Written in 1971, and still completely relevant. Topics include egoless
programming, intelligence, psychological measurement, personality factors,
motivation, training, social problems on large projects, problem-solving
ability, programming language design, team formation, the programming
environment, etc.
Hey folks,
Author of that post (but not the story contained in it) here.
Jerry Weinberg published that story in a book titled The Secrets of Consulting. It's a very good book though, going by the comments here, many of you won't like it (or have never consulted).
I published this piece ~7 years ago I'd say, it popped up today as Jerry died sadly a couple of days ago (a real loss, if this style of article isn't for you, you might enjoy The Psychology of Computer Programming[1]).
Anyways, just wanted to give context here amongst the criticisms.
The Psychology of Computer Programming
by Gerald M. Weinberg
Written in 1971, and still completely relevant. Topics include egoless programming, intelligence, psychological measurement, personality factors, motivation, training, social problems on large projects, problem-solving ability, programming language design, team formation, the programming environment, etc.
Jerry Weinberg published that story in a book titled The Secrets of Consulting. It's a very good book though, going by the comments here, many of you won't like it (or have never consulted).
I published this piece ~7 years ago I'd say, it popped up today as Jerry died sadly a couple of days ago (a real loss, if this style of article isn't for you, you might enjoy The Psychology of Computer Programming[1]).
Anyways, just wanted to give context here amongst the criticisms.
[1] https://www.amazon.com/Psychology-Computer-Programming-Silve...
I ran across it in https://www.amazon.com/Psychology-Computer-Programming-Silve... in the form, "If you see a programmer trying to become indispensable, fire him." Followed by a note written 25 years later saying, "I have received more thanks for this piece of advice than anything else that I have said." (Both quotes paraphrased from memory.)