"The powers that be" is often a phrase used to describe those in a position of authority responsible for work. Distribution of resources would be a way to describe what managers do though resources include time, money and people.
6
votes
5answers
223 views
Effective team meetings
I'm a team leader of a team of 8 programmers in a company of about 20 technical people. They're working on a range of projects, these projects also involve people from other teams that are outside of ...
5
votes
4answers
360 views
how to convince team and project manager that post-launch deployments are okay for new features
We have a site that launched and is "feature-complete", we've done all that the client has asked for and fixed a few bugs post-launch. However, I noticed that our site's home page is using 100 SQL ...
4
votes
6answers
749 views
What is the best way to prove that in-code documentation is greater than extensive external documentation?
What is the best way to prove to my boss that in code documentation is greater than extensive external documents containing documentation and screenshots of code/ui?
We have a group in the company ...
41
votes
10answers
6k views
Are SMART goals useful for programmers?
Several organisations I know use SMART goals for their programmers. SMART is an acronym for Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant and Time-Bound. They are fairly common in large corporations.
...
5
votes
4answers
370 views
Can a lone programmer become a mid or senior level programmer without a mentor? [duplicate]
Question:
Can a mere entry level programmer become a mid or senior level programmer working in a company as the only programmer without a mentor?
Background:
I was hired as an entry level programmer ...
12
votes
4answers
9k views
What is an example of a good SMART objective for a programmer? [duplicate]
Following on from this question, I wondered if folk might be able to suggest some samples of what might be considered a "good" objective in a periodic review cycle for a programmer?
Let's define ...
0
votes
1answer
195 views
Open Source Channel Manager (Channel Distribution Software)
we're operating in the hotel business and like to develop some kind of Channel Manager or Channel Distribution Software for our customers.
The goal of the software is to have a central place managing ...
36
votes
11answers
2k views
How do I prove to management that our programmers could work more productively?
Backstory
I graduated less than a year ago with a degree in Computer Science (with extra courses in software engineering), and another degree in Software Engineering. I'd like to think that I'm ...
12
votes
5answers
621 views
How to start a development project when there are too many potential stakeholders
I've just taken on a new job at a college as (the sole) Web application developer.
The college has a number of disparate but all pretty badly coded legacy systems. Mostly built in PHP they deal with ...
34
votes
26answers
4k views
As a programmer, are you required to do timesheets? [closed]
Timesheets are something that I've never been fond of, but none the less something that is a requirement within my company. They don't bother me so much, but they seem to really grind some other ...
-2
votes
2answers
128 views
How to put worker out side of bad tool [closed]
In the interest of career advancement, I've strived continuously to learn new languages and tools. I was promoted to senior as a direct result of these efforts. Afterwards, I've encountered problems ...
4
votes
2answers
257 views
How valuable for my career is working on an extremely primitive platform? [closed]
I work for an analog company on a proprietary sequencer having a few bytes of free RAM (maybe 20 bytes, not kB, bytes); maybe 500 bytes statically allocated; 8 registers including PC; no indirection ...
0
votes
1answer
241 views
Are we developers mere tools in the hands of visionaries and business people? [closed]
Dear fellow programmers
I'm the CTO and the lead programmer at our start-up. Our CEO came into office with hurry and asked me to reschedule so we can pick a very important customer at the airport. ...
10
votes
5answers
1k views
Project Proposal templates/requirements [closed]
When drafting a project proposal, do you use any standard template?
What features/information should be included? What is nice to have included? What sort of boiler plate information should I shove ...
20
votes
14answers
873 views
How managers choose programming languages
It's not a secret to anyone that managers can and often will impose the programming language that will be used for a project.
Being a programmer myself, I have never been able to understand this.
...
1
vote
2answers
166 views
Management wants an API in purchased software
My company wants to purchase new software for our General Ledger. We want to be able to interface it with various other sytems, all purchased. Nothing is custom built. The software our Accountants ...
3
votes
4answers
267 views
How to create high quality code producing teams? (as a group leader)
I come with a clear agenda on how to code correctly. I used to be a team leader, and I managed using significant amount of mentoring to create a team that creates high quality code.
Now I have 3 ...
0
votes
1answer
79 views
How to manage a virtual group in a company? [closed]
I have worked as a software engineer for more than 6 years. Recently, my boss has asked me to build and manage a virtual team. While I'm glad I can do some management work, I don't think it will be ...
20
votes
15answers
387 views
Change management's mind?
As a programmer working in an insurance office, I have a nasty little management hierarchy which is making programming much harder.
At current, our IT department rates a three on The Joel Test, which ...
130
votes
14answers
6k views
How do you balance between “do it right” and “do it ASAP” in your daily work?
I find myself pondering over this question from time to time, again and again. I want to do things the right way: to write clean, understandable and correct code that is easy to maintain. However, ...
8
votes
1answer
1k views
How to write “SMART” Objectives as an agile developer?
Like many corporations the company I work for is transitioning to a performance review system based on SMART objectives. My team is a high functioning agile development team employing practices from ...
393
votes
33answers
12k views
I'm a manager. How can I improve work relationships and communication with programmers?
A little background first. I'm a project manager at medium-sized company. I started as a CS major and had a little exposure to programming, but after a few months I knew it's not my path, so I ...
22
votes
6answers
3k views
“A good programmer can be as 10+ times more productive than a mediocre one”
I had read an interview with a great programmer (it is not in English) and in it he said that "a great programmer can be as 100 times as good as a mediocre one" giving reason for why good programmers ...
2
votes
7answers
781 views
Defining Rank names for employees [closed]
I want to create a list of ranks for the employees in my company. We are an open source integrator that works usually with existing solutions and also building custom solutions.
We don't want to name ...
2
votes
1answer
128 views
How to properly deal with ER and UML diagram management
When learning about these tools, I (naively) thought that mapping about the business space could be front loaded by doing it only once and refering to those diagrams for each project within a single ...
7
votes
6answers
376 views
what is the best way to ensure accountability in code checkins?
Note: after writing this I realize that this question is perhaps philosophical, but I'm interested in how the industry handles this scenario regardless.
I have recently been working with a code base ...
4
votes
8answers
459 views
Creating an in-house single source software development team
Our company wants to create a single department for all software development efforts (rather than having software development managed by each business unit). Business units would then "outsource" ...
8
votes
5answers
901 views
Software Manager who makes developers do Project Management
I'm a software developer working in an embedded systems company.
We have a Project Manager, who takes care of the overall project schedule (including electrical, quality, software and manufacturing) ...
43
votes
9answers
3k views
How to tell whether your programmers are under-performing?
I am a team lead with 5+ developers. I have a developer (let's call him A) who is a good programmer, who writes good clean, easy to understand code. However he is somewhat difficult to manage, and ...
4
votes
1answer
78 views
Statistical Software Quality Control References
I'm looking for references about hypothesis testing in software management. For example, we might wonder whether "crunch time" leads to an increase in defect rate - this is a surprisingly difficult ...
2
votes
1answer
99 views
Advice for Setting up an On-Call Team
I'm leading a largish development team (~35 developers). We are doing primarily Web Development work on a number of sites.
Historically the knowledge on the teams has been pretty siloed. If you ...
6
votes
1answer
589 views
The Written Roles of Chief Technology Officer
A follow up to this question:
The Written Roles of Software Development Manager
What is the role and what are the responsibilities of a CTO when it's done well, with particular reference to how it ...
3
votes
3answers
477 views
What kind of programs/solutions can only be written with OOP or are too hard to achieve without it? [closed]
Paraphrasing a recent question: What is Object Oriented Programming ill-suited for?
I would like to ask the opposite question:
What kind of programs cannot be written unless you use OOP?
What kind ...
12
votes
2answers
248 views
What best practices exist to avoid vendor lock-in?
Is there a set of community approved rules to avoid vendor lock-in?
I mean something one can show to a manager or other decision maker that is easy to understand and easily verifiable.
Are there ...
3
votes
5answers
270 views
Developing web sites that imitate desktop apps. How to fight that paradigm? [closed]
Supposse there's a company where web sites/apps are designed to resemble desktop apps.
They struggle to add:
Splash screens
Drop-down menus
Tab-pages
Pages that don't grow downward with content, ...
148
votes
31answers
21k views
Is it unusual for a small company (15 developers) not to use managed source/version control?
It's not really a technical question, but there are several other questions here about source control and best practice.
The company I work for (which will remain anonymous) uses a network share to ...
0
votes
1answer
210 views
Design patterns to manage multiple windows/screens?
Supposed there is an application with multiple windows, like:
Logo splashscreen
Connecting... screen
Login-usercontrols screen
Logging in... screen
etc.
Is there a design pattern, which allows to ...
0
votes
1answer
111 views
Persuading management that refactoring code is a good idea [duplicate]
Possible Duplicate:
Best supporting argument for refactoring
Has anyone got any tips for persuading management that refactoring code is a good idea ? I was asked something like
"After ...
75
votes
20answers
4k views
Choosing between two programmers: experience vs. passion [closed]
I am in a position where I have to hire a programmer and have the option of 2 candidates, the first has experience but he doesn't have a passion for coding and he says so while the second doesn't have ...
7
votes
4answers
454 views
Reasons for Pair Programming [duplicate]
Possible Duplicate:
Pair Programming: Pros and Cons
I've worked in a few shops where management has passed the idea of pair programming either to me or another manager/developer, and I ...
17
votes
8answers
1k views
Does a mature agile team requires any management?
After a recent heated debate over Scrum, I realized my problem is that I think of management as a quite unnecessary and redundant activity in a fully agile team. I believe a mature Agile team does not ...
1
vote
0answers
389 views
How to deal with a poor team leader and a tester manager from hell? [closed]
Let me begin by explaining my situation and give a little context to the situation. My company has around 15 developers but we're split up on two different areas. We have a fresh product team and the ...
8
votes
6answers
271 views
How do tight timelines and scheduling pressure affect TCO and delivery time?
A friend's father, who is a software engineering manager, said, emphatically, "The number one cause of scheduling overruns is scheduling pressure."
Where does the research stand? Is a moderate amount ...
6
votes
5answers
717 views
Convincing Upper Management the need of larger monitors for Developers [closed]
The company I work for has recently hired on several developers, and there are a limited number of monitors to go around. There are two types in the office - a standard 15" (thankfully flatscreen) and ...
5
votes
3answers
301 views
How to integrate technical line/functional manager into Scrum team?
We have recently had a new line manager start to manage our Scrum team. He is immensely experienced in our field but is relatively inexperienced at Agile/Scrum. He has extensive technical expertise in ...
12
votes
3answers
513 views
How can we unify business goals and technical goals?
Some background
I work at a small startup: 4 devs, 1 designer, and 2 non-technical co-founders, one who provides funding, and the other who handles day-to-day management and sales. Our company ...
-1
votes
4answers
259 views
Why do exclusively outsourcing projects as a company? [closed]
A prospective employer told me they took a company level decision to do only outsourcing projects.
I do not understand why they took such a decision and the guy I talked to did not elaborate. He ...
-1
votes
3answers
463 views
Penalization of under performing employees, how to avoid this? [closed]
My company's management wants to deduct from the salary of under performing employees. I'm a member of the Core Strategy committee and they want my opinion also. I believe that the throughput from an ...
3
votes
1answer
175 views
What's a good model for continuous manager <-> programmer feedback?
Is it important for managers to give devs regular feedback on how they're doing and vice versa? I say vice versa because I consider employees to be responsible to their manager, and managers to be ...
15
votes
1answer
292 views
Guiding Management to the Correct Decision
My supervisor (also a developer) and I have a running joke about writing a book called "Managing From Beneath: Subversively Guiding Management to the Right Decision" and including a number of ...
