dispatches from TJICistan

2 Responses to “Ha!”

1. Francis W. Porretto Says:
   August 29th, 2008 at 6:19 am

   Oh my, yes. Emphatically yes.

   Programming is far more like designing and implementing a work of fiction than like designing and constructing a building. There’s a far greater range of acceptable choices at every step — and no two programmers will agree on the best one at any point. Worse, our enormous self-regard causes us to denigrate one another’s work merely for deviating from our own preferred paths.

   I’m a hybrid; I do both software and management. The first thing I had to learn upon assuming supervisory duties was to put my ego and preferences in the deep-freeze. “Does it work? Does it answer the requirements? Does it abide within the constraints? Is it comprehensible and maintainable?” These questions and no others are what I allow myself with regard to other engineers’ products. It keeps the friction down to the occasional square-foot strawberry.

   Of course, the nanosecond one of my engineers resigns or is taken from me, I set about rewriting all his code, but that’s a tirade for another day.

2. tjic Says:
   August 29th, 2008 at 2:16 pm

   [quote comment="161680"]
   Of course, the nanosecond one of my engineers resigns or is taken from me, I set about rewriting all his code, but that’s a tirade for another day.[/quote]

   LOL!

   I wouldn’t mind hearing that tirade…