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Programmers aren't resources...not because it may be rude, but because it's totally inaccurate. It's hard to think of people like resources in a profession whe
by makecheck 15y ago
Programmers aren't resources...not because it may be rude, but because it's totally inaccurate.
It's hard to think of people like resources in a profession where the actual number of them doesn't matter very much.
This isn't like moving a large box where you need exactly the right number of people to hold all the corners and pretty much anyone can take any corner. Instead, you want to be tracking what people know (their proficiencies, such as languages) and how good they are (their efficiencies, such as how many years experience and their track records in past projects that required the same skill). Proficiencies and efficiencies are your programming resources, not the actual people.
There are programming projects where one excellent person could shoulder the whole thing, and 10 newbies could ruin it. There are experienced people who simply have the wrong experience to be effective in a certain situation. Having some programmers "free" to work on something isn't really relevant, they have to be the right programmers.
- scorpioxy 15y agoExactly what I was trying to say, but in a much better way. Programming as such is more like an art than an engineering discipline. Writing a complex application is more like writing a novel. Try adding authors to a late or failing novel and see what happens. Besides, I thought that the whole programmers as resources thing was debunked in the mythical man month book. I blame all of this on the "software engineering" movement. The discipline, if used properly, is fine. But calling people resources seem to me like skipping over the important points of the discipline and focusing on the wrong things.