I am not a violent person by any means. But it seems to me that in this case, violence would probably be the most effective way to get this guy to cut the shit.
Clearly he is a dirtbag, as evidenced by his past criminal record and his current occupation. Laws and lawsuits don't mean anything to him. But I'd bet anything that a good hard beating would make him a lot sorrier, a lot quicker (and cheaper) than litigation or vandalism ever would.
I think it's particularly telling but not at all suprising that this hasn't gotten the attention that a theft of other items such as art would get.
The reason this story hasn't attracted more media attention is that the book wasn't an original. It was a rare first edition, of which there are still 200 left, with 70 in the U.S. alone. See here.
If a rare "first print" of the Mona Lisa were stolen, yet there were still more than 250 left in the world (not to mention the original), the media would barely even mention it.
This really annoying girl gave me her email address on the last day of college before graduation.
I remember saying to a friend of mine who was with me, "The day I email her is the day they figure out a way for her to give me head over the internet."
Looks like I might be emailing ol' Sarah sooner than I thought!!
The Big Dig has indeed been going on for over a decade now. As a Boston resident, I'm definitely tired of it. But to be fair, it's not behind schedule simply due to incompetant beaurocrats (although there are plenty of those). The project itself is the single most complex undertaking of civil engineering in the history of the U.S. Any project of this scale is going to have delays.
They actually have a pretty good website It has a really neat gallery of huge aerial photos, as well as some great maps of the whole thing. A good time-waster, if you enjoy looking at maps.
Yes, an impossible task assignment is probably going to cause a little confusion among the techs, but it can also be eye-opening in the sense that it teaches them about what people want.
I agree with that statement, to a point. Receiving a ridiculous assignment from a group of non-technical managers is frustrating for the developers, but usually not the end of the world. However, I draw the line when said managers also stick their noses into choosing the tools for the development of the project.
I worked as developer for a small software company not too long ago. Our project manager was an idiot with no technical experience whatsoever. Ditto for the owner of the company. When we began development of a new web-based version of the company's flagship desktop product, management insisted on choosing what language would be used for development. They also decided that we would use some fledgling object-oriented database instead of Oracle or some other well-established DB. (Only after a week of protest from the horrified developers did they finally concede on that point.)
So to answer the original poster's question: Has anyone else found the barrier to project management is their technical knowledge. How did you get past it?"
No, I'm not assuming it works. I know it works from personal experience, provided you're running a machine with enough memory to to delegate to the virtual machine.
Any game that runs under Windows or Linux will run under the same platform through VMware. If you haven't used VMware successfully, it's probably because you haven't tried it on a machine with enough memory.
If you're using decent machines with lots of memory, just set up a virutal computer with VMware. The virtual computer runs as a program in a separate window.
Then you can Alt-Tab between the "computer" running the game, and whatever other real program you're using to handle support calls.
If you're looking for accuracy, you'll have to perform the experiment at least a hundred miles from any type of human civilization, including any streets with cars driving by. Also make sure no planes fly by anywhere in the area, and that there's no wind outside to create vibrations of any sort.
"Sounds like he could save quite a bit of time and maintanence nightmare if he just invested the effort to write it well the first time."
You people seem to be going out of your way to miss Joel's point on this.
Routine code maintenance (ie, refactoring code, adding small improvements, etc.) is a standard part of the development cycle that every good software team follows. Doing so does not mean that the product wasn't written well the first time. (You Linux people should know that better than any of us, but I digress...)
Code maintenance is not the same thing as a complete code rewrite, which is what Joel is arguing against. Incidentally, lack of proper code maintenance over time will likely result in the unwieldy mess that Stephen Eick describes.
So does code rust? Of course not. Does poorly-developed, unmaintained code rust? Maybe, but that still doesn't mean that everything should be rewritten from scratch.
I think the key point made in the Post article is this:
Some critics also worry that law enforcement authorities will be tempted to use it for broader aims, such as snaring deadbeat parents or profiling for drug couriers.
Routinely invading my privace to keep me and others from getting blown to bits is acceptable. Doing so for just about any other reason is not.
Slashdot Mirror
Q: Why does the bride always have a smile on her face when she walks down the aisle?
A: She's given her last blowjob.
...since there wasn't a choice for 'neutral'.
Violence is very rarely a good idea.
I am not a violent person by any means. But it seems to me that in this case, violence would probably be the most effective way to get this guy to cut the shit.
Clearly he is a dirtbag, as evidenced by his past criminal record and his current occupation. Laws and lawsuits don't mean anything to him. But I'd bet anything that a good hard beating would make him a lot sorrier, a lot quicker (and cheaper) than litigation or vandalism ever would.
I think it's particularly telling but not at all suprising that this hasn't gotten the attention that a theft of other items such as art would get.
The reason this story hasn't attracted more media attention is that the book wasn't an original. It was a rare first edition, of which there are still 200 left, with 70 in the U.S. alone. See here.
If a rare "first print" of the Mona Lisa were stolen, yet there were still more than 250 left in the world (not to mention the original), the media would barely even mention it.
This really annoying girl gave me her email address on the last day of college before graduation.
I remember saying to a friend of mine who was with me, "The day I email her is the day they figure out a way for her to give me head over the internet."
Looks like I might be emailing ol' Sarah sooner than I thought!!
The Big Dig has indeed been going on for over a decade now. As a Boston resident, I'm definitely tired of it. But to be fair, it's not behind schedule simply due to incompetant beaurocrats (although there are plenty of those). The project itself is the single most complex undertaking of civil engineering in the history of the U.S. Any project of this scale is going to have delays.
They actually have a pretty good website It has a really neat gallery of huge aerial photos, as well as some great maps of the whole thing. A good time-waster, if you enjoy looking at maps.
Yes, an impossible task assignment is probably going to cause a little confusion among the techs, but it can also be eye-opening in the sense that it teaches them about what people want.
I agree with that statement, to a point. Receiving a ridiculous assignment from a group of non-technical managers is frustrating for the developers, but usually not the end of the world. However, I draw the line when said managers also stick their noses into choosing the tools for the development of the project.
I worked as developer for a small software company not too long ago. Our project manager was an idiot with no technical experience whatsoever. Ditto for the owner of the company. When we began development of a new web-based version of the company's flagship desktop product, management insisted on choosing what language would be used for development. They also decided that we would use some fledgling object-oriented database instead of Oracle or some other well-established DB. (Only after a week of protest from the horrified developers did they finally concede on that point.)
So to answer the original poster's question:
Has anyone else found the barrier to project management is their technical knowledge. How did you get past it?"
Do what I did. Quit instantly and find a new job.
...I hope this guy doesn't have neighbors from Saudi Arabia working on their own model airplanes.
SIR BEDEVERE: And that, my liege, is how we know the earth to be banana-shaped.
KING ARTHUR: This new learning amazes me, Sir Bedevere. Explain again how sheep's bladders may be employed to prevent earthquakes.
No, I'm not assuming it works. I know it works from personal experience, provided you're running a machine with enough memory to to delegate to the virtual machine.
Any game that runs under Windows or Linux will run under the same platform through VMware. If you haven't used VMware successfully, it's probably because you haven't tried it on a machine with enough memory.
If you're using decent machines with lots of memory, just set up a virutal computer with VMware. The virtual computer runs as a program in a separate window.
Then you can Alt-Tab between the "computer" running the game, and whatever other real program you're using to handle support calls.
If you're looking for accuracy, you'll have to perform the experiment at least a hundred miles from any type of human civilization, including any streets with cars driving by. Also make sure no planes fly by anywhere in the area, and that there's no wind outside to create vibrations of any sort.
"Sounds like he could save quite a bit of time and maintanence nightmare if he just invested the effort to write it well the first time."
You people seem to be going out of your way to miss Joel's point on this.
Routine code maintenance (ie, refactoring code, adding small improvements, etc.) is a standard part of the development cycle that every good software team follows. Doing so does not mean that the product wasn't written well the first time. (You Linux people should know that better than any of us, but I digress...)
Code maintenance is not the same thing as a complete code rewrite, which is what Joel is arguing against. Incidentally, lack of proper code maintenance over time will likely result in the unwieldy mess that Stephen Eick describes.
So does code rust? Of course not. Does poorly-developed, unmaintained code rust? Maybe, but that still doesn't mean that everything should be rewritten from scratch.
I think the key point made in the Post article is this:
Some critics also worry that law enforcement authorities will be tempted to use it for broader aims, such as snaring deadbeat parents or profiling for drug couriers.
Routinely invading my privace to keep me and others from getting blown to bits is acceptable. Doing so for just about any other reason is not.