Software Classic Mistakes 2008

The Software Project Survival guide and Rapid Application Development penned by Steve McConnell are the most thumbed books I own. I have even been known to order one each or all my team and some neighbouring teams so that they can use it. Some do. Some don’t and as  a Test I know which guys I would hire in the future

It makes the comment that the differences in productivity from one programmer to the next can be of the order of ten times. I believe the statistic as I have seen it with my own eyes at first hand. I have worked in teams that believed they could have gone and on and repeatedly delivered to a high standard of performance irrespective of the technology. This latter point is becoming more acceptable and believable as the IT Industry matures.

Of interest is that McConnel has updated his ’Software Classics Mistake’ work and he has made it available.  Click the chap for more information

He states

‘”The raw survey results are interesting and so are some of the general trends. One conclusion is that two of the mistakes added in 2008 (i.e., that weren’t in my 1996 book Rapid Development) made the top 10:

• Confusing estimates with targets
• Excessive multi-tasking

Confusing estimates with targets! How many times have you heard ‘the estimate is not accurate’. And as for multi-tasking I wonder if the increase use of the Web, Email Interruptions and the need to get more out quickly have exacerbated problems. Less haste more speed perhaps?

Of note, shortchanged QA is still right up there, and that means at some point you will hit re-work which will cost you. As the old saying goes - if you did not have time to do it right first time, what makes you think you will have time to do it second time around?

Project Rooms and Productivity

Demarco’s book - peopleware - hints at organisations who ensure that the environment is set up so that - and I am paraphrasing - the office facilities people can get around the desks easily so that they can clean them etc. Great productivity for the office cleaner, bad productivity for the expensive agile knowledge worker. Click the chap for some analysis :

Capers Jones in his latest book (2008) - Applied Software Measurement states “It appears that for knowledge workers such as software professionals, the impact of physial office environments on productivity may be as great as the impact of the tools and methods used. Open offices and overcrowding tend to lower productivity, wherease private offices and adequate spaces tend to augment it”.

When advocates of Agile Methods quote dramatic increases in productivity it would be more than interesting to determine how much is due to the effect of having co-located office space, and how much is due to the framework, methodology, or engineering practices being used …food for thought.