Very good point. Sometimes in order for a *sick* person to realize that they need help it does require a journey to very dark places. Sadly, in the case of the person close to me even hitting rock bottom didn't remove the excuse that it was caused by everything and everyone else in her life and not her. Other times people do hit that low-end and realize it quite literally sucks and recover.
From personal experience dealing with a person with a chemical addiction in the end she could have chosen to quit or get help. In my personal case this person chose to deny the problem and continue to destroy herself. You can put a person with an "addictive" personality into therapy, but if they don't want help, they won't be helped. In the end it *is* all down to choice. The choice to get help or not.
What bugs me is that people will use any excuse to get out of their poor decision-making. Oh, I d/l porn at work but it's not my fault. It was my addiction. Uh...I don't think so. I don't care what people do on their own private time, but the reality is that that sort of thing doesn't belong in the workplace along with many other issues. I'm not trying to kick up dust here, it is just frustrating to see that just about anything can end up in the DSM at some point and then potentially used as an excuse for bad behavior.
Gosh, I hear this all the time. This is one of my personal tech/religion hot-spots. I'm a Senior IS Business Manager that was writing code in C# and VB.NET not 6 months ago. My background started as a C++ and PAL programmer 14 years ago. Over the years I moved from team member to senior developer to joining the ranks of the managers. I found as the dev lead that I ended up doing most of the work of the manager on top of being the lead. That got old. I'm amazed that this argument keeps coming up. From what I've seen the BEST project managers have been and/or continue to be former developers and manage to stay technical by various means. To the idea that you might get a "tech" manager that that might claim to know an answer that is BS it's usually because they are getting rusty and you get the "Captain Obvious" response. These days I tend to assist with things like owning and administering our Team Foundation Server, sitting with stressed out developers and helping them find their bugs, otherwise reviewing architecture and being the one to break ties on tough decisions. Without my background I could not function as a true member of my team. I'd be reduced to a project coordinator. I think this is the key - do you want just a bean-counter that updates project plans and sends out reports or someone that is actually part of the team and can contribute?
Just my two cents - deep in the front-line of personal experience.
Cally
Re:Real geeks only please
on
Top Ten Geek Girls
·
· Score: 3, Interesting
Yeah. I was wondering about that too. I can see the amusement in putting Lisa Simpson in there but it also sorta points out that the entire list is pretty bogus. I'd suggest reviewing a list put out by Discover Magazine about a year ago. It honored contributions by women to science.
How do I miss the point? The development of barrel chests is directly related to use of chest muscles and breathing differently. In as far as "evolution" and fast change, we've already seen that we have plasticity within our genes. Let's say that the gene for pigment is slightly modified to produce constant color instead of only in response to solar radiation? Someone has already managed to create a tanning cream that does this - tell the pigment cells to make more and trigger it without the need for solar radiation damage. Over time it is possible that more solar radiation could effect melanin production unborn children. I'm not saying that this is going to happen, but there are far too many studies out that that give credence to the concept of the plasticity of our genetic make-up, genes that are "off" for one reason or another. Evolution happens over time or in radical ways from "sports" that occasionally show up. The "sport" many actually be one of these "off" genes being turned on.
I have to say that "there is no end to development" is not true in all cases, as a matter many. If you build a system that becomes deprecated over time, you will eventually retire it. When I refer to "the end of development" it is the end of a phase of a project. There *has* to be closure. If you do not officially end a version or point release there is nothing to examine for success or failure of your project and quite frankly no reward to the developers to have some success at bringing a project to closure. We are very clear about when a project is over (at my current job and my prior one at the security software firm).
We use a Statement of Work or SOW with delineated deliverables. That does not mean maintenance and bug-fixes won't be delivered. That is part of support. Then we will potentially be planning the next release or retirement of a system and begin a new project cycle.
So what is considered an ending is less about a perfect stop but the closure of a project tier, phase, release, of the standard development lifecycle. If you do not do this, it will have detrimental effects on your team and the software.
Yep. I agree 100%. Unfortunately many of our corporate masters seem to think that if you subscribe to one particular buzzword methodology every issue with software development will magically goes away. Uh, nope.
Cally
Re:The real advantage to Agile...
on
You Call This Agile?
·
· Score: 3, Interesting
I think people lose the point of Agile. Small, modularized, testable deliverables. User story and test-cases up front (not always practical though). We sort of use Agile at my current job, but often we find that if we do not lock down the high-level requirements you will never see the end of the development. I think what is key is small, discrete end-to-end deliverables. The flux on an interation should be encapsulated to that particular feature and then closed with the end of the iteration regression.
As to interruptions, there are several ways to deal. The two examples offered are ones I've personally dealt with:
1. Clearly define a percentage of time to address bugs - or buffer in time in your project plan - this worked out well for when I worked at a security software firm. We had to be reactionary while still being able to deliver our product on time. We added monthly time for dealing with emergency vulnerability response. Sometimes we over-estimated and other times we did not. It was not perfect, but it helped keep a project relatively on track when there were outside influences.
2. Dedicated QFE (Quick Fix Engineers). This can also work, but it costs time and money to keep folks dedicated to maintenance and also keep them from quitting.
As with any methodology, things also boil down to how good you do up front - use-case analysis, requirements gathering, support from upper management, testing teams. I have never seen any single methodology work perfectly. Usually you end up taking stuff from different sources and leverage what works and lose what doesn't.
I've mentioned this before in a similar article months ago. There are studies of twins separated at birth, either raised at sea level or high in the Andes. Even though the two individuals are genetically identical the ones raised in the mountains are barrel chested and stout whereas the siblings raised at sea-level are average. Plasticity due to behavior (needing to breath deeply in a thin atmosphere - perhaps not voluntary but still a behavior), caused a person to develop differently.
Link to one article:
http://jeb.biologists.org/cgi/reprint/204/18/3151. pdf
It often makes me wonder if we will begin seeing people naturally born more darkly pigmented given the current state of the ozone.
Just some food for thought.
Unfortunately the "masses" use Windoze. I'm one of those although I'm a Linux fan. I am also a Windoze developer/architect/manager of software development. At the end of the day what is easy for the masses is what *seems* to be popular. However, more *regular* people are reaching out and trying Linux as their base OS. It has been a slow growth, but gosh those roots are deep and strong.
I've heard that his last book might have been his best. If that's so he's done better than some other authors I've read (Frank Herbert for instance). I might give it a try.
This is interesting. Years ago I'd agree that there were fewer women than expected. However, I'd say that the trend is changing. I'm a female developer and IS senior manager. I am also an avid gamer. I was an on-again, off-again gamer of adventure games (Zork etc.), and then got into XBOX (D&D Heroes/Baldur's Gate). I also play table Dungeons and Dragons as well as Star Wars. With this resume I was really fighting trying out any of the MMOGs. Star Wars was one that I avoided like the plague (did not have the time for it). Recently (5 months or so ago) I started playing Guild Wars (Factions). I'm now hooked. I have finished that game with 5 Avatars, 4 of which hold Protector of Cantha titles. I'm also playing the new release of Nightfall and have survivor on one avatar. That said, I think I'm not *normal* when it comes to female gamers, but some items to note about why *I* play:
1. Cool storyline
2. Configurable hero - looks, armor, weapons, colors - very much a neat part of GW
3. Beautiful feel to the VR world (again appealing)
4. I play with my husband and some of our D&D friends - social
5. I'm not as interested in PVP or Guild VS. Guild. Violence with little point (just my opinion, not flamebait)
6. Gaining titles and other achievements - something important to me - story-related or success-related (outside of PVP or GVG)
That said, I think there are more closet fem gamers and women that game with their significant others. Times are changing and we will be seeing more female gamers/game writers/women in IT/Engineering. It's about time.
It's funny that you mention Andre Norton. I've read most of her books including her last one published after her passing. She was writing around the same time as Heinlein and the female characters in her books were believable and well thought out. Of course Andre (Alice Mary) was a woman writing for men. Quite a difference. Once I started reading Andre Norton, and then discovered Marian Zimmer Bradley I kept to female authors. That is not to say that there are not female authors that treat male protagonists badly. I put those authors down too.
Actually exceptional could be a deaf person learning to play a musical instrument becoming a medical doctor. When a character is a caricature instead of a person it is not "aspiring to be more." I think you missed my point.
Cheers,
Cally
Please see my post about "Space Cadet" which was subject of a class I took in college. It is one example of the general state of women in his books, whether in an adult or juvenile story. I read some of his other books from my dad's scifi collection. It makes me wonder why he did a better job with Alien females versus Humans?
See my response about an early example of his writings. His women are extremes, and generally the outstanding ones are not Human. When I tried to read "Friday" I had to put it down because she read like a man, not a woman. I've read several authors that can speak with a male or female voice. Most of his books show women in subservient roles (when Human) and/or as sexual window dressing. Again, he wrote during a time that this was a common practice.
You know, I have to agree about Stephen Baxter. Most of his books seem to end with destruction of earth. He can be depressing. I read his "Manifold" series and it was very good with different endings for each of the three in the trilogy. He also wrote a book called "The Time Ships" which was a unique try at a sequel to "The Time Machine." I'd have to say that of all his works this was the only one that was light-hearted.
As to Heinlein, his females are indeed, two-dimensional. It was pointed out that in one of his early books "Space Cadet" the non-human Alien Queen is very intelligent and interesting, yet the females that are Human are two-dimensional window dressing. Unfortunately it was a trend in all his books. It's odd that he did a better job breathing life into an Alien than a Human.
I may give it a try. I have to admit to not being a Heinlein fan. I read "Stranger in a Strange Land" and "Glory Road." I put down "Friday." I studied him in a class about the philosophy of scifi/fantasy. I have problems with authors that for lack of a better way of putting it - don't treat women well, or when they try to, do it badly. Oddly I ended up sticking with female authors for a long time, well past a point that I should have moved on. At least these days I've added the likes of Stephen Baxter, Kim Stanley Robinson, Orson Scott Card, Robert Jordan, etc. into my reading list. I guess it is sad that many other authors might have had more to offer, but a few turned me off for a long time.:(
Yeah, I know about it because I've studied for the cert, but haven't taken the exam. Much of what they give you is great for general project management, but even with PMI the methodology is suggested, not something you use 100%. In as far as non-technical managers plenty of places still go that route and end up paying for it in various ways. On the other hand, you can run into situations where the managers may be technical but spend no time doing business analysis. Without understanding the user story and the pain points a *solution* may be provided that is robust but falls far short of what the user needed or wanted. I've seen far too many technical people botch applications because they don't *get* what users/audience they are building for.
Well, there have been Neanderthal remains found in parts of Israel. So they were not just in Europe. That said, I'm wondering about their genetic makeup. At some point two genes fused so that Homo Sapiens' haploid cells have 23. Apes have 24 (48 for diploid cells). There have been some genetic studies that claim that there is enough difference between Humans and Neanderthal that they were not the same species and the jury is still out in as far as the cross-breeding between the two species. Honestly the so-called gene for large brain size might exist within other primates as well. You can find genetic similarities between humans and mice. That is why we use them for experimentation. Remember, correlation does not prove causation although it makes for an interesting conversational thread.
A friend recommended it (The Mythical Man Month) to me 10 years ago when I was a Sr. C++ developer at a small start-up. I read it, then later re-read it. Years later, after going over to the "dark side" and becoming a manager I often still quote from that same book after going through things like RUP, Agile, MSF, etc. Everyone puts a new spin on the reality that if you have a project with a manager that is not technical they have to have a VERY strong development lead or they are in deep doo doo.
In the past some at some companies people could not fathom a good project manager being a good architect. Where I currently work that is not the case. My strong management skills are important, but my technical knowledge is also valued. I have seen change in the industry in this direction. I hope it continues. At the end of the day what was valid over 40 years ago is still valid today.
Slashdot Mirror
Very good point. Sometimes in order for a *sick* person to realize that they need help it does require a journey to very dark places. Sadly, in the case of the person close to me even hitting rock bottom didn't remove the excuse that it was caused by everything and everyone else in her life and not her. Other times people do hit that low-end and realize it quite literally sucks and recover.
Cally
From personal experience dealing with a person with a chemical addiction in the end she could have chosen to quit or get help. In my personal case this person chose to deny the problem and continue to destroy herself. You can put a person with an "addictive" personality into therapy, but if they don't want help, they won't be helped. In the end it *is* all down to choice. The choice to get help or not.
What bugs me is that people will use any excuse to get out of their poor decision-making. Oh, I d/l porn at work but it's not my fault. It was my addiction. Uh...I don't think so. I don't care what people do on their own private time, but the reality is that that sort of thing doesn't belong in the workplace along with many other issues. I'm not trying to kick up dust here, it is just frustrating to see that just about anything can end up in the DSM at some point and then potentially used as an excuse for bad behavior.
Cally
Gosh, I hear this all the time. This is one of my personal tech/religion hot-spots. I'm a Senior IS Business Manager that was writing code in C# and VB.NET not 6 months ago. My background started as a C++ and PAL programmer 14 years ago. Over the years I moved from team member to senior developer to joining the ranks of the managers. I found as the dev lead that I ended up doing most of the work of the manager on top of being the lead. That got old. I'm amazed that this argument keeps coming up. From what I've seen the BEST project managers have been and/or continue to be former developers and manage to stay technical by various means. To the idea that you might get a "tech" manager that that might claim to know an answer that is BS it's usually because they are getting rusty and you get the "Captain Obvious" response. These days I tend to assist with things like owning and administering our Team Foundation Server, sitting with stressed out developers and helping them find their bugs, otherwise reviewing architecture and being the one to break ties on tough decisions. Without my background I could not function as a true member of my team. I'd be reduced to a project coordinator. I think this is the key - do you want just a bean-counter that updates project plans and sends out reports or someone that is actually part of the team and can contribute?
Just my two cents - deep in the front-line of personal experience.
Cally
Yeah. I was wondering about that too. I can see the amusement in putting Lisa Simpson in there but it also sorta points out that the entire list is pretty bogus. I'd suggest reviewing a list put out by Discover Magazine about a year ago. It honored contributions by women to science.
a t50/?page=1
http://www.discover.com/issues/nov-02/features/fe
Cally
I think you miss the point.
How do I miss the point? The development of barrel chests is directly related to use of chest muscles and breathing differently. In as far as "evolution" and fast change, we've already seen that we have plasticity within our genes. Let's say that the gene for pigment is slightly modified to produce constant color instead of only in response to solar radiation? Someone has already managed to create a tanning cream that does this - tell the pigment cells to make more and trigger it without the need for solar radiation damage. Over time it is possible that more solar radiation could effect melanin production unborn children. I'm not saying that this is going to happen, but there are far too many studies out that that give credence to the concept of the plasticity of our genetic make-up, genes that are "off" for one reason or another. Evolution happens over time or in radical ways from "sports" that occasionally show up. The "sport" many actually be one of these "off" genes being turned on.
Cheers,
Cally
I have to say that "there is no end to development" is not true in all cases, as a matter many. If you build a system that becomes deprecated over time, you will eventually retire it. When I refer to "the end of development" it is the end of a phase of a project. There *has* to be closure. If you do not officially end a version or point release there is nothing to examine for success or failure of your project and quite frankly no reward to the developers to have some success at bringing a project to closure. We are very clear about when a project is over (at my current job and my prior one at the security software firm).
We use a Statement of Work or SOW with delineated deliverables. That does not mean maintenance and bug-fixes won't be delivered. That is part of support. Then we will potentially be planning the next release or retirement of a system and begin a new project cycle.
So what is considered an ending is less about a perfect stop but the closure of a project tier, phase, release, of the standard development lifecycle. If you do not do this, it will have detrimental effects on your team and the software.
Cally
Yep. I agree 100%. Unfortunately many of our corporate masters seem to think that if you subscribe to one particular buzzword methodology every issue with software development will magically goes away. Uh, nope. Cally
I think people lose the point of Agile. Small, modularized, testable deliverables. User story and test-cases up front (not always practical though). We sort of use Agile at my current job, but often we find that if we do not lock down the high-level requirements you will never see the end of the development. I think what is key is small, discrete end-to-end deliverables. The flux on an interation should be encapsulated to that particular feature and then closed with the end of the iteration regression.
As to interruptions, there are several ways to deal. The two examples offered are ones I've personally dealt with:
1. Clearly define a percentage of time to address bugs - or buffer in time in your project plan - this worked out well for when I worked at a security software firm. We had to be reactionary while still being able to deliver our product on time. We added monthly time for dealing with emergency vulnerability response. Sometimes we over-estimated and other times we did not. It was not perfect, but it helped keep a project relatively on track when there were outside influences.
2. Dedicated QFE (Quick Fix Engineers). This can also work, but it costs time and money to keep folks dedicated to maintenance and also keep them from quitting.
As with any methodology, things also boil down to how good you do up front - use-case analysis, requirements gathering, support from upper management, testing teams. I have never seen any single methodology work perfectly. Usually you end up taking stuff from different sources and leverage what works and lose what doesn't.
Cally
I've mentioned this before in a similar article months ago. There are studies of twins separated at birth, either raised at sea level or high in the Andes. Even though the two individuals are genetically identical the ones raised in the mountains are barrel chested and stout whereas the siblings raised at sea-level are average. Plasticity due to behavior (needing to breath deeply in a thin atmosphere - perhaps not voluntary but still a behavior), caused a person to develop differently.. pdf
Link to one article:
http://jeb.biologists.org/cgi/reprint/204/18/3151
It often makes me wonder if we will begin seeing people naturally born more darkly pigmented given the current state of the ozone.
Just some food for thought.
Cally
Speaking of intellectual property ...ya know, IBM should set up an agreement with Mickey Shaft and license out MS DOS. j/k
Cally
Unfortunately the "masses" use Windoze. I'm one of those although I'm a Linux fan. I am also a Windoze developer/architect/manager of software development. At the end of the day what is easy for the masses is what *seems* to be popular. However, more *regular* people are reaching out and trying Linux as their base OS. It has been a slow growth, but gosh those roots are deep and strong.
Cally
I've heard that his last book might have been his best. If that's so he's done better than some other authors I've read (Frank Herbert for instance). I might give it a try.
This is interesting. Years ago I'd agree that there were fewer women than expected. However, I'd say that the trend is changing. I'm a female developer and IS senior manager. I am also an avid gamer. I was an on-again, off-again gamer of adventure games (Zork etc.), and then got into XBOX (D&D Heroes/Baldur's Gate). I also play table Dungeons and Dragons as well as Star Wars. With this resume I was really fighting trying out any of the MMOGs. Star Wars was one that I avoided like the plague (did not have the time for it). Recently (5 months or so ago) I started playing Guild Wars (Factions). I'm now hooked. I have finished that game with 5 Avatars, 4 of which hold Protector of Cantha titles. I'm also playing the new release of Nightfall and have survivor on one avatar. That said, I think I'm not *normal* when it comes to female gamers, but some items to note about why *I* play: 1. Cool storyline 2. Configurable hero - looks, armor, weapons, colors - very much a neat part of GW 3. Beautiful feel to the VR world (again appealing) 4. I play with my husband and some of our D&D friends - social 5. I'm not as interested in PVP or Guild VS. Guild. Violence with little point (just my opinion, not flamebait) 6. Gaining titles and other achievements - something important to me - story-related or success-related (outside of PVP or GVG) That said, I think there are more closet fem gamers and women that game with their significant others. Times are changing and we will be seeing more female gamers/game writers/women in IT/Engineering. It's about time.
It's funny that you mention Andre Norton. I've read most of her books including her last one published after her passing. She was writing around the same time as Heinlein and the female characters in her books were believable and well thought out. Of course Andre (Alice Mary) was a woman writing for men. Quite a difference. Once I started reading Andre Norton, and then discovered Marian Zimmer Bradley I kept to female authors. That is not to say that there are not female authors that treat male protagonists badly. I put those authors down too.
Actually exceptional could be a deaf person learning to play a musical instrument becoming a medical doctor. When a character is a caricature instead of a person it is not "aspiring to be more." I think you missed my point. Cheers, Cally
Please see my post about "Space Cadet" which was subject of a class I took in college. It is one example of the general state of women in his books, whether in an adult or juvenile story. I read some of his other books from my dad's scifi collection. It makes me wonder why he did a better job with Alien females versus Humans?
See my response about an early example of his writings. His women are extremes, and generally the outstanding ones are not Human. When I tried to read "Friday" I had to put it down because she read like a man, not a woman. I've read several authors that can speak with a male or female voice. Most of his books show women in subservient roles (when Human) and/or as sexual window dressing. Again, he wrote during a time that this was a common practice.
You know, I have to agree about Stephen Baxter. Most of his books seem to end with destruction of earth. He can be depressing. I read his "Manifold" series and it was very good with different endings for each of the three in the trilogy. He also wrote a book called "The Time Ships" which was a unique try at a sequel to "The Time Machine." I'd have to say that of all his works this was the only one that was light-hearted. As to Heinlein, his females are indeed, two-dimensional. It was pointed out that in one of his early books "Space Cadet" the non-human Alien Queen is very intelligent and interesting, yet the females that are Human are two-dimensional window dressing. Unfortunately it was a trend in all his books. It's odd that he did a better job breathing life into an Alien than a Human.
I may give it a try. I have to admit to not being a Heinlein fan. I read "Stranger in a Strange Land" and "Glory Road." I put down "Friday." I studied him in a class about the philosophy of scifi/fantasy. I have problems with authors that for lack of a better way of putting it - don't treat women well, or when they try to, do it badly. Oddly I ended up sticking with female authors for a long time, well past a point that I should have moved on. At least these days I've added the likes of Stephen Baxter, Kim Stanley Robinson, Orson Scott Card, Robert Jordan, etc. into my reading list. I guess it is sad that many other authors might have had more to offer, but a few turned me off for a long time. :(
Issue with water is that it's heavy. Really heavy. It will be a challenge to lift enough water into space for the shielding. :(
Yeah, I know about it because I've studied for the cert, but haven't taken the exam. Much of what they give you is great for general project management, but even with PMI the methodology is suggested, not something you use 100%. In as far as non-technical managers plenty of places still go that route and end up paying for it in various ways. On the other hand, you can run into situations where the managers may be technical but spend no time doing business analysis. Without understanding the user story and the pain points a *solution* may be provided that is robust but falls far short of what the user needed or wanted. I've seen far too many technical people botch applications because they don't *get* what users/audience they are building for.
I had the 20th anniversary edition. It will probably be interesting reading.
Well, there have been Neanderthal remains found in parts of Israel. So they were not just in Europe. That said, I'm wondering about their genetic makeup. At some point two genes fused so that Homo Sapiens' haploid cells have 23. Apes have 24 (48 for diploid cells). There have been some genetic studies that claim that there is enough difference between Humans and Neanderthal that they were not the same species and the jury is still out in as far as the cross-breeding between the two species. Honestly the so-called gene for large brain size might exist within other primates as well. You can find genetic similarities between humans and mice. That is why we use them for experimentation. Remember, correlation does not prove causation although it makes for an interesting conversational thread.
A friend recommended it (The Mythical Man Month) to me 10 years ago when I was a Sr. C++ developer at a small start-up. I read it, then later re-read it. Years later, after going over to the "dark side" and becoming a manager I often still quote from that same book after going through things like RUP, Agile, MSF, etc. Everyone puts a new spin on the reality that if you have a project with a manager that is not technical they have to have a VERY strong development lead or they are in deep doo doo.
In the past some at some companies people could not fathom a good project manager being a good architect. Where I currently work that is not the case. My strong management skills are important, but my technical knowledge is also valued. I have seen change in the industry in this direction. I hope it continues. At the end of the day what was valid over 40 years ago is still valid today.