pure thought-stuff. He builds his castles in the air, from air, creating by exertion of the imagination.” Fred Brooks, The Mythical Man-Month, 1975 Sunday, 9 June 13
to design and realize creative works which meet certain externally imposed requirements Repeatedly.... and with some number of successes Sunday, 9 June 13
is how people are treated in the process / methodology design literature. The mistake in this approach is that “people” are highly variable and non-linear, with unique success and failure modes. Those factors are first-order, not negligible factors Alistair Cockburn, 1999, Characterizing people as non-linear, first- order components in software development http://alistair.cockburn.us/Characterizing+people+as+non-linear,+first-order+components+in+software+development “...stupendously obvious but notable discovery...” Sunday, 9 June 13
long on the same thing too much context switching working on distasteful things (in ethical / engineering terms) take a break / go to bed one day, one or two things - plan & schedule say no fix the (engineering) pain Risks Strategies Sunday, 9 June 13
requirements lack of challenges lack of new things solve repetition with engineering make space (i.e. time) for learning start a project. Or join an existing project. Risks Strategies Promote Technical Skill / Prevent Stagnation Sunday, 9 June 13
recognize stress. And look it in the eye. don’t text and drive / walk and read / etc age like wine Risks Strategies Promote Longevity / Prevent Death Risks Strategies Sunday, 9 June 13
we get closer to shipping, as we get closer to an insight, as we get closer to the truth of what we really want. That's because the lizard hates change and achievement and risk.” “Now you've seen the icon and you know its name. What are you going to do about it?” http://sethgodin.typepad.com/seths_blog/2010/01/quieting-the-lizard-brain.html Jan 28, 2010 Sunday, 9 June 13
into the new 3. Disable autopilot • Failure looks worse the longer you hide it • Involving others reduces chance of failure 4. Share early Sunday, 9 June 13
Mythical Man-Month: Essays on Software Engineering, Frederick P. Brooks Peopleware: Productive Projects and Teams, Tom DeMarco, Timothy R. Lister Characterizing people as non-linear, first-order components in software development, Alistair A. R Cockburn Further Reading / Viewing: The Passionate Programmer, Chad Fowler The Healthy Programmer: Get Fit, Feel Better, and Keep Coding, Joe Kutner Older Is Wiser: Study Shows Software Developers’ Skills Improve Over Time, Matt Shipman, Dr. Emerson Murphy-Hill People Patterns, Joe O’Brien Credits: Thanks to @rpburns, @sbusso, @macarthy, @beambongga and the regulars at BeercampCM (@barcampcm) Continue the conversation... @shr [email protected] Optimising Self: Resource https://gist.github.com/simonrobson/5730024 Sunday, 9 June 13