josh602

We're trying out Medium as a blogging platform because it was seeming like the BBC Internet Blog wasn't reaching our intended target audience any more. Better to go where your readers are than expect them to come to you.

I turned down a graduate contract in London for £30k, going up to £40k after two years, to be at the BBC. If you want to work at BBC D&E, you accept that you're not going to get a competitive salary. But in return, you get very relaxed and laid back working conditions. (Or so people tell me. I haven't worked at any other large software org to compare.)

Someone I know, who is now a principal dev, was previously a contractor for the BBC. He decided to leave contracting and join the corporation permanently. He's one of the most amazingly clever developers I have ever met.

(But yes, we'd all still appreciate it if we could be paid more.)

True! I think a lot of modern workplaces are good at compromising on this. In our case, we don't have private offices, but there are quiet working areas that you can go to to work. Although these are sparse in our Salford campus, unfortunately; there's a lot more in the London buildings.

Could you expand on that?

> Literally anything is better than that.

Amen to that. :'(

This isn't true in my experience. Each team I've come across has their own variant of Kanban that works for them that has evolved over time.

We have no scrum masters. We have a plurality of leadership in teams, comprising of a tech lead, one or more product managers, a project manager and maybe a senior UX designer. This works quite well for us. I've only been at the Beeb for a year, of course, but I wouldn't say I've generally felt micromanaged. In particular, the tech lead of my current team very clearly makes a conscious effort to ensure he takes a step back and allows the team to self-organise.

> Secondly, the open floor plan they described is a clear disregard for the productivity of individual software engineers. Maybe the author never experienced the difference, but it’s significant.

Actually, I have. I've worked in two small digital agencies where the devs were in their own office. I didn't like it. It was too quiet for me and I felt like I wasn't allowed to talk to anyone. I concentrate better when I have background noise. Some of my colleagues have headphones, but I don't like to use them because I don't want to give the impression that I don't want anyone to interrupt me. I prefer people coming up to me to speak to me rather than sending me a message.

There's a very good historical reason why the BBC is committed to open plan offices and hot desking. Back in BBC Television Centre days (if I'm remembering correctly), it used to be that managers would have their own offices and the teams they line managed would be based in a completely different part of the building. Eventually, someone realised this is silly. There was a huge transformation of the corporation's culture, which brought about the existence of the BBC Values, and no one was allowed to have their own private office any more. Managers would sit with their teams, and people were able to just go up to other teams and chat with them, collaborate, etc.

It would go against the BBC Values if someone senior gave themselves a sense of greater self-importance just because they were a higher grade. No one should be told, 'You can't talk to me because your grade is too low'.

Awesome! London or Salford?