

Process kills developer passion - locopati
http://radar.oreilly.com/2011/05/process-kills-developer-passion.html

======
HeyLaughingBoy
The sad thing is that he's right. I see it every day.

I work in a process-heavy shop in a process heavy industry and more and more,
our developers are getting sick of it. But at the same time, our bug counts
are dropping and our schedule accuracy is improving.

It would be an easy decision if all the process didn't accomplish anything,
but the data shows that it does. The difficult part is isolating _which_ parts
of the various processes are contributing the most, and scaling back the parts
that don't. Unfortunately, if your management doesn't realize how irritated
the developers are with all the data gathering and paperwork necessary to
track the process, these drawbacks remain hidden until your best people start
to leave in disgust.

Of course, you can ask the question if passion should even be relevant in
software dev. and what its relationship is to product quality. A fantastically
intuitive UI requires one type of personality and a "Can Never Fail" aircraft
braking controller requires a different type. Should they use the same type of
process?

------
ilcavero
no, what kills developer's passion is not having a say in what/how processes
are implemented/evolved. The other thing that kills developer's passion is
being tangled into a web of improvisation, contradictions and general
confusion because the processes were forgotten.

------
sbt
The TV-series The Wire nailed this pretty well. In each season, members
Baltimore's police department, school system, government are looking for ways
to "juke the stats". Highly recommended as an analogy for process heavy
software companies.

