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On 2010-11-11, Grant <emailgrant@×××××.com> wrote: |
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>>> Should I only hire coders I can sit in the same room with? |
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>> |
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>> That will probably work best, but it will cost more. |
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>> |
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>> Have you ever managed a programming team before? |
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> |
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> I haven't. Any pointers? |
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|
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Not really. Just be prepared for the programmers to misunderstand the |
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specification at every turn. And once they've understood the spec, be |
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prepared for them to just plain screw up the implementation. |
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|
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Unless you're hiring programmers who have a very good understanding of |
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the problem space, they're not going to understand the spec. They are |
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going to do the wrong thing in the first several iterations before |
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they finally understand what it is that you want. Some of the "wrong |
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things" will violate the spec. Many won't. |
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|
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It's like hiring to build a house carpenters who've never seen a |
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house, never heard of a house, and have no idea what a house is for. |
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|
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The first version will look like the drawings, but they'll have |
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misunderstood the dimensions and the whole thing will be 3 feet high |
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an 5 feet wide. When you ask how people are going to fit in that, |
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they're going to look at you completely dumbfounded because you never |
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told them people had to fit inside -- how were they supposed to know |
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that? |
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|
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The second version will be the right size, but the doors and windows |
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won't open -- they'll be built solidly into the structure on all four |
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sides. When you ask why, they'll say "it's a lot stronger that way!" |
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You'll say "but I told you people had to fit inside". They'll reply |
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that people _do_ fit inside. You'll ask how are they going to _get_ |
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inside. They'll say "the specification doesn't say that doors and |
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windows have to open, so we implemented it the strongest way, and now |
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people fit inside just like you said." |
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|
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[Repeat until you're out of time and/or money.] |
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|
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The only advice I've got is to do things in increments as small as |
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possible. Don't do "big bang" integration. Make sure there is a |
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runnable testable program after the first week of development. Maybe |
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it doesn't implement any significant features, but you must have |
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something runnable and testable at all times. Otherwise, you can get |
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too far down the wrong road before you finally figure out that either |
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a) what you specified isn't going to work, or b) they didn't |
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understand the specification at all. |
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|
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-- |
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Grant Edwards grant.b.edwards Yow! Actually, what I'd |
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at like is a little toy |
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gmail.com spaceship!! |