Re: Two persons per product"

----- Original Message -----
From: "Leif Svalgaard" <leif@attglobal.net>
To: <midrange-l@midrange.com>
Sent: Sunday, December 09, 2001 10:32 PM
Subject: Two persons per product"


> From: Brad Jensen
> > debugging yes, writing no
>
> I have on many occasions practiced the "two-person" method.
> One person at the keyboard, the other one criticizing and
correcting;
> change places every 30 minutes. This actually works with "truly"
> professional people.

Faster than one person writing?  Better code results? It better be
twice as good because it will cost at least twice as much to do it
that way. 8 hours a day of that would make me fairly nuts, I
think. (I heard that!)

> Also in other professions. One measure of
> being professional is the "interchangeability" of persons.
> "Cowboy" mentality is not desirable. Unfortunately, many (most?)
> programmers see it otherwise. This contributes to keeping our
> field one predominantly dominated by amateurs.

Yeah, the same for writers, painters, musicians - the sooner they
realize they are interchangeable the better off we will all be. Of
course, who can say Snoop  Doggy Dog Doggy Dog?

My experience of things is that pride of ownership is one of the
most important motivations for quality of product.

Where I live, 'Cowboy' is a term of respect, not any sort of put
down at all. That's because the people here know what cowboys do -
think on their feet, solve problems all day long, tangle with
problems a lot bigger than they are, work in any weather, never
say 'that's not my job', and help anyone who needs it without
being asked. It's one of those jobs where the least inattention at
the wrong time can kill you, and your friends may not find your
bones till next spring. Or the year after.

A couple of the guys who work for me are also cowboys. I respect
them for that, it's a job that I don't have the skills to do.

I am a pilot, though.

I'm a small software vendor, I can't afford interchangeable
people. All my people have to be excellent or go work for someone
else. And some of them do. I've had a couple come back because
they were too excellent to work somewhere else.

I'd no more ask them to program that way, than I would ask Kate
Smith to stop singing in the middle of the National Anthem and
turn over the mike to Roseanne Barr. (And I like Roseanne Barr.)

I want people who are competitive, ambitious, good
conceptualizers, intelligent, good listeners, and good talkers,
about in that order. Maybe ambitious comes first.

I tell every one of them that some day they may own their own
software company, so they should learn a lot more than the job
that they are doing today, and that they should leave whenever
they think they have a better opportunity than I am giving them,
no hard feelings. I believe in people, and that means I believe in
individuals.

I've been programming since I was 16 years old, in 1969. I do have
a CDP, but I don't know if I ever became a professional. I've sure
made and sold a lot of software! And I have happy customers, which
is what it is all about for me. The best program is the one that
does the most for the user, with the least user attention and
effort.

Although I understand that some people do not see things that way.

Brad Jensen
Elstore.com
LaserVault - Where kwality kontrol is job wun!