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All the management tips in that article make perfect sense: "Be leery of programmers that are pseudo-intellectual. They are probably hiding something." If you
by sedachv 17y ago
All the management tips in that article make perfect sense:
"Be leery of programmers that are pseudo-intellectual. They are probably hiding something."
If you can't explain something clearly and concisely, you either need to improve your communication skills or really are hiding something (http://www.reddit.com/r/IAmA/comments/9sfm5/i_am_a_man_in_his_30s_that_has_lied_and_bullsed/ http://www.reddit.com/r/IAmA/comments/9sfm5/i_am_a_man_in_hi...)
"Improve communications within the programming staff by developing a standard glossary of terms. This will also be useful to outsiders who have to interface with programmers."
This is the core idea behind Domain-Driven Design.
"Carefully scrutinize technical proposals. Make the programmers justify it from a business perspective."
ROI ROI ROI
"Adopt standards for documenting programs (e.g., graphics and/or text detailing the organization and logic of the program)."
Duh.
"Develop standard development practices emphasizing quality and program re-usability. Demanding precision in development will result in superior performance."
Duh x 2
"Implement a skills inventory to monitor the talents and proficiencies of the programming staff. This is used to determine the need for additional training, as well to select the most suitable individual for a programming assignment."
If only more managers did this!!
"Promote a program of on-going education, such as a training curriculum, the development of technical library, participation in professional associations, and technical certification programs."
How can you say the author of the article looks down on programmers? Again, most coders wish their organization had a program like this.
"Develop security measures to safeguard the company's intellectual property."
This one is agreeable on some level, however that level is CIO and not team managers.
"Recognize outstanding achievement even for the smallest of jobs."
Ok. You need to recognize people's effort and achievements.
"Manage from the bottom-up. Delegate responsibility and hold people accountable for their actions. Teach employees to supervise themselves."
Of course, the author really does think programmers are morons! How else can he recommend something like this?
- gaius 17y agoI think the issue most people have with this is the stark management/worker divide, in which managers are omniscient and a worker's greatest virtue is obedience. In a modern organization, I don't feel that my manager is superior to me (especially not in a traditional class sense). We are two professionals with broadly equivalent educations and social backgrounds with slightly different job descriptions, I do more code, he does more meetings. His job is not to tell me what to do, it's to handle the planning and logistics of us jointly working towards the organization's goal, just as mine is to handle the technical and operational side. And I don't feel subservient to the company either. We are two economic entities collaborating for mutual benefit. If either us doesn't like this arrangement anymore, we can dissolve it with no hard feelings. In short, this dude's ideas are stuck somewhere near the beginning of his career. He's learnt nothing in those 30 years. It's not experience if you aren't learning from it. It's just paper pushing.