

London Stock Exchange hires 81 C++ developers for delayed Linux system - DMPenfold2008
http://www.computerworlduk.com/news/open-source/3249268/london-stock-exchange-hires-81-c-developers-for-delayed-linux-system/

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jey
Guess they've never heard of Fred Brooks...?

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JunkDNA
I am always amazed at the number of very senior IT people who have never heard
of him. I read his book as a very junior employee and felt like I was in some
kind of secret club compared to everyone above me. People can be forgiven for
going down technical dead ends or any of a multitude of bad decisions that are
only obvious in hindsight. There is _zero_ excuse for repeating mistakes that
are well-documented and avoidable. The funny thing is, it's not like his book
is all theory. Anyone who has spent 5 or more years near most big corporate IT
shops can readily identify most of the things he mentions in their own
organization.

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chrisaycock
> There is zero excuse for repeating mistakes that are well-documented and
> avoidable.

I once showed the CAP Theorem to a former employer. A few of the guys there
were still convinced they could have a fully distributed system that would be
consistent and available. I left soon after.

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swombat
And you wonder where all the potential start-up technical founders in London
are ending up...

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rbanffy
It could be that they have 810 developers and need to increase their staff in
10%

I gather it's for the Department of Objectively Overzealous Management of
Endpoint Drivers project...

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nikcub
yes because the project is 10% behind schedule

it all makes sense

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fauigerzigerk
They're hiring 81 additional people for a late project and I should still
believe that their earlier failure was Microsoft's fault?

[http://blogs.computerworld.com/london_stock_exchange_to_aban...](http://blogs.computerworld.com/london_stock_exchange_to_abandon_failed_windows_platform)

What these people need isn't software or more people, it's just a minimum of
the soft stuff that the brain is made of.

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nikcub
bad news: they are all Hurd developers

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masterponomo
It was 81 because they assumed there would be some attrition among the
newbies. They probably really only need 67 or so.

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benaston
Does anyone know why the LSE purchased a company based in Sri Lanka for the
work? I'm probably totally out of touch, but I would expect to find a company
developing trading systems to be based near a major exchange (London, NY
etc.).

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benaston
Ah, there is a Colombo Exchange.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Colombo_Stock_Exchange>

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sandaru1
Yes, MillenniumIT started proving services for CSE first and then moved to
Malaysia, Boston, London, etc based on the initial platform developed for CSE

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nightlifelover
That mythical man month is BS, there are lots of open source project with
hundreds of contributors..

I wonder what kind of skill they are looking for specifically? (Education,
experience, etc)

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eru
> That mythical man month is BS, there are lots of open source project with
> hundreds of contributors..

Non sequitur. Have you read the book?

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ludwigvan
Why 81? it seems that they tried to hire as much as possible, not wise.

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ovi256
They placed them in a 9 by 9 organizational matrix to fuel synergies through
increased communication by placing them in a physical 9 by 9 cubicle matrix.

Or maybe that's all the headhunters could find.

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IgorPartola
What is this synergy/syngeries/synerging I keep hearing about? I know the
meaning of the word and I see that it's some kind of a big company cliche, but
where'd it come from?

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arethuza
Most of these terms seem to have been introduced by strategic consulting firms
(e.g. McKinsey or BAH) and then filtered out into general management usage.

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jrockway
If they had stuck with plain C they'd probably only need 2 developers.

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bradfordw
For the Horde!!!

