4 ms·

Given Google's attitude towards perpetual betas, I'm curious if their "war rooms" are more to solve immediate problems (show-stopping bugs, security issues, etc

Given Google's attitude towards perpetual betas, I'm curious if their "war rooms" are more to solve immediate problems (show-stopping bugs, security issues, etc) rather than attempts to "fix" late projects.

nostrademons 16y ago
Google's attitude toward perpetual betas extends to perpetual war rooms. Almost every feature that you'd recognize from the last three years was developed in a war room. The visual redesign was a war room (well, war cubicle). Real-time search was a war room. The search options panel was a war room. SearchWiki was a war room. The bar across the top was a war room. Pac Man wasn't a war room, but almost all the folks involved were in war rooms and avoiding the war at the time. Basically, it's just putting all the developers involved on a project in a room together and giving them a clear goal (launching). Other firms might call this "Agile" or even just "development". Heck, still others would call this a "startup". "We've always been at war with Eurasia..."
- JakeSc 16y ago
  What's a war room? Google, ironically, was of no help.
  - nostrademons 16y ago
    Google's results are fairly decent if you give it a little disambiguation help, though there's still a lot of room for improvement: http://www.google.com/search?q=war+room+software+development http://www.google.com/search?q=war+room+software+development From the Joel-on-Software thread: http://www.ns.umich.edu/Releases/2000/Dec00/r120600a.html http://www.ns.umich.edu/Releases/2000/Dec00/r120600a.html
    - JakeSc 16y ago
      Thanks!
  - skybrian 16y ago
    Get everyone who's working on a big problem together in one room. It raises the question: if this works, why not do it all the time?
    - Tamerlin 16y ago
      If you do it all the time, then people start to recognize it for what it really is: a sweat shop.
    - nostrademons 16y ago
      ...which is basically what Google (and several other software companies) does. That's why I say that some people simply call it "development".
      - Tamerlin 16y ago
        We have a... well, some random dolt with a VP or director or some similarly overinflated title, but no meaningful role who explained that you should use "agile" method when: 1) You don't have time for planning 2) You don't have time for design 3) You don't have time for documentation 4) Requirements are changing Which to me meant, "You use Agile(tm) methods when your project has already failed."
    - mlinsey 16y ago
      It usually also means that the people in the war room are only working on that problem, and that they are working extremely long hours.
      - gaius 16y ago
        In other organizations this is called a "death march".
Tamerlin 16y ago
That's usually what "war rooms" are for, in my experience. Something goes wrong, and to provide the illusion that everyone's on top of things, some managers set up a "war room" where they can "triage" problems and come up with an emergency solution. The problem is that they usually use the same approach without the phrase "war room" to create the original product, which lead to the problem they're now trying to solve in the first place.

nostrademons 16y ago

Google's attitude toward perpetual betas extends to perpetual war rooms. Almost every feature that you'd recognize from the last three years was developed in a war room. The visual redesign was a war room (well, war cubicle). Real-time search was a war room. The search options panel was a war room. SearchWiki was a war room. The bar across the top was a war room. Pac Man wasn't a war room, but almost all the folks involved were in war rooms and avoiding the war at the time. Basically, it's just putting all the developers involved on a project in a room together and giving them a clear goal (launching). Other firms might call this "Agile" or even just "development". Heck, still others would call this a "startup". "We've always been at war with Eurasia..."

JakeSc 16y ago
What's a war room? Google, ironically, was of no help.
- nostrademons 16y ago
  Google's results are fairly decent if you give it a little disambiguation help, though there's still a lot of room for improvement: http://www.google.com/search?q=war+room+software+development http://www.google.com/search?q=war+room+software+development From the Joel-on-Software thread: http://www.ns.umich.edu/Releases/2000/Dec00/r120600a.html http://www.ns.umich.edu/Releases/2000/Dec00/r120600a.html
  - JakeSc 16y ago
    Thanks!
- skybrian 16y ago
  Get everyone who's working on a big problem together in one room. It raises the question: if this works, why not do it all the time?
  - Tamerlin 16y ago
    If you do it all the time, then people start to recognize it for what it really is: a sweat shop.
  - nostrademons 16y ago
    ...which is basically what Google (and several other software companies) does. That's why I say that some people simply call it "development".
    - Tamerlin 16y ago
      We have a... well, some random dolt with a VP or director or some similarly overinflated title, but no meaningful role who explained that you should use "agile" method when: 1) You don't have time for planning 2) You don't have time for design 3) You don't have time for documentation 4) Requirements are changing Which to me meant, "You use Agile(tm) methods when your project has already failed."
  - mlinsey 16y ago
    It usually also means that the people in the war room are only working on that problem, and that they are working extremely long hours.
    - gaius 16y ago
      In other organizations this is called a "death march".

Tamerlin 16y ago

That's usually what "war rooms" are for, in my experience. Something goes wrong, and to provide the illusion that everyone's on top of things, some managers set up a "war room" where they can "triage" problems and come up with an emergency solution. The problem is that they usually use the same approach without the phrase "war room" to create the original product, which lead to the problem they're now trying to solve in the first place.