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Developers could learn from this. I've a few grey hairs, many caused by late nights coding, and I now run a dev team. I wonder if we could really learn from thi

Developers could learn from this. I've a few grey hairs, many caused by late nights coding, and I now run a dev team. I wonder if we could really learn from this - for example, looking at the 3rd video in the youtube playlist from the article, looking at the criteria they judge each other on, let's see how transferable they are: - minimal movement: using clear, concise code, or few commands, to solve a problem - lack of repeated actions: exactly that. Why did I just look at that same log file 5 times? - confident use of tools: do I have a set of tools (IDEs, editors, commands) I know intimately? - awkwardness of actions: can I think several steps ahead in the problem and bring things into line to form the solution? And so on. This is a raw, unrefined thought and I hope it gets thoroughly pulled apart in any replies.

codingdave 12y ago
I think this would lose some practicality when put into practice. Clumsy, awkward code may still offer great business value/ Brilliant, precise code, when misapplied to its purpose, can still fail. Of course, everyone wants good code... but I do not think the direct correlation of quality to outcomes from surgery would exist in the coding world.
- c0rtex 12y ago
  Maybe it's sufficient to ask: what would be useful for developers to keep score of in order to improve professionally? Surgeons keep score by measuring patient outcomes in order to draw conclusions about their own performance, the effect of which is to "shrink the outliers" - people see where they can improve and they go ask their colleagues, "hey, how'd you do that?". So what would the equivalent of that be for a developer? The best tool I can think of for this isn't an automated system for scorekeeping - it's soliciting feedback [1]. You ask a more seasoned dev who is familiar with your work where you can improve. How do you "shrink the outliers" on a team of developers? Get people to work together. Take each other's code apart. [1] Particularly negative feedback, according to Elon Musk at the end of this vid: http://www.ted.com/talks/elon_musk_the_mind_behind_tesla_spacex_solarcity http://www.ted.com/talks/elon_musk_the_mind_behind_tesla_spa...
ScottBurson 12y ago
Just ask the developers whose code they'd rather have to maintain.

codingdave 12y ago

I think this would lose some practicality when put into practice. Clumsy, awkward code may still offer great business value/ Brilliant, precise code, when misapplied to its purpose, can still fail. Of course, everyone wants good code... but I do not think the direct correlation of quality to outcomes from surgery would exist in the coding world.

c0rtex 12y ago
Maybe it's sufficient to ask: what would be useful for developers to keep score of in order to improve professionally? Surgeons keep score by measuring patient outcomes in order to draw conclusions about their own performance, the effect of which is to "shrink the outliers" - people see where they can improve and they go ask their colleagues, "hey, how'd you do that?". So what would the equivalent of that be for a developer? The best tool I can think of for this isn't an automated system for scorekeeping - it's soliciting feedback [1]. You ask a more seasoned dev who is familiar with your work where you can improve. How do you "shrink the outliers" on a team of developers? Get people to work together. Take each other's code apart. [1] Particularly negative feedback, according to Elon Musk at the end of this vid: http://www.ted.com/talks/elon_musk_the_mind_behind_tesla_spacex_solarcity http://www.ted.com/talks/elon_musk_the_mind_behind_tesla_spa...

ScottBurson 12y ago

Just ask the developers whose code they'd rather have to maintain.