

Report from Management: Programmers don't know how to develop software - Leon
http://esciencenews.com/articles/2008/05/19/software.designers.strut.their.talent.cost.profit.says.management.insights.study
Pesky programmers potentially putting profits puttering!<p>Apparently management researches believe that what's really costing software development projects are that the talented developers are making too complex software!  The only logical reason: because programmers are evil and only think of themselves.  Management's solution: make pay based on short term software development metrics (because you can measure software development, after all!), and force talent to dumb down the complex solutions.
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Leon
I think their statement (of developers acting for their own personal good) is
overblown and shows a lack of understanding of software development. It's a
reactionary publication predicating on the fears of not being agile enough in
the new software development world. The proof:

Their suggestions of using better metrics on development practices of the
software being built. Which is a ridiculous suggestion for anyone well vested
in the literature of practical, real-world software engineering. Measuring
software development is inherently difficult. What will you measure? lines of
code? number of functions written? bugs fixed? All of those are ridiculous and
fail at any number of different approaches to software development (and are
all easily gamed). The problem is that there isn't a sure-fire way to measure
how well a developer is doing without someone well experienced/knowledgeable
walking through and checking everything At which point, what would be the
reason for having that person develop the software to begin with?

All that can come of this study are managers in corporations reacting to
suggestions of improvements in software projects from good developers by
shutting them down.

This will, in effect, make those corporations _slower_ and _less productive_
than any sensible startup, accomplishing _the exact opposite_ of what they
want.

Yet my biggest qualm with this report, though, is the implication that _it is
a bad thing_ that developers are trying to become better with new/more complex
technology! It's in the interest of _all_ IT departments to nurture growth of
their workers. While the comparison isn't exact, it would be like a pro-sports
team saying it's a bad thing their players are trying to become really good.

From a tin-foil hat perspective: this was funded by YC to create more hackers
dissatisfied with their jobs and go form startups!!!

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tb
You assume that new technology is necessarily more complex. This is counter to
the recent trend emphasising simplicity and developer ease-of-use in
development tools.

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sah
How is the title of this submission related to the content? The article is
about research on counterproductive motivations of software designers. There's
nothing like the phrase "don't know how" in the article at all.

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gruseom
_Many software designers intentionally create unnecessarily complex products
that do less to serve their companies and customers than to advance their
careers._

Many software managers intentionally create unnecessarily complex projects
that do less to serve their companies and customers than to advance their
careers.

Breaking news: people sometimes act in their own interests.

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kogir
Whether or not the suggested courses of action have any merit is not going to
be a constructive debate, but the problem is real. People who really know what
they're doing come up with the simplest solutions. Almost every time I've had
someone suggest a really complicated solution to a problem (or been tempted to
build one myself), I've found that after further thought there is a better
way. In the few instances I've plowed forward, I've regretted it later.

The simplest solution is almost always the best one.

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anamax
I especially liked the suggested fixes - pay programmers for completing
projects and "have product designers receive evaluations from managers who
have an interest in the design projects succeeding and an excellent
understanding of the technology."

If the latter is a change for a given organization, it's unlikely that overly
complex software is their biggest problem or that eliminating it is possible
or will make a difference.

