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While I agree - the issue is when nearly everyone in a dept is 'expensive equipment' - do you send the most junior person? The most experienced? Get someone non

by ljf 13y ago

While I agree - the issue is when nearly everyone in a dept is 'expensive equipment' - do you send the most junior person? The most experienced? Get someone non-technical to go to meetings and collect requirements? But what happens when they are asked to estimate (on the spot) and discuss the possibility of new features? While I totally agree with not disrupting working people - I don't think you should ring fence them out of input in the process of defining product - we've all seen what happens in that case - "requirements" nailed down by a non technical team. And it's even more wasteful to have people working on the wrong things, or worst still being given so overly defined work that there is no room for them to add any value or find a better and faster solution. While good management can help shield teams from unwanted intrusion - everyone needs to get involved in the process of manufacturing great software - which doesn't just mean attending meetings, but taking time to actively plan and consider the issue before the session. If your company values your input enough to bare the cost of asking you to be involved, then you should look upon that as a positive thing (unless they REALLY are just wasting your time with 'busy' meetings, which are really just wasting everyone's time - and it's a sign of either having money to burn with limited direction or a company going the wrong way fast)

jimbokun 13y ago
Well let's see if I can stretch my metaphor to address your points. :) Equipment needs to be maintained to continue working at peak efficiency. Sometimes it needs to be taken offline for repairs or routine maintenance. Or maybe you realize you need to switch over an assembly line to build a different product or model more important to your bottom line. So, yes, there are times when the software manufacturing equipment will not be manufacturing software. But you want to keep that time to a minimum and understand the cost to the business of having the equipment offline.
- OvidNaso 13y ago
  Now if only we could install hardware upgrades...
- ljf 13y ago
  Don't get me wrong, I totally agree with your point, but I meet a fair few devs who don't want to get involved in meetings - then complain about lack of information or clarity later in the project. But other distractions as shown in the comic, I totally agree with doing everything teams, companies and individuals can do to remove all those distractions and keep people working however best works for them.
  - DanBC 13y ago
    > but I meet a fair few devs who don't want to get involved in meetings - then complain about lack of information or clarity later in the project. Send a manager to the meetings, and get that manager to do a nice write up, with action points, afterwards. Email that round the team. The people with people skills do the people stuff, and the people with coding skills don't "waste" a couple of hours in a frustrating meeting.

by ljf 13y ago

jimbokun 13y ago

Well let's see if I can stretch my metaphor to address your points. :) Equipment needs to be maintained to continue working at peak efficiency. Sometimes it needs to be taken offline for repairs or routine maintenance. Or maybe you realize you need to switch over an assembly line to build a different product or model more important to your bottom line. So, yes, there are times when the software manufacturing equipment will not be manufacturing software. But you want to keep that time to a minimum and understand the cost to the business of having the equipment offline.

OvidNaso 13y ago
Now if only we could install hardware upgrades...
ljf 13y ago
Don't get me wrong, I totally agree with your point, but I meet a fair few devs who don't want to get involved in meetings - then complain about lack of information or clarity later in the project. But other distractions as shown in the comic, I totally agree with doing everything teams, companies and individuals can do to remove all those distractions and keep people working however best works for them.
- DanBC 13y ago
  > but I meet a fair few devs who don't want to get involved in meetings - then complain about lack of information or clarity later in the project. Send a manager to the meetings, and get that manager to do a nice write up, with action points, afterwards. Email that round the team. The people with people skills do the people stuff, and the people with coding skills don't "waste" a couple of hours in a frustrating meeting.