Archive for May, 2007

Runs First, Works Last (RFWL)

Tuesday, May 1st, 2007

In over thirty years programming I’ve noticed that very often the first task to run is the last one to work correctly (i.e., pass testing). From naive managers you can get a lot of gold stars if you have the first task that compiles and runs. And you get more stars for coming in weekends and fixing problems. Plus every manager knows you from your presence in emergency meetings on Monday about how to get back on track. You get to be a hero.

Of course, if the task had been designed properly in the first place, it wouldn’t have been “Runs First”. And good unit tests would have caught any errors before they blew up on the weekend. No heroes;) And every manager wouldn’t know your name. What glory is there in being done early and on schedule?

Pity.

Multitasking Tradeoffs: individual vs. group productivity

Tuesday, May 1st, 2007

Jon Udell has a very interesting entry on Multitasking tradeoffs: individual versus group productivity on his blog. Read the comments, they are useful too.