The Eternal Struggle Between Business and Programmers

Re:The Eternal Struggle Between Business and Programmers by rayiner on Thursday May 15, 2014 @11:37AM (#7750046)

Part of the problem here is that developers don't do a good job of creating a culture that values refactoring as a key part of the overall process. The underlying issues are not, at a general level, unique to software. It's not like the business folks at GE aren't asking for more features faster. However, other engineering fields have done a much better job at making things like, e.g. testing, a core part of the culture. GE doesn't ship a refrigerator without incredibly extensive testing, not just because of the threat of lawsuits (another thing software developers don't really face), but because the relevant engineering bodies have made testing a non-negotiable part of the process.

From a manager's point of view, there's a big difference between having to say "our engineers would like some time for refactoring" and being able to say "refactoring is just part of the process--any other engineer would tell you the same thing."

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Re:The Eternal Struggle Between Business and Programmers by jt2190 on Thursday May 15, 2014 @03:18PM (#7751578)

  > Part of the problem here is that developers don't do a 
  > good job of creating a culture that values refactoring as 
  > a key part of the overall process.

And developers won't get a culture that values their work as part of the overall process until they're promoted into positions with enough authority to ensure that engineering processes are valued. There's so much management bashing in the community that I fear that we've become self-defeating: The only way to get better management is to promote managers from our ranks, yet we're quick to put the "pointy-haired boss" label on anyone who dares to make the move.

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