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Politics-Oriented Software Development

Posted by michael on from the trust-no-one-keep-your-laser-handy dept.

thelesserbean writes "Up at K5 there's a tongue-in-cheek look at the dirty world of software development's inside politics. Presented as a guide, it is actually full of useful advice and lessons learned the hard way. For instance, in the 'Ass-Covering' section, we read: 'The chief difficulty is reaching a satisfactory compromise between ass-covering and not appearing too negative. (...) The emails you sent will be used in evidence against you. Keep a professional tone: before sending any sensitive email take a moment to think how it would look at an industrial tribunal.'"

4 of 126 comments (clear)

  1. Education by feamsr00 · · Score: 5, Insightful

    You know, universities should pay more attention to real world scenarios like this. Maybe then there would be less effort on screwing with politics, and more on doing a good job. Oh well, just add this to the list of things fresh programers get slaped with right out of college.

  2. Sounds good, but far from air-tight advice... by WaterBreath · · Score: 5, Insightful

    From the article:

    Also remember that someone who points out a problem early is a troublemaker; someone who fixes a problem at the last minute is a hero.

    That's a dangerous line to tread, because there's a third option: someone who identifies a problem at the last minute and can't fix it in time is shortsighted and incompetent.

  3. Quite good article but forgot the main reason. by luvirini · · Score: 5, Insightful
    Having read the article have to say that most of what is said is correct and unfortunately true.

    The only part that I really disagree with is the first point 1. Most software fails because it is designed to fail

    By the quite long experience the real reason why projects fail is much simpler: STUPIDITY

    Be that stupidity of those who defined the project, stupidity by those implementing, stupidity by the management, stupidity by the client, stupidity by subcontractors, stupidity by equipment providers, stupidity by...

    I am sure you get the point.

  4. nothing new by Yonkeltron · · Score: 5, Insightful

    i might get modded down for this but the thing i find most interesting is that so many of the points being attributed to software-development in the article seem to be applicable in any project in any environment.

    i help out in a school district and every single meeting i go to has me thinking about the same types of things. who is in it for education's sake and who just wants a feather in their cap?

    maybe it's more of a human element that just happens to be looked at here in the context of programming.

    --
    Keep the faith, share the code