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"Overall, I believe the computer age favors the individual and that resistance to the individual work style is the last gasp of the dying industrial age. Many s

by kjjw 12y ago

"Overall, I believe the computer age favors the individual and that resistance to the individual work style is the last gasp of the dying industrial age. Many software companies put their faith in committees because they believe this is the way things have always been done. In fact, most unique modern achievements have been the product of individuals or very small groups, including relativity theory, the airplane, the laser and the computer itself. Until now, individual achievement has been exceptional in a mass society, even though the exceptions often transform that society. The deliberate cultivation of individual creativity may end up being the most important social result of computer technology. Either that, or cottage programmers like myself will simply have more time to cultivate our gardens. " This is a view I hold but very rarely hear expressed in my day to day working environment where committees of people from various organisations work together to agree or disagree on plans that are always proposed by one, or very few, individuals. The majority, even in a committee environment, are superfluous from the perspective of productivity, though not from the perspective of governance.

throwawayaway 12y ago
There's been a backlash idea since 2008 or earlier, just google for "the myth of the lone programmer". There you will find countless blog posts from non entities busting the myth wide open with tales from their years in the trenches as part of a large corporate team reinventing the wheel. Whereas I tend to find that if any state of the art is moved forward in a large sweep, usually an individual ends up being given a larger amount of credit than a collective. This is probably a cognitive bias, I am sure I and a person with an opposing view could trade exhaustive counter examples. Also I think certain toolsets suit individuals better than collectives and the collective toolsets are in vogue at the moment. Thinking LISP or C versus JAVA or ++C.
- sliverstorm 12y ago
  usually an individual ends up being given a larger amount of credit than a collective A critical observation. It's much easier for our minds to simplify down to one name, one face. Who landed on the Moon? Armstrong, of course. Nevermind the countless astronauts, engineers, mathematicians, and physicists who put him there. It's not something to be upset about, but good to remember when you hear stories about how one man did this or that.
  - JoeAltmaier 12y ago
    Sports teams overcome this. Sure there are superstars, but their team is absolutely famous too. Maybe NASA needs to brand their project teams?
  - kjjw 12y ago
    I agree and I think you're coming to a problem with how we think about achievement in general. Getting to the moon was the end result of many small achievements that were themselves the result of individual pursuit. I guess it is fair enough that at some point we try to put a label or handle on a string of achievement. But clearly it can't be attributed at that level.
dasmoth 12y ago
There has been a fairly big swing back towards "programming is a team sport" since then. My memories of the 80s and 90s was that programming was something frequently done in a suburban, or sometimes even rural, setting. Since then, there's been a move towards seeing technology as an urban phenomenon (and a resurgence of urbanism in general). I do wonder if these trends are related.
joesmo 12y ago
I think almost any creative task, programming included, is best done by an individual. Writing, art, and even music are very individualistic disciplines. When others are involved, there is usually a leader or someone who the small group revolves around. Large groups are unable to attain a creative vision and generally resort to compromise and group-think. While these things are useful in other situations, they kill creativity. In my experience programming both solo and in various sized teams, the best outcome usually came from individual effort, even when that effort was split up amongst two or three individuals. Being able to split up tasks in such a way that the individual pieces allow for creativity by the individual is key to getting excellent results.
- kjjw 12y ago
  Yes creativity as an individual pursuit, and the acknowledgement (in my mind,) of nearly every human pursuit as being a creative endeavour, is not a vision of loneliness, of people performing in isolation not caring for anything else. These people can work together through their individual pursuits. But how to accomplish that successfully?

by kjjw 12y ago

throwawayaway 12y ago

There's been a backlash idea since 2008 or earlier, just google for "the myth of the lone programmer". There you will find countless blog posts from non entities busting the myth wide open with tales from their years in the trenches as part of a large corporate team reinventing the wheel. Whereas I tend to find that if any state of the art is moved forward in a large sweep, usually an individual ends up being given a larger amount of credit than a collective. This is probably a cognitive bias, I am sure I and a person with an opposing view could trade exhaustive counter examples. Also I think certain toolsets suit individuals better than collectives and the collective toolsets are in vogue at the moment. Thinking LISP or C versus JAVA or ++C.

sliverstorm 12y ago
usually an individual ends up being given a larger amount of credit than a collective A critical observation. It's much easier for our minds to simplify down to one name, one face. Who landed on the Moon? Armstrong, of course. Nevermind the countless astronauts, engineers, mathematicians, and physicists who put him there. It's not something to be upset about, but good to remember when you hear stories about how one man did this or that.
- JoeAltmaier 12y ago
  Sports teams overcome this. Sure there are superstars, but their team is absolutely famous too. Maybe NASA needs to brand their project teams?
- kjjw 12y ago
  I agree and I think you're coming to a problem with how we think about achievement in general. Getting to the moon was the end result of many small achievements that were themselves the result of individual pursuit. I guess it is fair enough that at some point we try to put a label or handle on a string of achievement. But clearly it can't be attributed at that level.

dasmoth 12y ago

There has been a fairly big swing back towards "programming is a team sport" since then. My memories of the 80s and 90s was that programming was something frequently done in a suburban, or sometimes even rural, setting. Since then, there's been a move towards seeing technology as an urban phenomenon (and a resurgence of urbanism in general). I do wonder if these trends are related.

joesmo 12y ago

I think almost any creative task, programming included, is best done by an individual. Writing, art, and even music are very individualistic disciplines. When others are involved, there is usually a leader or someone who the small group revolves around. Large groups are unable to attain a creative vision and generally resort to compromise and group-think. While these things are useful in other situations, they kill creativity. In my experience programming both solo and in various sized teams, the best outcome usually came from individual effort, even when that effort was split up amongst two or three individuals. Being able to split up tasks in such a way that the individual pieces allow for creativity by the individual is key to getting excellent results.

kjjw 12y ago
Yes creativity as an individual pursuit, and the acknowledgement (in my mind,) of nearly every human pursuit as being a creative endeavour, is not a vision of loneliness, of people performing in isolation not caring for anything else. These people can work together through their individual pursuits. But how to accomplish that successfully?