How to Fail at Software Development |
||||||||
9. Does everybody get along? |
||||||||
| Score from 0 to 5 | ||||||||
| This is one of those things that you have to score by percentage. It’s rare to have a project with no bickering at all. It’s fairly common to have one member of the team that no one else on the team likes. If you have trouble scoring this one, look at it this way: What are the odds of two people who don’t get along with one another winding up working together on the same critical piece of the project? Score 0 if everyone on the team gets along with everyone else on the team. Score 5 if bickering about trivial things is constant and normal. One important point. It is possible for software developers to argue loud and long about the technology—about how to do something—and still get along fine. The fact is that they’re not really angry. They get excited when they’re discussing technology and they tend to yell, pound the table, and generally forget to be polite. If this kind of confrontation is allowed to run its course they will eventually agree or come to a compromise and the project will be all the better for it. A few minutes later they both realize that they learned something and will be the best of friends. But another such fight could happen again tomorrow with another technical point being the center of attention. These are good events, not bad. |
||||||||