Re: [gentoo-user] Re: {OT} Deliberately obfuscating my code

[Grant]

>>>> Should I only hire coders I can sit in the same room with?
>>>
>>> That will probably work best, but it will cost more.
>>>
>>> Have you ever managed a programming team before?
>>
>> I haven't.  Any pointers?
>
> Not really.  Just be prepared for the programmers to misunderstand the
> specification at every turn.  And once they've understood the spec, be
> prepared for them to just plain screw up the implementation.
>
> Unless you're hiring programmers who have a very good understanding of
> the problem space, they're not going to understand the spec.  They are
> going to do the wrong thing in the first several iterations before
> they finally understand what it is that you want.  Some of the "wrong
> things" will violate the spec. Many won't.
>
> It's like hiring to build a house carpenters who've never seen a
> house, never heard of a house, and have no idea what a house is for.
>
> The first version will look like the drawings, but they'll have
> misunderstood the dimensions and the whole thing will be 3 feet high
> an 5 feet wide.  When you ask how people are going to fit in that,
> they're going to look at you completely dumbfounded because you never
> told them people had to fit inside -- how were they supposed to know
> that?
>
> The second version will be the right size, but the doors and windows
> won't open -- they'll be built solidly into the structure on all four
> sides.  When you ask why, they'll say "it's a lot stronger that way!"
> You'll say "but I told you people had to fit inside".  They'll reply
> that people _do_ fit inside.  You'll ask how are they going to _get_
> inside.  They'll say "the specification doesn't say that doors and
> windows have to open, so we implemented it the strongest way, and now
> people fit inside just like you said."
>
> [Repeat until you're out of time and/or money.]
>
> The only advice I've got is to do things in increments as small as
> possible.  Don't do "big bang" integration.  Make sure there is a
> runnable testable program after the first week of development. Maybe
> it doesn't implement any significant features, but you must have
> something runnable and testable at all times.  Otherwise, you can get
> too far down the wrong road before you finally figure out that either
> a) what you specified isn't going to work, or b) they didn't
> understand the specification at all.

Great advice from everyone, thank you.  By hiring coders, the
intention is to save myself time and effort but it sounds like I would
only be replacing one problem with another.  I'm really not sure how
to proceed but you guys have saved me from hurling myself into
something I didn't understand.

Trying to figure it out,
Grant