Managing programmers
February 18th, 2013 | Published in Uncategorized | 2 Comments
This is from an email sent to the IBM-MAIN mailing list by John Gilmore:
G. H. Hardy wrote that 1) intellectual curiosity, a desire to know how
things work, 2) craftsmanship, the need to do the best job one knows
how to do, and 3) a desire for recognition, even fame, are sine quibus
non for success at any intellectual task.Managers who employ programmers who lack these three characteristics
get the mediocrity they deserve.
…
It is hard to resist the conclusion that these managers, who are not
themselves programmers, have, with no understanding of the ‘skill set’
that programmers need, taken refuge yet again in crackpot realism.
Production lines, particularly those that are highly automated, can be
managed. Programming projects must be led.
April 3rd, 2013 at 10:56 am (#)
I completely agree with #1 and #2, but am curious as to the rationale for #3. (i wasn’t able to view the original e-mail you referenced.)
April 3rd, 2013 at 11:10 am (#)
There wasn’t anything else in the email to explain that, and I’m not sure why that was included as well. Perhaps a person who lacked the desire for recognition would end up working on things that are only important to them, and so while they might “succeed” at the task it would be an ultimate failure because no one else cares. It seems that most humans have at least a rudimentary desire for recognition, though.