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This is really fascinating. If true, it suggests that big companies with huge teams that try to force the entire team into equal contribution metrics are creat

by xrd 8y ago

This is really fascinating. If true, it suggests that big companies with huge teams that try to force the entire team into equal contribution metrics are creating stress that might not help the team, nor lead to fewer bugs (big surprise). I've never been on a team which was set up to truly recognize the value different forms of contribution, like writing tests, or removing code, or simplifying it, or other things which would not count towards the hero metric presented here. As an industry we just don't think about alternative narratives to "let's make sure everyone is an equal contributor..."

revvx 8y ago
Code Reviews are also devalued, to the point of most developers I worked with considering it a chore.
- xrd 8y ago
  That's a great point. The cost of doing that is never calculated and the impact is so positive.
asimpletune 8y ago
Yeah that’s a very interesting observation, and sort of corroborates my own anecdata. More specifically, when projects are in there infancy, and there’s a lot of risk associated with working on them, I feel that management tends to stay away, which is how these heroes originate. Then, after it’s obvious that project will succeed and it’s merits are overwhelming, you see this shift in project governance/responsibility towards a more corporate mode. However, like you said, that’s probably counter productive and just creates stress and tension. If anything, I think sometimes management has an uncontrollable tendency to position itself strategically in these gatekeeper roles, whereas in open source they don’t get to do that simply by virtue of being someone’s boss, so you don’t see that same trend, as the paper argues. Not sure if that makes sense, I quickly typed this on my phone.
- Data_Junkie 8y ago
  That is the untalented who are interested in the rewards of success moving to gain what is possible to get from talent. They have none, so they have to see it manifested and then they capture it for their benefit. They have no other access to the good stuff. All industries, human endevors, work this way. All power structures, all groups.
LoSboccacc 8y ago
> let's make sure everyone is an equal contributor that's also because they don't want to pay the "hero" 10x than the other developers

by xrd 8y ago

revvx 8y ago

Code Reviews are also devalued, to the point of most developers I worked with considering it a chore.

xrd 8y ago
That's a great point. The cost of doing that is never calculated and the impact is so positive.

asimpletune 8y ago

Yeah that’s a very interesting observation, and sort of corroborates my own anecdata. More specifically, when projects are in there infancy, and there’s a lot of risk associated with working on them, I feel that management tends to stay away, which is how these heroes originate. Then, after it’s obvious that project will succeed and it’s merits are overwhelming, you see this shift in project governance/responsibility towards a more corporate mode. However, like you said, that’s probably counter productive and just creates stress and tension. If anything, I think sometimes management has an uncontrollable tendency to position itself strategically in these gatekeeper roles, whereas in open source they don’t get to do that simply by virtue of being someone’s boss, so you don’t see that same trend, as the paper argues. Not sure if that makes sense, I quickly typed this on my phone.

Data_Junkie 8y ago
That is the untalented who are interested in the rewards of success moving to gain what is possible to get from talent. They have none, so they have to see it manifested and then they capture it for their benefit. They have no other access to the good stuff. All industries, human endevors, work this way. All power structures, all groups.

LoSboccacc 8y ago

> let's make sure everyone is an equal contributor that's also because they don't want to pay the "hero" 10x than the other developers