re:Non-technical mistakes made by programmers by gaius on Wednesday July 08, 2009 @02:33PM (#694386)
ESR was never representative of the hacker community.